Socioterritorial Inequality and the Creation of the Future. Creative Activity, Influence, Impact and Recognition. The Case of Barcelona (Spain)

Based on different theoretical elements from various sociological perspectives, a mixed research design, and the use of quantitative and qualitative data from Barcelona, I investigate the relationship between socio-territorial inequality, the provision of certain resources (educational, relational etc.) and creative activity (aggregate and individual). These three elements enable a macro, micro and a holistic view of creative activity. The results show, as a general trend, that people from well-off socio-territorial environments have more resources and more creative activity, both at the aggregate and individual levels. However, some nuances are important. Different creative fields, such as art and culture and social economy, for example, show different degrees of inequality. At the same time, it seems that the resources needed to create, for example in the field of social economy or in art and culture, are not the same (nor the social origin of them). The nuances are there too, because there seem to be some interesting contradictions between some of the patterns of the quantitative and qualitative data. However, no matter how you look at it, the districts of Barcelona with the lowest income, or the people who live there, seem to be at the tail end of all kinds of creative activity with impact. This leads to three implications. First, about who appropriates or takes advantage in more or less degree, materially and symbolically, of the creative activity. Second, there are implications in regards public policy. Here, our interviews show how the educational resource (of public origin) has been key for some of our interviewees from lower socio-economic backgrounds, to end up having an important creative impact and recognition. All this, however, leads us to a final point. There will be rather few and of a certain profile, the people who will most likely be able to participate in creation processes, of many of the tangible or intangible solutions that will help to face the present future challenges, such as climate change or the surge of artificial intelligence, with all the additional implications of this, for democracy. That is, it seems that some people will have more power, influence or voice to create the future, than others.