‘Suits’ and ‘creatives’: managerial control, the expropriation of fun and the manufacture of consent

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Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Volume 1, Issue 1

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‘Suits’ and ‘creatives’: managerial control, the expropriation of fun and the manufacture of consent

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Author(s): Bob Hughes

Publication date (Print): Winter 2006-2007

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

Human skill poses a perennial problem to capitalist enterprises. This paper suggests that they have discovered, in the concept of ‘creativity’, a new weapon in the war on skill which simultaneously generates consent, sanctifies the use of inexperienced and expendable labour, and gives the manager even more power to control the worker while acting out the role of parent and protector. Creativity (as understood by modern managers) is an ineffable quality which ‘we know when we see’ — i.e. its existence and value are in the gift of the (managerial) beholder. Helpless and powerless, it is especially apt to be found amọngst the young and innocent. This paper draws on Michael Burawoy's study of ‘Manufacturing Consent’ in an engineering shop in the 1970s, and the author's own experience of working as a ‘creative’ in advertising agencies in the 1970s and 1980s.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 1745641X

ISSN (Electronic): 17456428

Publication date (Print): Winter 2006-2007

Volume: 1

Issue: 1

Pages: 77-89

Article

Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.1.1.0077

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.1.1.0077

SO-VID: 4edd1e03-4156-4174-a034-1f40e3329508

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

References

Anteby, M. (2003) ‘The moralities of poaching – manufacturing personal artifacts on the factory floor’, Ethnography 4(2): 217–239
Baran, P. A. & P. M. Sweezy (1966) Monopoly capital. An essay on the American economic and social order , New York; London: Monthly Review Press
Benner, C. (2002) Work in the New Economy – Flexible Labor Markets in Silicon Valley , Oxford: Blackwell
Benner, C, B. Brownstein & A.B. Dean (1999) Walking the Lifelong Tightrope: Negotiating Work in the New Economy , San Jose, Ca: Working Partnerships USA. Retrieved on July 11, 2006 from http://www.wpusa.org/publications/indiex.pl?pub=tightrope
Bolton, S. (2004) ‘Conceptual Confusions: Emotion Work as Skilled Work’, The Skills that Matter , eds. C. Warhurst, I. Grugulis and E. Keep, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Bowring, Finn (2003) ‘Manufacturing Scarcity: food biotechnology and the life-sciences industry’, Capital and Class 79:107–144
Burawoy, M. (1979) Manufacturing consent: changes in the labor process under monopoly capitalism , Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press
Craft, A. (2003) ‘The Limits to Creativity in Education: Dilemmas for the Educator’, British Journal of Educational Studies , 51(2): 113–127.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975) Beyond boredom and anxiety: the experience of play in work and games , San Francisco; London: Jossey-Bass
Damasio, A. R. (1994) Descartes' error: emotion, reason and the human brain , London: Picador
Ditton, J. (1977) ‘Perks, pilferage, and the fiddle: The historical structure of invisible wages’, Theory and Society 4(1): 39–71.
Florida Richard, L. (2002) The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday lif e , New York: Basic Books
Gregory, R. L. (1981) Mind in science: a history of explanations in psychology and physics , London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
Gregory, R. L. (1998) Eye and brain: the psychology of seeing , Oxford: Oxford University Press
Howkins, J. (2001) The creative economy: how people make money from ideas , London: Allen Lane
Johnston, P. (1959) Edward Johnston , London: Faber and Faber
Keep, D. E. (2002) ‘ICT and its Impact on Skills and Creativity – Transformatory Catalyst or Dependent Variable?’. Retrieved on July 11, 2006 from http://www.terra-2000.org/Terra-2002/Pages/abstract_prague.htm
LeDoux, J. E. (1998) The emotional brain: the mysterious underpinnings of emotional life , New York: Simon & Schuster
Lloyd, C. & J. Payne (2002) ‘On the ‘Political Economy of Skill’: Assessing the Possibilities for a Viable High Skills Project in the United Kingdom’, New Political Economy 7(3): 367–395
McChesney, R. & J. B. Foster (2003) ‘The Commercial Tidal Wave’, Monthly Review 54(10)
More, C. (1980) Skill and the English working class, 1870–1914 , London: Croom Helm
Ogilvy, D. (1983) Ogilvy on advertising , London: Pan.
Pope, R. (2005) Creativity: theory, history, practice , Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, NY: Routledge
Ross, A. (2004) No-collar: the humane workplace and its hidden costs , Philadeplphia Pa: Temple University Press
Varela Francisco, J., E. Thompson et al.. (1991) The Embodied mind: cognitive science and human experience , Cambridge MA:The MIT Press
Vernon Philip, E. (1970) Creativity. Selected R“eadings , Harmondsworth: Penguin Books
Warhurst, C., I. Grugulis et al.. (2004) The skills that matter , Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Weisberg, R. W. (1986) Creativity: genius and other myths , New York: W.H. Freeman

