Creativity and other fundamentalisms

Belgian cultural sociologist Pascal Guillen's book Creativity and Other Fundamentalisms (2012) takes the form of an eight-day journey covering the period between the late 1980s and the early 2010s. In this book, Guillen examines the social context of creativity, examining how it has become an integral part of modernity and whether it is able not to emasculate in its own excess after it has moved from the cultural sphere to economics and politics.

Gielen examines creativity at three levels: individual, institutional, and societal, and engages in dialogue with such well-known authors as Slavoj Žižek, Peter Sloterdijk, and Alessandro Baricco. Using apt metaphors, Guillen aims to make concrete the social situations described by these authors.

The book highlights that creativity has become a requirement of modernity, which is encouraged not only by artists, but also by business managers and political leaders. This is confirmed even by family therapists and conflict specialists who advise to look for more creative solutions. However, as Guillen points out, this hunger for creativity can lead to the emasculation of its true meaning, which is underlined by a fragment of the author's preface.