Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Developing Society: Reflections on the Notion of Societal Creativity

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Creativity, Culture, and Development

Part of the book series: Creativity in the Twenty First Century ((CTFC))

Abstract

Development is a multifaceted phenomenon. It is also the fundamental characteristic of open systems, including human beings, society, and the natural environment. Culture itself is a developmental matter, and so is creativity. But while in psychology we often consider development in individual terms, particularly in relation to infancy and childhood, and rarely within the whole life course, we normally forget to consider this (ontogenetic) developmental scale in the context of sociogenetic, macro development. The latter refers to the emergence and transformation of societal and cultural structures that frame human existence and behaviour. However, as the study of creativity comes to show, individuals respond to such influences and, in turn, shape their context for both self and others. In doing so, they rely on and coordinate their activity with that of others. It is this ‘togetherness’ of creative action aimed at developing new types of society that concerns me in this chapter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For more information about CEAM see http://www.corpoceam.org/.

References

  • Baer, J. (1998). The case for domain specificity of creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 11(2), 173–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baer, J., & Kaufman, J. C. (2005). Bridging generality and specificity: The amusement park theoretical (APT) model of creativity. Roeper Review, 27(3), 158–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bissola, R., & Imperatori, B. (2011). Organizing individual and collective creativity: Flying in the face of creativity clichés. Creativity and Innovation Management, 20(2), 77–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaharbaghi, K., & Cripps, S. (2007). Collective creativity: Wisdom or oxymoron? Journal of European Industrial Training, 31(8), 626–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cleaver, F. (2007). Understanding agency in collective action. Journal of Human Development, 8(2), 223–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Copenhagen Research Forum (CRF) (2012a). Visions for Horizon 2020—From Copenhagen Research Forum. Accessed online from: http://www.crf2012.org/

  • Copenhagen Research Forum (CRF) (2012b). Recommendations for an optimized implementation of Horizon 2020 II. Accessed online from: http://www.crf2012.org/

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives (pp. 325–339). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihályi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drury, J., & Reicher, S. (2005). Explaining enduring empowerment: A comparative study of collective action and psychological outcomes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35, 35–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Arriero (2014). Local periodical (7th ed.). Antioquia, Colombia: San Luis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emirbayer, M., & Goodwin, J. (1996). Symbols, positions, objects: Toward a new theory of revolutions and collective action. History and Theory, 35(3), 358–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Family, G. (2003). Collective creativity: A complex solution for the complex problem of the state of our planet. Creativity Research Journal, 15(1), 83–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, H. (1993). Creating minds: An anatomy of creativity seen through the lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Ghani. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P. (2010). Principles for a cultural psychology of creativity. Culture & Psychology, 16(2), 147–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P. (2011a). Children and creativity: A most (un)likely pair? Thinking Skills & Creativity, 6, 122–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P. (2011b). Creativity as cultural participation. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 41(1), 48–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P. (2012). Rewriting the language of creativity: The five A’s framework. Review of General Psychology, 17(1), 69–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glăveanu, V. P., & Sierra, Z. (forthcoming). Creativity and epistemologies of the south. Culture & Psychology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, H. E. (1989). The evolving systems approach to creative work. In D. B. Wallace & H. E. Gruber (Eds.), Creative people at work (pp. 3–24). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, H. E. (1993). OUGHT implies CAN implies CREATE. Creativity Research Journal, 6, 3–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilford, J. P. (1950). Creativity. American Psychologist, 5, 444–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargadon, A. B., & Bechky, B. A. (2006). When collections of creatives become creative collectives: A field study of problem solving at work. Organization Science, 17(4), 484–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargrave, T. J., & Van de Ven, A. (2006). A collective action model of institutional innovation. Academy of Management Review, 31(4), 864–888.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jasper, J. M. (2004). A strategic approach to collective action: Looking for agency in social-movement choices. Mobilization: An International Journal, 9(1), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Louis, W. R. (2009). Collective action—and then what? Journal of Social Issues, 65(4), 727–748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montuori, A., & Purser, R. (1996). Social creativity. Prospects and possibilities (Vol. 1). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouchiroud, C., & Bernoussi, A. (2008). An empirical study of the construct validity of social creativity. Learning and Individual Differences, 18, 372–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mouchiroud, C., & Lubart, T. (2002). Social creativity: A cross-sectional study of 6- to 11-year-old children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26, 60–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ospina, W. (2013). Pa que se acabe la vaina. Bogotá: Editura Planeta Colombiana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paulus, P., & Nijstad, B. (2003). Group creativity: An introduction. In P. Paulus & B. Nijstad (Eds.), Group creativity: Innovation through collaboration (pp. 3–11). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Plucker, J. A., Beghetto, R. A., & Dow, G. T. (2004). Why isn’t creativity more important to educational psychologists? Potentials, pitfalls, and future directions in creativity research. Educational Psychologist, 39(2), 83–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, M. (1961). An analysis of creativity. Phi Delta Kappan, 42, 305–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawyer, R. K. (2012). Explaining creativity: The science of human innovation (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, R. J. (1989). Domain-generality versus domain-specificity: The life and impending death of a false dichotomy. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 35(1), 115–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanggaard, L. (2013). The sociomateriality of creativity in everyday life. Culture & Psychology, 19(1), 20–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, E. (2007). Who or what creates? A conceptual framework for social creativity. Human Resource Development Review, 6(4), 419–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, R. H. (2004). The cultural contexts of collective action: Constraints, opportunities, and the symbolic life of social movements. In D. A. Snow, S. A. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements (pp. 91–115). Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, N. (2010). Social creativity: Requalifying the creative economy. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 16(3), 367–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu, L., Nickerson, J. V., & Sakamoto, Y. (2012). Collective creativity: Where we are and where we might go. In Proceedings of the Collective Intelligence Conference, January 10, 2012. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2037908

Download references

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude towards Prof. Zayda Sierra (School of Education, University of Antioquia) and Rodolfo Sierra Restrepo (CEAM) for introducing me to the complex social reality of Colombia and for many insightful conversations that contributed to the ideas presented here. This work was supported by the Education and Diversity International research group (EDI). I am grateful for comments on this text from Zayda Sierra, Ai-Girl Tan, Maciej Karwowski and Constance de Saint-Laurent.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Vlad Petre Glăveanu

Authors
  1. Vlad Petre Glăveanu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vlad Petre Glăveanu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Ai-Girl Tan

  2. Educational Psychology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany

    Christoph Perleth

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Glăveanu, V.P. (2015). Developing Society: Reflections on the Notion of Societal Creativity . In: Tan, AG., Perleth, C. (eds) Creativity, Culture, and Development. Creativity in the Twenty First Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-636-2_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation