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The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
ARE YOU A CULTURAL CREATIVE?
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 care deeply about the destruction of the environment and would pay higher taxes or prices to clean it up and to stop global warming?
Are you unhappy with both the left and the right in politics and want to find a new way that does not simply steer a middle course?
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. 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 offers a more hopeful future and prepares us all for a transition to a new, saner, and wiser culture.
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 care deeply about the destruction of the environment and would pay higher taxes or prices to clean it up and to stop global warming?
Are you unhappy with both the left and the right in politics and want to find a new way that does not simply steer a middle course?
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. 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 offers a more hopeful future and prepares us all for a transition to a new, saner, and wiser culture.
370 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 6, 2013
Culteral Creatives are those who care deeply about humanity and are committed to saving the planet and pursuing social justice through self-actualization and/or spiritual wisdom. In contrast to Moderns (those who accept current mainstream systems) and Traditionals (those who reject current mainstream systems and look backwards for solutions), Culteral Creatives inwardly depart from the Modern materialistic worldview and seek to go beyond current systems to bridge an old way of life with a new, more sustainable, way of doing things. The book is divided into three parts: I. Introducing the Culteral Creatives (Who are they? Where do they come from? How do they compare to Moderns and Traditionals?); II. A Creation Story (Challenging the codes, Turning green, Waking up, and Embracing change); and III. Maps for the Journey (A wisdom for our time and Inventing a new culture). Readers are introduced to the personal stories of a variety of individual Cultural Creatives.
The authors have clearly done their homework and inspire hope through a saner, wiser global vision. Published in 2000, the book predates the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and the recent end-of-the-Mayan-calendar hype for 12-21-12, but the message and insights remain valid more than a decade later. Surely the number of Cultural Creatives has increased well beyond 50 million now and every one of those would feel greatly encouraged after reading this book.
The authors have clearly done their homework and inspire hope through a saner, wiser global vision. Published in 2000, the book predates the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and the recent end-of-the-Mayan-calendar hype for 12-21-12, but the message and insights remain valid more than a decade later. Surely the number of Cultural Creatives has increased well beyond 50 million now and every one of those would feel greatly encouraged after reading this book.
August 22, 2012
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World was a life-changing book.
I do not align with any liberal, democratic, conservative or republican party, as government has failed to tackle the issues addressed in this book.
So, unlike the Amazon.com reviewers, I do not fault the authors of this book for being liberal or left in their politics.
My only beef is not with the book but with the Cultural Creatives ourselves: I regret we lack the political clout to effectively change "business as usual" and create true, lasting, real improvements for the planet and everyone living on it.
I was on my own odyssey when I read this in August 2012 and the book resonated with me like no other. I revered this book not for its eco-focus totally; towards the end, what the authors talked about reinforced how I want to live my life.
Yes, I consider myself to be a Cultural Creative.
I'm disenchanted with politics as usual and have been for quite some time. I buy organic food and shop in the Greenmarkets. I won't eat red meat and rarely eat chicken. I admit, my shoes tend to be leather so I have a way to go in this regard.
Yet all in all, this is an excellent book. I wish the authors would update their findings to detail the real results Cultural Creatives have obtained since the copyright date of 2000.
I do not align with any liberal, democratic, conservative or republican party, as government has failed to tackle the issues addressed in this book.
So, unlike the Amazon.com reviewers, I do not fault the authors of this book for being liberal or left in their politics.
My only beef is not with the book but with the Cultural Creatives ourselves: I regret we lack the political clout to effectively change "business as usual" and create true, lasting, real improvements for the planet and everyone living on it.
I was on my own odyssey when I read this in August 2012 and the book resonated with me like no other. I revered this book not for its eco-focus totally; towards the end, what the authors talked about reinforced how I want to live my life.
Yes, I consider myself to be a Cultural Creative.
I'm disenchanted with politics as usual and have been for quite some time. I buy organic food and shop in the Greenmarkets. I won't eat red meat and rarely eat chicken. I admit, my shoes tend to be leather so I have a way to go in this regard.
Yet all in all, this is an excellent book. I wish the authors would update their findings to detail the real results Cultural Creatives have obtained since the copyright date of 2000.
