Queering the Referendum: Queer Theory, The Creative Industries and The Scottish Referendum
Citation
(2014) Queering the Referendum: Queer Theory, The Creative Industries and The Scottish Referendum, no. 40.
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.
Type
Thesis