The Cultural Creatives : How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

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Do you "give a lot of importance to helping other people and bringing out their unique gifts?" Do you "dislike all the emphasis in modern culture on success and 'making it,' on getting and spending, on wealth and luxury goods?" Do you "want to be involved in creating a new and better way of life for our country?" If you answered yes to all three of these questions--and at least seven more of the remaining 15 in Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson's questionnaire--then you are probably a Cultural Creative.

Cultural Creative is a term coined by Ray and Anderson to describe people whose values embrace a curiosity and concern for the world, its ecosystem, and its peoples; an awareness of and activism for peace and social justice; and an openness to self-actualization through spirituality, psychotherapy, and holistic practices. Cultural Creatives do not just take the money and run; they don't want to defund the National Endowment for the Arts; and they do want women to get a fairer shake--not only in the United States, but around the globe.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Coauthors Ray and Anderson believe that an American cultural revolution is afoot. they contend that, like many cultural shifts, it appears indistinct from a distance. But, whether we call these revolutionaries "cultural creatives" or "new age" or "ecocentrists," the force of their optimistic and ethical message is upon us. Indeed, the author maintain that forty-four million U.S. adults show loyalty to this spiritual core, and major political parties ignore them at the risk of their own survival.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this landmark book, sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson draw upon thirteen years of survey research studies on more than 100,000 Americans, plus more than 100 focus groups and dozens of in-depth interviews. They reveal who the Cultural Creatives are and the fascinating story of their emergence over the last generation, using vivid examples and engaging personal stories to describe their distinctive values and lifestyles.

The Cultural Creatives care deeply about ecology and saving the planet, about relationships, peace, and social justice, about self-actualization, spirituality, and self-expression. Surprisingly, they are both inner-directed and socially concerned; they're activists, volunteers, and contributors to good causes more often than other Americans. But because they've been so invisible, they are astonished to find out how many others share both their values and their way of life. Once they realize their numbers, their impact on America promises to be enormous, shaping a new agenda for the twenty-first century.

What makes the appearance of the Cultural Creatives especially timely is that our civilization is in the midst of an epochal change, caught between globalization, accelerating technologies, and a deteriorating planetary ecology. A creative minority can have enormous leverage to carry us into a new renaissance instead of a disastrous fall. The book ends with a number of maps for the remarkable journey that our civilization is embarked upon: initiations, evolutionary models, scenarios, and the elements of a new mythos for our time. The Cultural Creatives offers a more hopeful future and prepares us all for a transition to a new, saner, and wiser culture.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In an attempt to reconceptualize shifting American demographics that's similar to David Brook's Bobos in Paradise (Forecasts, Mar. 13), Ray and Anderson posit that hidden within America are 50 million people, 26% of the population, who are what they call "cultural creatives." Based on 12 years of survey research, 100 focus groups and dozens of interviews, their study presents a complex portrait of these citizens. According to the authors, cultural creatives share a series of attitudes and concerns: "they like to get a synoptic view [and] see all the parts spread out side by side and trace the interconnections"; they have strong concerns about the well-being of families; they have a well-developed social consciousness and a "guarded optimism for the future"; they are disenchanted with "owning more stuff... materialism... status display and the glaring social inequities of race" and are critical of almost every big institution of modern society, including corporations and government. This cultural group--drawn from all classes, races, education and income levels and social backgrounds--has emerged only during the past 50 years and, according to the authors, forms a coherent subculture, only "missing a self-awareness as a whole people." Ray and Anderson argue that cultural creatives hold the potential for radically reshaping the values and material realities, the "deep structure," of American life, and so they aim to make this group cognizant of their shared values, to bring about substantive changes. More successful than Brooks in grappling with issues of gender, ethnicity, race and class, Ray and Anderson offer unusual insights that, while broad and sweeping, shed new light on American culture and politics. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

Ray, a market researcher, and Anderson, a psychologist and coauthor of The Feminine Face of God, have written a book about the 50 million so-called "cultural creatives" whose lifestyles and beliefs have been significantly informed by the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. According to the authors, this group of Americans--which includes environmentalists, feminists, and those interested in alternative medicine, natural foods, and new forms of spirituality--advances progressive causes by effecting cultural change rather than by participating in organizational politics. In turn a demographic study, a history of the environmental and Civil Rights movements, and a self-help manual, this book seeks to get cultural creatives to recognize their collective strength and bring it to bear on the problems created by global capitalism. The authors have definitely put their finger on an important trend in American life, and many readers will find themselves described within these pages. However, the book suffers from its expansive perspective; important social movements get cursory attention while lengthy anecdotes at times seem redundant or superfluous. Still, it is recommended for public libraries.--Andrew Brodie Smith, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Kirkus Reviews

A vision of things to come, with emphasis on the character of those who will bring them.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

This book is an extraordinary gift—a joyous and inspiring revelation of the immense power we possess to transform our world. Realizing you belong to a community of 50 million people is both exhilarating and profoundly empowering. Highly recommended! — (Jalaja Bonheim, Ph.D., author of Aphrodite's Daughters)

There is no way to overestimate the contribution that Ray and Anderson have made to our understanding of the times in which we live. They have put their finger on the pulse of an entire generation. Just knowing who we are, having a name as it were, gives Cultural Creatives more power to affect the world. — (Marianne Williamson, author of Healing the Soul of America )

The Cultural Creatives tells the human story behind some of the most significant and intriguing research of the new millennium—50 million pioneers who have broken out of the cultural trance and are creating effective change in the world. This is a truly inspiring and essential resource for my work in creating a new politics. — (Corinne McLaughlin is co-author of Spiritual Politics: Changing the World from the Inside Out, Executive Director of The Center for Visionary Leadership in Washington, D.C., and on the adjunct faculty of American University.)

A really interesting perspective on the history and growth of the modern consciousness movements. The Cultural Creatives helps us understand who we can be—it gives hope.  — (Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart)

The Cultural Creatives is a bold announcement that the starting gun for social transformation has already gone off. Their pioneering study reveals that a quiet revolution in American life has been underway for decades and that a striking, new subculture is emerging rapidly with powerful and positive implications. The Cultural Creatives is essential reading for understanding the converging forces for profound social change in the coming decades.  — (Duane Elgin, author of Promise Ahead and Voluntary Simplicity)

In this startling expose, Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson document the beliefs, values, and practices of a secret tribe of cultural subversives so hidden from public view that its members are unknown even to one another. If you are an American who believes there is more to life than money and materialism, loves nature, hates advertising, and feels alone in your efforts to make the world a better place for all, you are probably one of them. Give yourself a loving gift. Read what is destined to be one of the defining books of the 21st century, learn the truth about the 50 million others like you, and be lonely no more.  — (David C. Korten, author of The Post-Corporate World: Life after Capitalism and board chair, Positive Futures Network, publishers of YES! A Journal of Positive Futures)

Barbara Marx Hubbard

The Cultural Creativesprovides a vital mirror for multifaceted 'social uprising of wellness' to see itself as a powerful movement, to gain the collective authority and a shared sense of direction required to seed the culture with health and vitality in the third millennium. Millions will recognize themselves and be connected with others, so that the emerging 'butterfly' will dry its wings and fly! — (Barbara Marx Hubbard, President, Foundation for Conscious Evolution, author, and speaker.)

Written with passion, The Cultural Creatives sows seeds of ecological ethics, idealism, and economic justice. Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson have made a much-needed contribution to the good fight.  — (Randall Hayes, Founder & President of Rainforest Action Network)