March 3, 2009
i think the authors missed the boat here--it's not simply that the cultural creatives are changing the world--but HOW are they co-opting power in the name of "good work". who are these cultural creatives? white, middle to upper class, vegetarian, yoga practicing, trader joes shopping, well-educated...etc., etc. (read bobos in paradise for an ironic description.) the concept that these "cultural creatives" are somehow a tiny segment of the population is absurd. i truly believe that this book begs the question--what kind of cultural capital are these "creatives" creating for themselves? are they the new supremacists of culture? and, what of the other several billion who "are not changing the world"? what of them? and, are these well-meaning npr listening/reusable cloth bag toting people creating a cult of the creative--a class shift built to exclude those who are not non-profiteers? how can we read this book without seeing the blatant issue of class! i ask these questions because i certainly fit into the "cultural creative" category--but i take no pride in it. not until i see definitively how this class of people does no harm in the greater power struggle of class conflict.
May 14, 2019
★★★★★ The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World, by sociologist, Paul H. Ray and psychologist, Sherry Ruth Anderson which came about after 15 years of extensive research is a fascinating, detailed, nuanced and easily-readable work.
This compelling book provides historical and detailed macroscopic overviews, interspersed with microscopic interviews with Cultural Creatives from many walks of life, and the fascinating and inspiring stories they each have to share.
It describes the three main categories of people in the Western world: the Moderns, the Traditionals, and the newly-emergent Cultural Creatives.
Just as Idries Shah's seminal work, The Sufis (about the Sufi mystical tradition) was in part a call to the "natural" Sufis in Western society, so this work is a call to the "natural" Cultural Creatives in the world – most of whom do not realize that there are so many others like them; who may feel isolated and misunderstood; perhaps round pegs in square holes; and who don't know how they turned out the way they are.
The modern mainstream, the Moderns, are still running the show after 500 years, and "standing pat"; accepting the system and doing the best they can with the Modern worldview; hanging in there (often unwilling or unable to change), in the face of increasing dysfunction.
The first counterculture, the Traditionals, which was founded c.1870, is "leaning backward" (often to a time or a way of life that never was or can never again come to pass); rejecting the system and reacting against the Modern secular worldview. When Trump came along, they achieved a major resurgence.
And the Cultural Creatives, the new counterculture which was founded around 1970, are "leaning forward"; going beyond the system and inwardly departing from the Modern materialist worldview.
The book describes the history of various social, environmental and consciousness movements that sprang up in the 20th century, the changes that they helped bring about, the increasing role that Cultural Creatives have played in them, and the increasing interconnection and importance of these movements and worldviews.
Warning of the increasing dysfunction of the mainstream Modernism, and the "perfect storm" facing us – politically, culturally, economically, technologically, environmentally, spiritually, psychologically, and physically – the authors go on to describe ways in which we may change at a personal and also a cultural level and emerge through the other side of these immense and growing difficulties, stronger and better integrated. You might liken this process to that of a caterpillar that feeds, then pupates in a hard, protective cocoon, is broken down, and finally through a metamorphosis, it emerges from the cocoon as a butterfly.
Elders; initiation (such as rites of passage); stories that fit the new, emerging worldview; and mythos – which have been largely missing from Modern culture – these things will have a vital part to play both now with us in the "Between" (the interregnum between the Modern and the post-Modern eras at a cultural level, and also in our own personal and spiritual metamorphosis) and also in the new life that awaits us.
Don't be put off by the fact that this was published in 2001: What the authors have to say is even more important and relevant now in 2019, with the rise of Donald Trump, political populism and neoliberalism, the religious right; the newly-declared ecological and climate emergency; and the rise of the Extinction Rebellion movement and schoolgirl activist, Greta Thunberg.
This compelling book provides historical and detailed macroscopic overviews, interspersed with microscopic interviews with Cultural Creatives from many walks of life, and the fascinating and inspiring stories they each have to share.
It describes the three main categories of people in the Western world: the Moderns, the Traditionals, and the newly-emergent Cultural Creatives.
Just as Idries Shah's seminal work, The Sufis (about the Sufi mystical tradition) was in part a call to the "natural" Sufis in Western society, so this work is a call to the "natural" Cultural Creatives in the world – most of whom do not realize that there are so many others like them; who may feel isolated and misunderstood; perhaps round pegs in square holes; and who don't know how they turned out the way they are.
