Philosophistry Wiki
Global Creative Class

The phenomenon that Richard Florida cites in Rise of the Creative Class has gone global. The change has happened in the past 2-3 years, at least as observed in Makati, Philippines. There are ten co-working spaces now, whereas three years ago, there were none.

This creative class colonization differs from the former forms of colonization (see: Culture and Conquest) in that the relationship is middle-class collaborating with middle-class. Middle-class project managers from the United States are working with middle-class techies from the Philippines. The project managers set the tone: you must use our collaboration software, whether it's Slack or Google Hangouts, you must arrive on time, you must adopt a Western orderliness, and we disallow CYA (Cover Your Ass). The tech workers must "go along to get along," to get a paycheck, and therefore they must "assimilate or die." (see: Cultural Determinism)

In the past, the relationship was between upper-class and lower-class. The upper-class of London could go to the Manila Polo Club and find it similar to their environment in London. However, because of their master-servant relation, the service staff in the Polo club don't need to assimilate to the foreign upper-crust, but rather learn how to emulate. When the staff goes on break, they retreat to their culture. The American ways were just for show. If the colonization is collaborative, like with the international creative class, you have to become one with your teammates.

Other Western influences include the rule-of-law and a general orderliness. Traffic officers give out citations for jaywalking in Makati now. And in the Congress of the Philippines, they lock out representatives who arrive late for votes. While this only holds for a sliver of Metro Manila, it's an example of cultural colonization.