This chapter synthesizes a large body of sociological research dedicated to artistic creation as a labor-intensive activity. Questioning the nineteenth-century expressivist ideal of self-actualization, contemporary ontologies—whether defined by artists, scholars, or various professional assessors—function within two opposing regimes: elite egalitarianism and competing differentiation. Adopting a processual perspective, the chapter first turns to creation as a sequence of choices and tests realized under strict uncertainty of results, with an extreme discrepancy between accumulated efforts and reputational as well as monetary outcomes. Second, the chapter follows the downstream production of aesthetic value, turning to scores and performances and the reallocation of creative roles they rest upon. Third, the chapter sketches a genealogy of finishedness, from Romantic idealization to modern relativization, with a special focus on the completion of uncompleted works. Finally, the chapter outlines several caveats regarding the study of the creative process and their consequence for the sociology of labor, work, and innovation.
Spectator Demand, Uncertainty of Results, and Public Interest