The modern mainstream, the Moderns, are still running the show after 500 years, and "standing pat"; accepting the system and doing the best they can with the Modern worldview; hanging in there (often unwilling or unable to change), in the face of increasing dysfunction.
The first counterculture, the Traditionals, which was founded c.1870, is "leaning backward" (often to a time or a way of life that never was or can never again come to pass); rejecting the system and reacting against the Modern secular worldview. When Trump came along, they achieved a major resurgence.
And the Cultural Creatives, the new counterculture which was founded around 1970, are "leaning forward"; going beyond the system and inwardly departing from the Modern materialist worldview.
The book describes the history of various social, environmental and consciousness movements that sprang up in the 20th century, the changes that they helped bring about, the increasing role that Cultural Creatives have played in them, and the increasing interconnection and importance of these movements and worldviews.
Warning of the increasing dysfunction of the mainstream Modernism, and the "perfect storm" facing us – politically, culturally, economically, technologically, environmentally, spiritually, psychologically, and physically – the authors go on to describe ways in which we may change at a personal and also a cultural level and emerge through the other side of these immense and growing difficulties, stronger and better integrated. You might liken this process to that of a caterpillar that feeds, then pupates in a hard, protective cocoon, is broken down, and finally through a metamorphosis, it emerges from the cocoon as a butterfly.
Elders; initiation (such as rites of passage); stories that fit the new, emerging worldview; and mythos – which have been largely missing from Modern culture – these things will have a vital part to play both now with us in the "Between" (the interregnum between the Modern and the post-Modern eras at a cultural level, and also in our own personal and spiritual metamorphosis) and also in the new life that awaits us.
Don't be put off by the fact that this was published in 2001: What the authors have to say is even more important and relevant now in 2019, with the rise of Donald Trump, political populism and neoliberalism, the religious right; the newly-declared ecological and climate emergency; and the rise of the Extinction Rebellion movement and schoolgirl activist, Greta Thunberg.
March 29, 2016
As I said, boring and one-noted. What happens when enough people respond positively to a TEDtalk? Unfortunately, these days you write a book. While this one was first published before TED hit the scene, its combination of storytelling and data will feel familiar to anyone who's spent 20 minutes staring at YouTube watching someone spin a bit of data into thinly veiled pitch for their consultancy or "virtual brand experience creatitorium
I rarely abandon books entirely. This one's going back up on half.com this afternoon.
I rarely abandon books entirely. This one's going back up on half.com this afternoon.
August 19, 2016
My only significant criticism is that this book is 100 pages longer than it needs to be.
But it was fun to consider the phenomenon of Cultural Creatives, who they are and what they aspire to. I found reassurance and wisdom in knowing that serious people see the inevitability (and dire necessity) of a world-wide reevaluation of our relationship with each other and the planet.
Nervous reviewers here who feel the need to offer snarky crticism from old binary political poles confirm the very conditions the authors begin their story with.
But it was fun to consider the phenomenon of Cultural Creatives, who they are and what they aspire to. I found reassurance and wisdom in knowing that serious people see the inevitability (and dire necessity) of a world-wide reevaluation of our relationship with each other and the planet.
Nervous reviewers here who feel the need to offer snarky crticism from old binary political poles confirm the very conditions the authors begin their story with.
June 16, 2008
I like the premise of this book, and certainly felt a fit for myself, looking at the values of the cultural creatives... I suppose I would have enjoyed a shorter treatise on this... after I while, I skimmed and selected sections rather than studiously reading the entire book. Still, it's interesting... I like how premises go "outside the box"--that's a great fit for me!
November 20, 2013
i could be very wrong.
legerdemain with statistics to try to typify 50 million in world who are very special, pro-women, creative, just bonny. Problem is that they aren't that different than many others... and don't self-identify or act in coherent way.
oh well, another book that could have been a New Yorker article and saved a lot of trees.
legerdemain with statistics to try to typify 50 million in world who are very special, pro-women, creative, just bonny. Problem is that they aren't that different than many others... and don't self-identify or act in coherent way.
oh well, another book that could have been a New Yorker article and saved a lot of trees.
