A cultural shock doctrine? Austerity, the neoliberal state and the creative industries discourse

A number of writers have made the argument that the development creative industries policy discourse in the United Kingdom and elsewhere represents the articulation of a politics that is neoliberal in character. The marginalisation of Blairism in the United Kingdom, and the Liberal Democrat-Conservative Coalition Government’s adoption of an ever more explicit neoliberal dogma in its radical restructuring/dismantling of the welfare state, provides the opportunity to evaluate this argument. This article summarises the creative industries policy discourse and the main research paradigms that have been used to interrogate it. From there, it explores a number of discursive positions that have placed pressure on policy actors and explores their institutionalisation in policy structures since 2008. It is argued that the major institutional policy frameworks of the creative industries discourse have proved remarkably durable through the current phase of neoliberal restructuring of the state. At the same time, discursive pressure is being exerted from a reactionary cultural conservatism that seeks to further undermine and delegitimate the socially and politically progressive elements of the creative industries discourse.