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Anteby, M. (2003) ‘The moralities of poaching – manufacturing personal artifacts on the factory floor’, Ethnography 4(2): 217–239

[2] Baran, P. A. & P. M. Sweezy (1966) Monopoly capital. An essay on the American economic and social order , New York; London: Monthly Review Press

[3] Benner, C. (2002) Work in the New Economy – Flexible Labor Markets in Silicon Valley , Oxford: Blackwell

[4] Benner, C, B. Brownstein & A.B. Dean (1999) Walking the Lifelong Tightrope: Negotiating Work in the New Economy , San Jose, Ca: Working Partnerships USA. Retrieved on July 11, 2006 from http://www.wpusa.org/publications/indiex.pl?pub=tightrope

[5] Bolton, S. (2004) ‘Conceptual Confusions: Emotion Work as Skilled Work’, The Skills that Matter , eds. C. Warhurst, I. Grugulis and E. Keep, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

[6] Bowring, Finn (2003) ‘Manufacturing Scarcity: food biotechnology and the life-sciences industry’, Capital and Class 79:107–144

[7] Burawoy, M. (1979) Manufacturing consent: changes in the labor process under monopoly capitalism , Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press

[8] Craft, A. (2003) ‘The Limits to Creativity in Education: Dilemmas for the Educator’, British Journal of Educational Studies , 51(2): 113–127.

[9] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975) Beyond boredom and anxiety: the experience of play in work and games , San Francisco; London: Jossey-Bass

[10] Damasio, A. R. (1994) Descartes' error: emotion, reason and the human brain , London: Picador

[11] Ditton, J. (1977) ‘Perks, pilferage, and the fiddle: The historical structure of invisible wages’, Theory and Society 4(1): 39–71.

[12] Florida Richard, L. (2002) The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday lif e , New York: Basic Books

[13] Gregory, R. L. (1981) Mind in science: a history of explanations in psychology and physics , London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson

[14] Gregory, R. L. (1998) Eye and brain: the psychology of seeing , Oxford: Oxford University Press

[15] Howkins, J. (2001) The creative economy: how people make money from ideas , London: Allen Lane

[16] Johnston, P. (1959) Edward Johnston , London: Faber and Faber

[17] Keep, D. E. (2002) ‘ICT and its Impact on Skills and Creativity – Transformatory Catalyst or Dependent Variable?’. Retrieved on July 11, 2006 from http://www.terra-2000.org/Terra-2002/Pages/abstract_prague.htm

[18] LeDoux, J. E. (1998) The emotional brain: the mysterious underpinnings of emotional life , New York: Simon & Schuster

[19] Lloyd, C. & J. Payne (2002) ‘On the ‘Political Economy of Skill’: Assessing the Possibilities for a Viable High Skills Project in the United Kingdom’, New Political Economy 7(3): 367–395

[20] McChesney, R. & J. B. Foster (2003) ‘The Commercial Tidal Wave’, Monthly Review 54(10)

[21] More, C. (1980) Skill and the English working class, 1870–1914 , London: Croom Helm

[22] Ogilvy, D. (1983) Ogilvy on advertising , London: Pan.

[23] Pope, R. (2005) Creativity: theory, history, practice , Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, NY: Routledge

[24] Ross, A. (2004) No-collar: the humane workplace and its hidden costs , Philadeplphia Pa: Temple University Press

[25] Varela Francisco, J., E. Thompson et al.. (1991) The Embodied mind: cognitive science and human experience , Cambridge MA:The MIT Press

[26] Vernon Philip, E. (1970) Creativity. Selected R“eadings , Harmondsworth: Penguin Books

[27] Warhurst, C., I. Grugulis et al.. (2004) The skills that matter , Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

[28] Weisberg, R. W. (1986) Creativity: genius and other myths , New York: W.H. Freeman