On the Roles, Values, and Performance of Future Artists: a Conceptual and Empirical Exploration.

There has been an extraordinary increase in the study of creativity and of artistic production in recent years. For the most part, this work is concerned with psychological variables focusing on the cognitive processes underlying artistic creation or on the artist's personality. But whether cognitive or personalistic in orientation, the vast majority of the studies deal with the artist in vacuo, as it were, without reference to his role or function in society. The central concern seems to be with artists as readily identifiable, exceptional individuals or social deviates, and the impression is given that artists are primarily "interesting specimens" whose activity is dispensable, or at least irrelevant, from a sociological point of view. But as Barnett among others has noted, "… the creative artist himself may be a valuable focus for the study of social and cultural change because he is often remarkably sensitive to tensions in the social order …. Thus the sociology of art … may contribute to the understanding of both social structure and cultural change." Barnett urges that the "sociologist should direct his efforts at a systematic inquiry into the various aspects of this [art] process, perhaps concentrating on the social relations, social structures, norms, and roles which characterize the vocation of the artist. Regrettably, very little has been done from this point of view. The present paper attempts to define the artist's roles in the social structure and presents some empirical data relevant to the understanding of these roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]