Whether developed endogenously or e

Whether developed endogenously or exogenouslythough, there are a number of reasons for supposingthat creativity is becoming important to individuals andgroups across many different sectors of society. One ofthe major drivers of creative consumption is the need forself-development. This has already been studied in thecontext of skilled consumption, a notion derived fromScitovsky’s (1976) study of The Joyless Economy.Scitovsky’s question was basically why consumptionwas so unsatisfactory for so many. In spite of producingan overwhelming array of consumption goods, Americans seemed not to be satisfied with their experiences.He identified a problem with the rise of unskilledconsumption—activities such as watching TV that arebased on external stimuli. This he contrasted with skilledconsumption, which is based on internal stimuli and thedevelopment of capabilities and skills of the consumersthemselves (Richards, 1996). The argument put forwardby Scitovsky is that skilled consumption will grow asconsumers become increasingly dissatisfied with shortterm, unskilled experiences.