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The hacker ethic 425to its structural basis in the informational economy: the role of innovation asthe source of growth.This structural connection also clarifies the sense in which the concept ofthe hacker ethic or the culture of innovation is presented here. One of the firstquestions invoked about the meaning of the concept is: “But is there anythingnew about this? Have there not always been innovators like this, such as scientistsor artists?” The first answer is, of course, that the hacker ethic is notcompletely new: people with the “hacker ethic” existed before the informationaleconomy. But a second response must be that it still makes sense to limitthe primary meaning of the expression to our age. It is the new, structurallydominant role that innovation has in our economy that makes it valid to talkabout the “hacker ethic” or the “culture of innovation” as the culture of theinformational economy. There were, of course, innovators before the informationalage but they formed a small group that was not at the center of the economy.In the informational economy, the innovators are the dominant, andfast-growing, group at the core of the economy.Again, it is necessary to clarify the claim. A relevant question here wouldclearly be: “But how can one have the hacker ethic in such and such a job? Theconcept seems to be limited only to some workers.” Of course, this is true.There are many jobs – for example, routine jobs – where there is no hackerethic; I do not mean that everyone now has the hacker ethic. However, it is nota marginal group that has the new work ethic, it is the dominant (and large)group. Even Weber did not mean that in the industrial economy everyone hadthe Protestant ethic; this was clearly not true. What mattered was that it wasthe dominant culture. (Richard Florida has also approached the subject withthe interesting concept of the “creative class,” which is very much the same asthe group I call “hackers.” The hacker ethic / culture of innovation / creativework ethic is the core that constitutes this “class”; see Florida, 2002.)The role and nature of innovative work in the informational culture givesthe concept of the hacker ethic or the culture of innovation a specific meaning.First, the growth based on innovation requires creative passion. In the industrialeconomy, many jobs consisted of executing routines that were not onlyuninteresting in themselves but gave little room for the use of individualcreative capabilities. In this kind of setting, the Protestant ethic made a lot ofsense: work should be regarded as a duty where one just needs to do one’sallotted task.However, in an increasing number of jobs in the informational economy,the Protestant ethic does not make sense but even works counterproductively.When the success of companies depends on innovation a different workculture is needed: the culture of innovation. Workers who feel that their workis just an unavoidable obligation, in which they just do what they are told, donot act creatively. This is why the world’s leading companies now emphasize