40 Million Strong?

If there is cogent criticism of The Rise of the Creative Class, it lies within its title. America has always (wrongly) defined itself as a classless society. The very word evokes collective memories of the Monarchy from which we rebelled two and a quarter centuries ago. Yet, no one would argue there is a definite strata at work, we just don’t wear our class birth for our whole lives like our Monarchical European counterparts. The beauty of the American “class” system is that the barriers are porous and traffic moves in both directions. In our system, a sort of through-the-lookingglass financial meritocracy, your status is directly related to the amount of loot in your wallet, or the amount of political influence you could lord over someone else’s loot. But the New Economy argued that capital was also Creative, and that there was a whole new “class” of people who possessed that particular form of capital in abundance. Richard Florida argues that they should be treated like any other minority, and in some cities this has been the case. So, if your class status designates your lifestyle and not your family of origin, what, if any, loyalties to the traditional notion of Class are there? And is it possible for a group of some 40 Million people to posses a common identity, even if their individual politics and lifestyles differ radically?

Are we really 40 Million Strong?

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