Social class division is nothing new when it comes to employment. As capitalism continues to thrive, the working environment forced upon the working class deteriorates. But, with the development of the creative arts industry, came a certain expectation. The expectation of more diverse and equality driven employment opportunities.
Unlike most academia based professions, jobs in the creative industry often don’t require you to have had an ivy league degree or private education, as a lot of the time it comes down to sheer talent and skill. Or so you’d expect. Unfortunately, just like with most things in life, the class divide is very prevalent within the creative industry, dictating its future.
In the UK, 96% of all jobs that are considered to be of a creative nature are held by people from privileged socio-economic groups, and we all know in most cases this translates to privately educated middle-class white people. There is a flagrant disparity in the level of heterogeneity that exists in the British creative industries, which only leaves room for continued misrepresentation of the British people. Both in regard to social class and ethnicity.
A report by Create London, ‘Panic! Social Class, Taste, and Inequalities in the Creative Industries’ found that only a meagre 12.6% of people working in publishing come from a working-class background, while only 12.4% of working-class people working in film, TV and radio. Considering that an estimated 60% of the UK’s population consider themselves working class, as reported by a 2016 study by the Guardian, even an imbecile would be able to see the obvious inequality in the employment statistics.
This elitist class of creatives will continue to grow, due to the polarity in resources and opportunities made available to separate classes. Because unfortunately, the less privileged of us are simply not able to work a 40-hour unpaid internship, which by the way you had to pay for in order to apply. Not everyone can afford the latest £1000 MacBook and yet most creative jobs in London require you to know how to operate an Apple product. The incessant divide between the rich and the poor in the creative world propels polarity, with 42% of all BAFTA winners having attended fee-paying schools.
The creative industry is one filled with audacity, the audacity to expect people to work for free, the audacity to expect people to work in return for promotional benefits, since when did promo pay the bills? As infuriating as it is, just like most careers, a career in the creative industry requires you to work your way up from the very bottom. But in the case of creative arts, the very bottom is the equivalent to the pits of hell. In more ‘regular’ jobs, notoriety isn’t as crucial as it is if you’re a creative, so it is very rare that you find yourself in a position where someone offers to hire you for a project, and in return for your outlandish creative skills they reward you with a hoodie and a post on their Instagram story encouraging people to follow you. Sadly, this is the case in the creative world, another reason why rich white people thrive because they can afford to not make money.
With the creative industry being dominated by the middle class, there is little to no room for a candour representation of society as we know it. Having said that, there is a facade that precedes the lack of representation, a fabricated ideology that the creative industry is all-inclusive and profoundly diverse. This facade has been curated over time through the exploitation of all minority groups, whether that be black people, the LGBTQ community, or the working class. Rich white people come along appropriate cultures and are able to make a living off it. If exploiting a culture was not enough, sometimes to make their creative ‘idea’ more authentic, these privately educated elitists will hire someone from the cultural background they require to be a face of the project, in reward for gaining free publicity of course.
The UK is one of the most diverse counties in the world, with over 18 ethnic groups considering the UK their home. Yet our creative industry remains as white as the inside of most middle-class professionals' noses. As stated by the Arts Council in England, “Diversity and equality are crucial to the arts and culture because they release the true potential of our nation's artistic and cultural talent – from every background. Our diverse nature offers unique opportunities for artistic and cultural collaborations and innovation.”
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