When creativity becomes capital: Creative entrepreneurship, youth labor and precarity in the design field

Within the discourse on creative industries instutionalized by flexible capitalism, the artist emerges as the ideal labor model of the 21st century. A distinctive feature of creative industries is the encounter with the term "industry" within the context of art-related activities, where the new management style transforms qualities such as independence, individuality, authenticity, passionate work, and creativity into the hallmarks of productivity. This situation is framed not only as the key to global development but also as an opportunity for individuals to realize their talents. In this context, creative entrepreneurs who combine artistic creativity with commercial skills represent independent workers within the creative industries. These creative entrepreneurs, operating within project cycles and utilizing digital platforms, contribute to the national labor market while demonstrating global labor force capabilities. Terms borrowed from the arts, such as "gig" and "portfolio", have been redefined within this context— "gig" now refers to one-off jobs facilitated by digital labor platforms, including those within the creative industries, while a portfolio career involves the ability to independently manage multiple tasks rather than focusing on a single job within one institutional specialization. Youth is viewed as the incubation phase of materializing this transformation, though this process is also characterized by precarious employment. Consequently, creative, independent, and individual work, along with temporary, irregular, and precarious employment, emerge as two sides of the creative labor dynamic. This thesis focuses on communication design as a subfield that encompasses this process within the creative industries, exploring the question: If the motto "Everyone is creative" presupposes that creativity is an inherent talent, then what are the essential criteria for positioning oneself in these fields? Under what conditions are opportunities and crises managed? The thesis aims to reveal the formation and multifaceted impacts of creative entrepreneurship among the young labor force in Turkey by utilizing Pierre Bourdieu's tools for cultural field analysis.