Queering the Referendum: Queer Theory, The Creative Industries and The Scottish Referendum

Abstract

Using Halberstam (2005), it is argued that the conditions of the creative industries and creative workers (or the precariat) are similar in many ways to the conditions of living a Queer lifestyle. As such, a renegotiation of social policy in light of Queer theory could be beneficial to the precariat. Given that the conditions of capitalism are moving in favour of precarity (Neilson and Rossiter 2008), Queer social policies may soon be necessary for more that just the creative industries. The Pro-independence campaign for the Scottish referendum only sparsely discusses the creative industries as a whole but there are small signs that their suggestions could be considered Queer as defined by both Halberstam (2005) and Butler (1990). The Unionist campaign barely touches upon the creative industries, yet their persistent use of the figure of the Child, as defined by Edelman (1998), in their campaign suggests that their overall desires for Scotland are not favourable to Queer policies. However, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are currently in the process of redefining the creative industries, therefore change may be coming to Scotland in this area whether independence is gained or not.