October 15, 2010
IF you are a friend of mine you are mostly likely in this demographic... and this is a great read if you want to understand a world changing co-hort - Of which you are in all likelyhood a part...
May 10, 2011
Learn about your subculture, the Cultural Creatives. I mean really learn about it. See how common our values are. It's a thick read but if you like cultural studies, you'll like this.
December 3, 2014
a must read if you love bridging and fusing cultures together!
August 6, 2020
Definitely outdated but still relevant if you are involved with social justice movements. Interesting perspective if you want to get a sense of the history of social movements and the emergence of “Cultural Creatives”.
What is a “Cultural creative” you may ask? From the book, they are described as over 50 million “earth loving, neither right winged or left winged, spiritually religious and socially involved people”. I however, after reading through all the personal anecdotes and hype of their work, got a sense that the cultural creatives are actually not that big a group at all. Most of the perspective is that of white, upper class people who may have good intentions but lack knowledge around real climate/social justice work: respecting and uplifting BIPOC, striving for more than using a reusable tote bag/creating a national park (probably stolen from Indigenous people) and not supporting eco-capitalist ideas. What upsets me about the “Cultural Creatives” is that they are described as “not left nor right” but the book and their work itself is leftist (not enough though!) Real social justice work must often align itself with politics. From a current day perspective of a climate justice organizer, Cultural creatives may be a prominent group in society but they’ve evolved into something more than privileged, white, earth-loving, yoga enthusiasts.
I must acknowledge that the book was written before I was even born and a lot had changed since then! It’s great to see the history of social justice with the context of how it’s been viewed mostly from the perspective of upper class white folks. I think that there would be areas of grey where the culture and cultural creatives would meld into one. At times it would be frustrating to read it and it’s probably 100+ pages longer than it needs to be, but I still stuck through it because I think that it’s interesting to see how the emergence of the “Cultural Creatives” has led us here.
It’s might not be the best for those not already heavily involved in social justice movements but I’d recommend it if you are with my first takeaways in mind! If you are new, I implore you to start getting involve with your local climate/social justice groups first!!!
What is a “Cultural creative” you may ask? From the book, they are described as over 50 million “earth loving, neither right winged or left winged, spiritually religious and socially involved people”. I however, after reading through all the personal anecdotes and hype of their work, got a sense that the cultural creatives are actually not that big a group at all. Most of the perspective is that of white, upper class people who may have good intentions but lack knowledge around real climate/social justice work: respecting and uplifting BIPOC, striving for more than using a reusable tote bag/creating a national park (probably stolen from Indigenous people) and not supporting eco-capitalist ideas. What upsets me about the “Cultural Creatives” is that they are described as “not left nor right” but the book and their work itself is leftist (not enough though!) Real social justice work must often align itself with politics. From a current day perspective of a climate justice organizer, Cultural creatives may be a prominent group in society but they’ve evolved into something more than privileged, white, earth-loving, yoga enthusiasts.
I must acknowledge that the book was written before I was even born and a lot had changed since then! It’s great to see the history of social justice with the context of how it’s been viewed mostly from the perspective of upper class white folks. I think that there would be areas of grey where the culture and cultural creatives would meld into one. At times it would be frustrating to read it and it’s probably 100+ pages longer than it needs to be, but I still stuck through it because I think that it’s interesting to see how the emergence of the “Cultural Creatives” has led us here.
It’s might not be the best for those not already heavily involved in social justice movements but I’d recommend it if you are with my first takeaways in mind! If you are new, I implore you to start getting involve with your local climate/social justice groups first!!!
December 19, 2019
The authors, sociologist and psychologist in profession, conducted research in 100.000 Americans. They figured out there is a third sub-culture emerging beyond the traditionalists and the modernists, the cultural creatives. The cultural creatives believe they are minority, because they are not mainstream to be seen, but they are not. They probably are the drive of the next era after the modern Industrial Age. The book is quite thorough with all the social movements that changed America, and that’s why it was hard for me to read, but I found their proposed theory promising anyway. It’s written in 2000 and still a lot of what is described about societal changes hasn’t happened, so it’s either gonna fall short or gonna take few decades more to stabilize. I guess we will find out :)
January 10, 2019
Cultural Creatives is THE affirming guidebook for Millenials that need confidence about where we are and where we need to head in the current political climate. Couldn't recommend this more, even with it being decades old information because the projections foretold for 2020 are incredibly on point!!
