Portrait of a creative worker: a sociological approach

The article attempts to highlight the socio-psychological portrait of a Russian worker in creative sphere. The relevance of the research is determined by the contradiction between the desire to develop the creative class and the lack of a clear understanding of the essence of this social group. The methodological basis of the research includes both classic works by R. Florida and modern scientific publications on the study of the creative class by Russian and foreign authors. The analysis of theoretical studies shows the impossibility to establish a clear professional affiliation due to both terminological uncertainty and the rapid digitalization of society during the pandemic years, which led to a change in the position of the creative class and actualized the need to study it. The empirical basis is formed by the data from the online questionnaire survey carried out among the participants of the project of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives (rurban.space) to search and unite representatives of the creative class within the framework of the development of urban space models. The article attempts to outline the peculiarities of the formation of the Russian creative class. The results allow us to describe the portrait of a creative worker as a member of a social group that exists within the framework of traditional socio-economic institutions. The respondents self-identify themselves as representatives of the lower and middle classes, gravitating towards full-time employment within urban agglomerations. When selecting the professional qualities inherent in a creative worker, respondents gave preference to «creativity» and «communicativeness,» completely excluding «tolerance,» which is considered mandatory in Western culture. The data obtained in this study allowed us to rethink the established stereotypes and simplifying heuristics about the nature of creative work and the socioeconomic portrait of a creative worker.

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