The Creative Industries: a discourse-theoretical approach

• Authors: Rene Mäe
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this paper is to examine the emergence of the idea of the creative industries in a particular former socialist country – Estonia. Instead of regarding the creative industries as an economic sector, the article (re)conceptualises it as an ‘empty signifier’. The paper borrows its central theoretical concepts (hegemony, empty signifier, floating signifier) from post-Marxist discourse theory and employs them to explore the ways in which the creative industries are instituted within particular social, discursive or political struggles. The article proposes that Laclauian (or post-Marxist) discourse theory can raise some new fruitful methodological problems and challenging research directions among the researchers of the creative industries and cultural policy, especially in the Eastern European context.

Keywords

EN

creative industries; discourse theory; Eastern Europe; power; hegemony; empty signifier

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: International Review of Social Research
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 78-87

Dates

published

2015-10-01

received

2014-10-01

accepted

2015-02-15

online

2015-10-30

Contributors

author

Rene Mäe

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/irsr-2015-0007