Richard Florida's The Transformation Of Everyday Life

"Change has a bad reputation in our society. But it isn't all bad — not by any means. In fact, change is necessary in life — to keep us moving ... to keep us growing ... to keep us interested . ... Imagine life without change. It would be static ... boring ... dull."
— Dr. Dennis O'Grady Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the 1950’s? Take a few moments and think about it? What has changed since then? What did they eat, drink, read, or work? Truly, in today’s fast paced environments we do our daily routines without ever thinking about the past. Sometimes it’s a good thing but at other times it’s bad. For instance, in the workplace people changed the way they dress, responsibility at work and care more than anything about
ranking. In addition, at home we now have women working and going to school at the same time and do what men do if not more. On the technological aspect of change, those of us, who are younger, could never fathom not having a computer, cell phone, microwave, blogs, or Email. Richard Florida, author of “The Transformation of Everyday Life,” explores the differences between living in the 1950’s and 2000 and how much the United States culture has changed in those years. In his essay he talked about the “creative class” which includes people in science and engineering, architecture and design, education, arts, music and entertainment, those whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and new creative content. Consider how the massive cultural and technological shifts of today are reshaping the way we think about tomorrow. Today’s evolutions are changing how we live our daily lives and how we think about the outside world. Change happens to every culture ranging from religious beliefs to basic tradition. In the United States the role of creativity in cultural and social transformation has changed dramatically due to migration of cultures from all over the world, while this change is happening, there are benefits as there are drawbacks. How can we protect ourselves from these drawbacks and take advantage of the benefits? How can we prove that culture has changed throughout history?
Being a college student in the early twenties, I can only rely on past research to back up my findings. Currently, culture has been proved to be the most changed part of our history. Every culture goes through some kind of change throughout history. Whether you live in the United States or on the other side of the world, your culture has been influenced by a change. Richard Florida conducted many research and shares his findings with us. In his essay, “The Transformation of Everyday Life,” he compares two men, one traveling from the 1900’s into the 1950’s and another from the 1950’s to the 2000. From the 1900’s to the 1950’s the United States advanced in technology but not socially. The person moving from the 1950’s to the 2000 surely experienced more change culturally and socially. As Florida explains the change that the second time traveler experienced in words, “At work he would find a new dress code, a new schedule, and new rules. He would see office workers dressed like folks relaxing on the weekend, in jeans and open-necked shirts, and be shocked to learn they occupy positions of authority. People at the office would come and go as they please. The younger ones might sport bizarre piercings and tattoos. Women even non-whites would be managers” (197). In other words, today people find such things to be normal because we made this change and that is how we wanted it to be. On the other hand, back in the
1950’s people had more respect for work and their dress code. You would seldom see women in the workplace, and almost never interact with someone of another race. Indeed, many of the changes that lead to how we live today is due to the migration of new cultures bringing their tradition to the United States.
Studies in various cultures have always been around.
Psychologists study how cultures affect other cultures and how these cultures are embedded within other culture forming a widespread of multiculturalism. For instance, I am Arabian and I cook lots of Arabic food, but at the same time I have Latin friends that taught me different foods and drink that I cook at home also. The more we know about a culture the more we like it and want to be a part of that culture.. The United States today is more culturally diverse than it has at anytime. As of August 10, 2010 the U.S. population is 309,957,601. Whites currently account for 74 percent of the population, Blacks 12 percent, Hispanics 10 percent and Asians 3 percent. Yet according to data and predictions generated by the U.S. Census Bureau and social scientists poring over the numbers, Hispanics will likely surpass Blacks early in the next century. And by the year 2050, demographers predict, Hispanics will account for 25 percent of the population, blacks 14 percent, Asians 8 percent, with whites hovering somewhere around 53 percent. Immigration to United States not only brings new faces, but also different cultures as well as religious beliefs, traditions and cultures. Different cultures join other cultures and share their ideals and tradition with others. When different cultures come together, they share their religious beliefs, food, and
tradition.
Richard Florida explains how the “Creative Class” is the dominant class and larger than the working class. The working class defined by Florida as, “The traditional workers who work in manufacturing, construction and transportation industries (202).” The creative class is those who shaped our world as it stands today and they are the ones who are constantly coming up with new ideas to shape a better more advanced tomorrow.
Throughout the history, our views of reading, writing, thinking and creating art has changed from time to time, that is to say culture as well has changed. We adapt different cultures within our own culture. In essence, the more we travel, the more experience we gain, and the more we learn about the differences between one or more cultures. Therefore expanding our horizons and experiencing the joy of every unique culture we encounter.