Relationships between creativity and abolitionist ideology

The capacity to imagine creative solutions and new, non-carceral worlds and social systems is key to contemporary prison and police abolitionist movements. These movements often encounter challenges when encouraging people to consider alternatives to existing carceral systems (i.e., prisons and policing), as people feel threatened by the unknown. In the current studies, we consider whether creativity – and the generation of creative alternatives – could be key to increasing support for abolition. In Study 1 ( N = 261), we examine associations between varying facets of creativity and endorsement of abolition in a nationally representative U.S. sample, finding that creative self-concept, but not convergent thinking, was positively associated with participants’ capacity to generate non-carceral responses to harms, more accessible cognitive alternatives to carceral systems, and abolitionist identity. In preregistered Study 2 ( N = 381), we examined the effect of creativity primes on abolitionist outcomes. Creativity primes, relative to control primes, did not increase abolitionist ideology, accessibility of abolitionist cognitive alternatives, generation of non-carceral responses to harm, or abolitionist imagination. Study 2 replicated Study 1 associations between creative self-concept and abolitionist outcomes. We discuss findings in light of long-theorized links between creativity and abolitionist movements.