Reading Response: Chapter 1

      Chapter one in the Social Production of Art deals with creativity, and how social structures have a profound impact upon it.  Whether artists are aware of it or not, there is a manufacturing process going on in their head when they create a work of art.  This process is shaped by social, cultural, historical and economic influences whether the artist tries to isolate themselves or not.
      Wolff argued that creativity is not a special gift that artists have, but that people use creativity in nearly all professions.  Before factory jobs and the onset of capitalism, humans were individually creative in all their fields of work.  Stone masons, blacksmiths and tailors for example all worked creatively, however capitalism has replaced that individual creativity with profit driven demand for perfection and uniformity.  The reason artists are seen today as having this "gift" is because they work in one of the few areas that relies almost entirely on individual creativity.  Wolff also claims, however, that artists are not entirely "free" from capitalist demand.  They are influenced considerably by the expectations of their audience, the economy, etc. Although capitalism is increasing the demand for creative works of art, it is becoming increasingly marginalized as artists think more about how much money a work of art will make, as opposed to what they want to express in it.  Wolff sort of went back and forth on her position to capitalism and it's affects on art during this chapter.  Is it the necessity to make art that will sell what clouds the artist creativity? If so, is no one truly "free" to act creatively or is there a distinct difference in the productive between someone who is an artist as a career and someone who makes art as a hobby?