Are you a Modern, a Traditional, or a Cultural Creative?

Are you a Modern, a Traditional, or a Cultural Creative? Or perhaps you are one of the 10% of the US who are In Transition to becoming a Cultural Creative?

These competing subcultures in American society are identified and described by sociologist Paul Ray from his considerable research into American values, worldviews and lifestyles. And Ray tells us that similar distinct subcultures are to be found within Western Europe and Japan.

I wrote 2 days ago of the characteristics of the Cultural Creatives. Today I’m focussing on the Moderns. Moderns, we are told by Ray, “tend to see the world through a filter of personal success and financial gain.” Oh yes I can certainly see that around me! They accept “things as they are,” Ray tells us, “in big cities, big organizations, the latest technologies, mass media, and a ‘modern’ life rewarded by material consumption.” And Ray tells us that despite what the media, governments and corporations would have us believe, he does not think there has ever been a time when Moderns have comprised more than half the American population. So the needs and desires of at least half the population are not being addressed by the state, by the media, by businesses.

But Ray thinks that since the 1960’s the Moderns started losing their children to the Cultural Creatives, and reduced to about 40% of the population, the culture breaking down in the face of being unable to solve the problems it created. But I am surprised by this analysis. I feel that I can recognise the Modern in many of the young adults of today I see in the UK. Too old to have been a part of the “green” revolution now well established in our education system, too young to share the worries of those of us of more mature years who have seen such extreme changes in our lives and are concerned by them. I’m still puzzling on this. Of course my sample is broadly limited to those young adults I see around me, contemporaries of my own children, through University and now successful young professionals in the big cities. Would this section of society be more likely to be Moderns than their non-university contemporaries? I need to dig deeper into this. All comments welcomed.

The Cultural Creatives - an important emerging planetary culture

Ten years ago Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson wrote The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World.

Now there are more than 200 million Cultural Creatives, with exciting implications for the future of our world.
Why is this exciting? I can best quote the Wisdom University definition of Cultural Creatives. They are:
“people who are deeply spiritual without being dogmatically religious, and who enjoy technology and economic prosperity but not at the cost of the environment or community. They understand the world holistically and are deeply committed to non-ideological politics that emphasize practical solutions…they represent a dramatic departure from the traditional value system of religious fundamentalists and the modernist worldview of much of the scientific and business community. Not since the Enlightenment, when the modernist worldview began to emerge, has there been such a profound realignment in fundamental human values. Cultural Creatives are the emerging wisdom culture.”
Their potential for healing this wounded earth is enormous. Here indeed is an important emerging planetary culture.
A documentary video has also been made, based on Ray’s latest work, by Frygis Fogel, an Hungarian independent filmmaker, about the Cultural Creatives movement; “Cultural Creatives 1.0 - THE REVOLUTION.”

This is all exciting for me. Paul Ray’s work and his recognition of the Cultural Creatives was an early influence in the preparation of my own book, which he endorsed, on healing the earth. Here I emphasize the need for spirituality, compassion and empathy, in everything that we do, in our work and at leisure. The book’s collection of ideas, to inspire and involve all those who want to find a new and sustainable way of living, speaks to the Cultural Creatives amongst us and offers a way of joining us together in action. Otherwise we are in a lonely place, often not understood or taken seriously by those around us.

Paul now heads up the Institute for the Emerging Wisdom Culture at Wisdom University, who have sponsored his latest research into the Cultural Creatives. Based on these findings, the Institute will then develop a range of studies, seminars, conferences and publications to further promote this essential culture. But most important of all will be the "joined together" action from the bottom up, by individuals committed to healing the world. 
Do watch the video. I hope to return to Paul’s latest data on the Cultural Creatives and his ongoing work at Wisdom University in later posts. There is much to assimilate first, but his conclusion to his paper The Potential for a New, Emerging Culture in the U.S. (Report on the 2008 American Values Survey) makes it very clear that the movement has shown a dramatic growth, since his earlier research, with huge potential for changing the world and making it a better place for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.