Culture and Creativity
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 23. October 2026
Book
Hardback
164 pages
978-1-5095-4686-2 (ISBN)
Description
Where does creativity come from? How do new ideas emerge, take shape, become materialized into products, and gain acceptance? Culture and Creativity offers a compelling account of creativity as a fundamentally social process.
Moving beyond individualistic and psychological explanations, this book explores how creativity is shaped by cultural norms, knowledge exchange, material conditions, cognitive process, social networks, and organizational structures. Drawing on a wide range of interdisciplinary research, it examines the collective dynamics behind innovation in areas as diverse as art, cuisine, music, science, and technology. Structured around four key themes - culture, materiality, cognition, and social organization - each chapter introduces foundational theories, engages contemporary debates, and explores case studies of how creativity happens in practice.
Written in an accessible yet rigorous style, Culture and Creativity is an essential resource for students and scholars in the social sciences and humanities, as well as anyone interested in understanding creativity. It sets a new agenda for viewing creativity not as a mysterious force but as a patterned, explainable, and deeply embedded feature of social life.
Moving beyond individualistic and psychological explanations, this book explores how creativity is shaped by cultural norms, knowledge exchange, material conditions, cognitive process, social networks, and organizational structures. Drawing on a wide range of interdisciplinary research, it examines the collective dynamics behind innovation in areas as diverse as art, cuisine, music, science, and technology. Structured around four key themes - culture, materiality, cognition, and social organization - each chapter introduces foundational theories, engages contemporary debates, and explores case studies of how creativity happens in practice.
Written in an accessible yet rigorous style, Culture and Creativity is an essential resource for students and scholars in the social sciences and humanities, as well as anyone interested in understanding creativity. It sets a new agenda for viewing creativity not as a mysterious force but as a patterned, explainable, and deeply embedded feature of social life.
Reviews / Votes
"Creativity has become a mantra of our age, but we still cling to myths of solitary genius. Culture and Creativity reveals how innovation actually emerges from cultures, institutions, careers, and collaborations that make new work possible, visible, and valuable-and why that matters for how we study and organize creative work today."Richard Florida, University of Toronto
"Culture and Creativity compellingly brings into conversation a variety of different perspectives, from cognitive to environmental, in the ever-expanding field of creativity studies. Comprehensive and engagingly-written, this is a significant contribution to scholarship and a clear cross-disciplinary introduction for scholars of creativity from any field in the social sciences or humanities."
Kathy Giuffre, Colorado College
"Creativity is in high demand. Today, not only artists but almost everyone is expected to be creative. But what is creativity, and how is it accomplished? To address these questions, Benzecry and Leschziner have written a highly relevant book that draws on an impressive range of sources. It is an excellent starting point for understanding the role and production of creativity in contemporary society."
Patrik Aspers, Chair of Sociology, University of St. Gallen
"In Culture and Creativity, Benzecry and Leschziner ask how and why humans do things that others value and strive to emulate. They answer that mundane processes of social and economic life, not moments of glorious insight, is the stuff of cultural and material advance. This book is intellectually ambitious and demystifying important in a worldly way."
Harvey Molotch, author of Where Stuff Comes From
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-5095-4686-2 (9781509546862)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Claudio E. Benzecry | Vanina Leschziner
Culture and Creativity
Book
approx. 10/2026
1st Edition
Polity Press
€20.00
Not yet published
Persons
Claudio E. Benzecry is Professor of Communication Studies and Sociology at Northwestern University.
Vanina Leschziner is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto.
Vanina Leschziner is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto.
Content
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Creativity: Myths and Facts
Chapter 2: The Culture of Creativity
Chapter 3: What do Objects do to Creativity?
Chapter 4: How does Cognition shape Creativity?
Chapter 5: What is the Social Organization of Innovation?
Chapter 6: Toward a Sociology of Creativity
References
Notes
Chapter 1: Creativity: Myths and Facts
Chapter 2: The Culture of Creativity
Chapter 3: What do Objects do to Creativity?
Chapter 4: How does Cognition shape Creativity?
Chapter 5: What is the Social Organization of Innovation?
Chapter 6: Toward a Sociology of Creativity
References
Notes