A Social Basis for the Imagination?
We usually conceive of imagination and creativity in individualistic terms. Of course, we all know that the people who make imaginative breakthroughs are, like everyone else, parts social networks and rooted in traditions and histories—hence the cliché about seeing further than others by “standing on the shoulders of giants.” Yet The question of why one person sees further or why someone is able to put together established facts and ideas in new and different ways seems inherently individualistic. Indeed we imagine imagination to be almost magical: “the spark,” “the ‘aha’ moment, ” “scales falling from our eyes” etc. We still, I think, don’t have a clear idea of what happens in that moment– which is why we resort to such metaphors to describe it–but I do think we usually conceive of it as happening alone. The imaginative moment separates the imaginer from the ways things are usually done or usually thought about by most people most of the time.
As a sociologist, which is to say, someone who studies what most people do most of the time, I have been struggling with what I might have to add to this discussion. I know that “imagination,” “creativity” and “genius” exist. I do not know where they come from. But I also know that certain social settings, certain historical moments and certain positions in social networks appear to be more conducive to imagination. There are times and places that seem to promote creativity and that receive it and reward it better than others.
In remainder of my short talk I will draw on some of my own work to point to an example of one social group whose situation seems to promote creativity: the children of immigrants. This is a situation that as New Yorkers and as CUNY Professors I suspect we are all familiar with. Since the late 19th century reformers, social workers and immigrant parents have worried that young people “torn between two worlds” or caught “betwixt and between” two cultures will grow up unable to function well in either. Yet even a casual look at the history of our City shows the hugely disproportionate role that immigrants and particularly that their children have played in making New York a center for innovation in the arts, science, scholarship and business. There are many reasons for this, of course. But one, I will argue, may be the spur to the imagination provided by being able to use more than one cultural system. Drawing on a large study of contemporary young adult New Yorkers I will suggest some ways in which this “second generation advantage” promotes creativity in everyday life.
