Review

Reviewed Work(s): The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work,
Leisure, Community and Everyday Life by Richard Florida
Review by: Ted D. Naylor
Source: Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques , Sep., 2003, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Sep.,
2003), pp. 378-379
Published by: University of Toronto Press on behalf of Canadian Public Policy

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The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Florida develops a catalogue of indices to meas-
Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and ure social and economic factors that foster a "crea-
Everyday Life tive ethos" to demonstrate how economic
by Richard Florida. New York: Basic Books, 2002. development is tied to the ability of cities and re-
Pp. 404. $41.50. gions to attract members of the creative class. Evalu-
ating creativity, Florida develops a creative class
Mixing anecdotal evidence, storytelling, and empiri-index; a high-tech index; an innovation index; a tal-
cal data, Richard Florida directly challenges manyent index; a gay index and a bohemian index. His
of the conventional beliefs about economic devel- ideas challenge the conventional firm-driven view
opment policy, arguing that the economy is moving of regional growth held by municipal officials and
away from the outdated organizational model of economic development professionals, which is based
Fordist-style bureaucracies to a new model of socio- on attracting or building clusters of companies.
economic development based on creativity and in- Florida argues that members of the creative class
novation. This transformation is being driven by the are more likely to settle in regions or cities with a
emergence of a "creative class," consisting of 30 creative population that is open and tolerant. In other
percent of the American workforce. words, they score high on his indices. Thus, the most
successful places are the ones that have lots of "crea-
The creative class includes those in the fields of tive capital" and effectively combine "three T's" -
science, engineering, architecture and design, edu- tolerance, talent, and technology.
cation, and the arts - where the primary function
is to create new ideas or content. Florida contends Florida's development of a theory based on "crea-
that the creative class is now the dominant social tive capital" makes a direct contribution to current
class, and it will continue to be a dynamic force in policy debates around regional economic develop-
shaping the course of the future. Florida's research ment. In particular, Florida builds on the human
suggests that these creative people seek work envi- capital theory associated with the economists
ronments that offer flexibility, autonomy, and chal- Edward Glaeser and Robert Lucas, which asserts that
lenging and changing environments. These priorities economic growth is driven by concentrations of edu-
contrast with those of earlier generations of work- cated people. Florida extends this model by identi-
ers who valued the pay and stability once offered fying the factors that attract people with a certain
by the machine shop, factory floor or large-scale or- kind of human capital to a region or city, and by
ganization. Thus Florida argues that human crea- attempting to understand why a creative class of
tivity is now the defining feature of our social and people remain in one place and not another. The
economic lives, the engine of economic growth, and author's research also challenges the "cluster
the best predictor of the successes or failures of city theory" of economic development since it suggests
and regional economic development. that it is individuals making creative decisions that
determine economic growth, not the presence or si-
Florida's creative class differs from Daniel Bell's multaneous development of complementary business
"post-industrial society" and more recently, Peter sectors.
Drucker's "knowledge worker," in that it suggests
that information and knowledge are simply the Florida cautions that the scenario he is describ-
"tools" and "materials" of creativity, and that crea- ing is far from fully formed. Poverty, unemployment,
tivity must therefore be harnessed. According to and other social ills may well be made worse with
Florida, there are three critical types of creativity: the rise of the creative class without appropriate "hu-
technological, economic, and cultural; and each man interventions." Florida suggests that class di-
must come together to spur economic growth. vides and inequalities must be addressed through

CANADIAN PUBLIC POLICY - ANALYSE DE POLITIQUES, VOL. XXIX, NO. 3 2003

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efforts to build stronger communities and social Quaid has put together a well-written and ana-
cohesion based on diversity - synthesizing a crea- lytical evaluation of six North American cases of
tive and open "people climate" with a strong busi- workfare implementation. However, the book is
ness and economic climate. He offers the City of more than just a critical analysis of the various
Toronto as a concrete example of a thriving "Crea- workfare programs. It is a lesson on how and why
tive Centre," where the Creative Class interacts pro- good policy ideas succeed and how and why they
ductively and harmoniously alongside Working and fail. This book should be required reading for any-
Service Classes - an example difficult to find in one in a management or advisory role at any level
the United States. In this sense, the full policy im- of government as well as for politicians, journal-
plications of Florida's research and analysis are not ists, anti-poverty activists, and students of policy.
yet clear. Indeed, some readers may find it frustrat-
ing that Florida does not more fully analyze the im- Quaid begins with her understanding of a "good"
pact of these ideas on economic policy. The book's policy idea. The idea should be perceived to be new,
strength is that it provides new ways to conceptual- it should provide an all-encompassing solution to
ize many of the rapid changes taking place in to- an important policy problem, it should correspond
day's workplaces, communities, and economies. to the prevailing "truth" of the time, and it should
appeal to "efficiency" (i.e., it is the best or least
TED D. NAYLOR, Department of Sociology, Univer- expensive way to solve the problem). A major part
sity of Alberta of the book involves a fascinating and informative
review of the workfare schemes in three American
Workfare: Why Good Social Policy Ideas Go Bad states (California, Wisconsin, and NewYork) and
by Maive Quaid. Toronto: University of Toronto three Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Alberta,
Press, 2003. Pp. 256. US$24.63. and Ontario). We learn, in each case, what went right
and what went wrong with the implementation of
Few issues have generated as much public debate this "good" social policy idea. She identifies two
and controversy as workfare. Those in favour argue cases of success - Wisconsin and Alberta - and
that workfare will restore dignity and self-reliance makes the point that, in both cases, the dynamic
to people who are in danger of becoming trapped in interaction of several factors (a clear and firm policy
dependency. Firm policies requiring direct employ- goal, a political leader with the vision and persist-
ment or skill upgrading will result in significant ent commitment to make it work, a willingness to
long-term benefits to both recipients (higher in- either convince a resistant bureaucracy to cooperate
comes and improved self-worth) and governments or sidestep it altogether, and an ability to creatively
(program success and cost savings). Those against deal with impediments as they arise) was responsi-
point to concerns about rights (removal of welfare ble for success. In the cases of failure, she notes
as an entitlement; the risk of loss of labour stand- that the lack of a clear policy; hostility and obstruc-
ards if workfare participants are not covered by wage tion from administrators, social workers, and social
and working conditions laws and are not allowed to activists; an unenthusiastic and unmotivated target
unionize; and the loss of the right to refuse to par- group; and deceptive evaluations are important con-
ticipate in any work-for-welfare program) and con- siderations.
cerns about abuse, such as the idea of free labour
(sometimes referred to as "slavery" by activists) and In her summary chapter, Quaid lays out a useful
the possible displacement of full-time employees by taxonomy of hazards that can and do sabotage good
workfare workers. Such is the backdrop of Maive policy ideas. She identifies six hazards primarily
Quaid's excellent book, Workfare: Why Good So- responsible for failure: politician hazard (politics
cial Policy Ideas Go Bad. and opportunism tend to dominate); policymakers'

CANADIAN PUBLIC POLICY - ANALYSE DE POLITIQUES, VOL. XXIX, NO. 3 2003

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