Author: Kate Oakley
'Raw talent' - classed constructions of inequality in the cultural industries
Recent years have seen rising awareness of the issue of inequality in the cultural industries - in the academy, in the sectors themselves and among policymakers. Drawing on empirical work among policymakers (and part of a larger international study), this paper will look at how questions of class inequalities in particular are understood and presented in UK policy discourse. In particular, it will consider the notion of 'raw talent, ' a term, which is generally reserved, in this discourse, for the working class and people of colour. It argues that the mobilisation of this term, both to suggest unptapped economic potential and the possibilitoes of meritocracy, simultaneously works to maintain class distinctions and thus helps us to understand both the limited success of policy initiatives thus far, and the terrain on which labour organisations need to fight.