March 1, 2017
This extensively researched book has good information about the sector of American society that comprises people who think outside mainstream consumerism. The term "Cultural Creatives" coined by the authors didn't stick and is not commonly used. I got the book to learn how to identify my fellow Americans I would like to connect with. Some information along those lines can be gleaned from this text but don't expect much in terms of practical direction in this regard.
July 25, 2007
finally a book that describes the cultural group of people I feel at home with!
What a relief! For years I felt a sense of isolation and discomfort with my place in "Mainstream Media Soccer Mom" culture - a growing weariness about the shadowside of modernism's incessant fascination with unbridled materialism devout of spiritual meaning while simultaneously abhorring the neo-traditionalist fundamentalist longing to return to a more orderly authoritarian era that never was...
Now Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson's decade long research surveying over 100,000 people shows a growing trend birthed after World War II of people no longer satisfied with either perspective and seeking an alternative, new, third way of living.
What a relief! For years I felt a sense of isolation and discomfort with my place in "Mainstream Media Soccer Mom" culture - a growing weariness about the shadowside of modernism's incessant fascination with unbridled materialism devout of spiritual meaning while simultaneously abhorring the neo-traditionalist fundamentalist longing to return to a more orderly authoritarian era that never was...
Now Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson's decade long research surveying over 100,000 people shows a growing trend birthed after World War II of people no longer satisfied with either perspective and seeking an alternative, new, third way of living.
August 8, 2012
In this book, Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson describe a growing cultural movement that transcends political and geographic boundaries. They identify the values that mark Cultural Creatives, and distinguish them from two other main groups in American society: Traditionals and Moderns. The authors assert that the Cultural Creatives are a growing force in our global society, whose beginnings can be traced back to the 60’s. It has taken 40 years for those seeds to take hold, and the authors link civil rights, the ecological movement, women’s rights and other forces together in outlining what Cultural Creatives care about.
An important resource for considering and examining authenticity in today’s world.
An important resource for considering and examining authenticity in today’s world.
January 24, 2009
I'm really enjoying what I'm learning about this large and largely unknown segment of the U.S. population. As one of them it's encouraging to realize how many of us there are. It may be that the election of Barack Obama is one of the first signs of how much potential impact Cultural Creatives can have when acting in concert.
September 16, 2011
A useful description by a sociologist and a pyschologist of the elements of our culture and the addtion of the "creatvies" to the Traditional and modern mindsets that govern the way we operate in socieity. While the book is interesting, it is also very long-winded in a '60s "Peace,man!" -which is to say,not very concrete,sort of way.
October 22, 2012
Are you a cultural creative? This is one of many interesting questions posed by this book. Focusing on the distinct values and lifestyles of a subset of the population, I felt like they were profiling my life.
July 13, 2008
Cultural Creatives is an important idea that needs to be put right up beside Florida's Creative Class. The authors take a sociological lens, not an economic one, in understand the emerging shared values of a sociological grouping with the desire and ability to change everything.
November 9, 2009
Interesting cultural breakdown into Traditionals, Moderns, and Cultural Creatives. Moderns being consumer/career focused and Traditionals wanting to return to "old ways" or their perception of what use to exist. Cultural creatives look forward and are what we are evolving towards, I am there!
Read
January 19, 2016Easily one of the best, and most accessible books to read about culture change. An inspiration, for me, to ways to face some of the challenges that the dominant culture practices today. Also, very focused on the 'inner' journey; the process and transformation. I really enjoyed this book.
Read
June 14, 2007this book is intimidatingly large. and square (the pages, that is).
December 2, 2008
I wish there was more written about Cultural Creatives.
January 18, 2009
Informative: on the merging of feminism, environmentalism, New Age spirituality, and a host of other movements.
January 25, 2013
I'm a Cultural Creative ^^
June 14, 2011
wow! is this fascinating! I'm definitely one. Are you?
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews