Economic Correlates of Artistic Creativity

A survey of economic correlates of historical fluctuations in artistic creativity suggests two generalizations. First, the motivation for artistic creativity is maximized by a balanced tension between the needs for achievement and for expression in the personality system. This type of motivation is most likely to be produced in relatively early stages of increasing prosperity. Second, social demand for art tends to be stimulated, in a minor mode, by disturbances of socioeconomic latency and, in a major mode, by the necessity for social-emotional reintegration of a social system subsequent to intensive adaptive activity. From these observations a general sociological theory of artistic creativity is derived.