The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Cultural Creatives, a powerful, emerging, American demographic segment...

"Cultural Creatives is a term coined by sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson to describe a large segment in Western society that has recently developed beyond the standard paradigm of Modernists versus Traditionalists or Conservatists. The concept was presented in their book The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World (2000), where they claim to have found that 50 million adult Americans (slightly over one quarter of the adult population) can now be identified as belonging to this group. They estimated that there were another 80–90 million Cultural Creatives in Europe in 2000."

So, are you a Cultural Creative? Take this quiz and find out.

6 comments:

Steve Sibson said...

Bill,

Clearly this movement is in line with the Progressives, who have rejected Natural Law. John Dewey, the philosopher for the Progressives, rejected the supernatural restricting the analysis to the finite box. I contend that those of us who follow Natural Law are the creative culture as we think outside the box and tap into the guidance of the Creator.

So even though I do not relate to the movement, I believe I am participating in a creative culture. A move away from God’s laws and toward laws created by man is not progress, nor creative. Instead it is very destructive and regressive.

Bill Fleming said...

So you flunked the test, Sibby? Did you check ANY of the boxes, little brother? Come on, man, surely you agreed with SOME of it.

Bill Fleming said...

Actually, I think Steve Sibson may be missing the point.

There are "Cultural Creatives" in all of the traditional American political movements; Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Liberals, Moderates, Conservatives, Radicals and Reactionaries from all parties, and ideologies, Progressive, Independent, Capitalist, Socialist, whatever.

It is a transcendent movement encompassing a broad spectrum of of political, moral, spiritual and social thought.

The other key point is, the movement is so spontaneous, grassroots, evolutionary, and recent (circa 1970's) its "members" haven't really discovered each other yet.

Thus you may in fact "be one" and don't even know it yet.

Kind of one of them there "zietgeist" thingies.

Nathan said...

Steve, did it ever occur to you that the Cultural Creatives may very well be deeply tapped into the guidance of "The Creator?"

If you take an objective look at all of the ideas that are being championed by this particular psychographic, you'll notice that the net effect of their efforts will most likely result in a more peaceful, politically, economically and ecologically balanced society.

Seems God uses all kinds of folks to get the meaningful work done. Not just those who believe that anything devoid of the Jesus metaphor is inherently "unGodly."

And as for your claims regarding certain "progressive" attitudes toward Natural Law, it's important to understand that not all progressive thinkers reject the notion of "the nature of things."

http://www.physorg.com/news163670588.html

Further, ALL laws that are expressed in writing were written by man. And man knows full well that there is a "nature" to everything. And the best we can do is interpret what we observe, assess what's working and what's not and behave accordingly. Adapt.

"Change" is the most comprehensible constant we have observed, to date.

And God's book, reportedly put together by a series of ghost writers for God, places God at the beginning and the end. God is everything. God is constant. Right?

If change is constant, (hard to argue against that) and God is constant, then...

God is Change.
Change is God.

Now, where's that box you were talking about?

Oh, I see. You're standing on it.

Dixon de Leña said...

In order to avoid "pig-piling" Steve I'd much rather encourage him to follow links to a summary of our most recent Cultural Creatives values study administered by TNS, world's largest survey research corporation and completed by Paul H. Ray in March, 2008. A few of the top-line results might interest Steve are:

51.70% say Very or Extremely Important is: wanting to be involved in creating a better society than we have today

73.40% agree: We have a moral duty to protect all God's creatures from extinction

71.75% agree: It is our sacred obligation to care for God's creation

70.50% agree: I see myself as a citizen of Planet Earth as well as an American

Some of the top-line results in the Values and Ecology sections of our 200+ questions/statements survey can be found here: http://www.integralpartnerships.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

What isn't always clear to people (or pollsters) is that our Cultural Creatives research scans for the deeper values, not opinions, of adults in the U.S. To quote Paul, "Values are the deepest and slowest-changing indicators we can measure with surveys, and worldviews are almost as deep, while attitudes and opinions are closer to the social surface of life, more superficial, labile and faster to change. Values and worldviews are said to be 'deeper' when they are part of who we think we are, are more strongly held, matter more to how we live our lives, and are more a part of our personal ‘systems of meaning and important life priorities'."

With this said, the 3 Cultural Creatives surveys (1994, 2000, 2008) have shown that a growing percentage of people are living, buying, voting and running businesses, etc., from a unique set of values that is neither Right, Left, Modern Business or the Mushy Middle - but out-front creating a potentially Planetary culture. Also, let's get one thing clear - not all Progressives think in Planetary terms.

Over the past few years, in the US and across Western Europe and Japan, a set of independent surveys by different research teams, has found that Cultural Creatives are 33-37% of adults, averaging 35%. What goes with that research finding is a parallel realization: This is an emerging planetary culture. The values and worldviews of Cultural Creatives all around the planet are much more similar to each other than they are to the people of their own particular countries. The emerging planetary values and worldviews are converging across nations to create a ‘trans-modern’ culture. That is, it can cut across the rancorous conflicts and divisions among peoples and religions to integrate modern and traditional values with something new that’s still in process, still emerging. It’s a wiser culture, one that supports the people more than elites. It’s a surprising new basis for planetary integration, and for creating a sustainable world. It's the potential for a more peaceful Planet.

It's also important to notice that our survey showed that 72% of Americans now see themselves as citizens of planet Earth as well as Americans. There is movement in the collective consciousness toward planetary awareness, planetary concerns, and not just globalization of an economic kind, but planetary integration, at precisely the same moment in history when the whole planet is threatened by climate crisis.

This "collective consciousness" that gently drives more and more people to live Cultural Creative values, virtually undetected by the Modern mainstream media, and furthermore, without Cultural Creatives even knowing each other exist, is quite remarkable. I'd venture to say it might well be a manifestation of a Higher Power. However, this power can not be claimed by any one god, church or institution. As I like to say, it's just us human beings showing up at our greatest.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

Dixon T. de Leña, CEO/Founding Partner (with Paul H. Ray)
Integral Partnerships LLC
www.integralpartnerships.com
Dixon's Blog: www.culturalcreativesinleadership.wordpress.com

[aaron] said...

Sorry Nathan, but if you disagree with Steve Sibson, you are wrong and are on the e-train to hell. Everybody knows that Sibby is right: he has a direct line to God, who whispers in his ear directions for life. "Have rasberry jam on toast for breakfast, Sibby", He whispers, "people who eat bagels and lox are evil."

Sibby is truly holier than thou. Notice that sentence didn't include quotation marks.

You gotta love his logic. "Cultural Creatives.... rejected the supernatural restricting the analysis to the finite box. I contend that those of us who follow Natural Law are the creative culture as we think outside the box and tap into the guidance of the Creator."

LOL