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

Rating:
Summary: Not Yet a Movement, But Showing Serious Potential
Review:

This book should be read together with IMAGINE, edited by Marianne Williamson. Taken together, the two books are inspirational while still being practical.

Cultural Creatives as a book, and some of the other reviews, tend to over-sell the success of the emergence of an alternative lifestyle to Traditionalists (stereotyped as somewhat red neckish and religious rightists) and Moderns (stereotyped as ravish the earth anything-goes corporate carpetbaggers). The reality is that there are as many "cultural creatives" as there are people with disabilities in the United States--50 million. Not one quarter of the population, as one reviewer claims.

Having said that, by way of somber stage-setting, I cannot say enough good things about this book. It should be required reading for every citizen, every student, and every public official. In a very real sense, this book strikes me as a truly seminal work that could help millions of individuals reframe their personal connection to one another, to their Republic, and to the earth.

This is neither a tree-hugger book nor a mantras R us book. This book provides a thoughtful review of how different movements--first the environmental movement, then the human rights movement, and finally the consciousness movement--have come together to define an alternative lifestyle and alternative paradigm for political and economic and social relationships in the larger context of a sustainable "whole" earth.

I found this book motivational and meaningful at both a personal level and a larger national level. At the personal level, its detailed and well-organized description of fifteen very distinct aspects of a "cultural creative" lifestyle helped me understand--as it has helped many others--that there is actually a category of people who have come to grips with and found solutions that enrich their lives--and this explains my great disappointment that the book does not offer a "resources" section at the end. I would have been very glad to discover, for example, a "Cultural Creative" journal or magazine that combined a strong book review section, art and culture, a consumer reports section tailored to the higher standards of the "CCs", new innovations in home restoration and remodeling, vacation options known to be attractive to CCs, etcetera.

At the higher political level, I found the book constructive and just this side of a tipping point. An increasing number of people, all of them generally outside of Washington and not associated with Wall Street, clearly have some strong positive values and a real commitment to achieving reform through "many small actions". What this group has lacked is a means of communicating and orchestrating itself on a scale sufficient to demand respect from politicians and corporation. The Internet now provides such a vehicle--and as the Internet explodes from 3.5M people worldwide to 3.5B people worldwide, in the next ten years, I am convinced that Cultural Creatives may finally come into their own as a new form of global political party. Cultural Creatives would sign the Kyoto Treaty (and know what it is); Cultural Creatives would demand a 100% increase--from a half-penny a dollar to a full penny a dollar--in America's foreign diplomatic and humanitarian assistance budget--and Cultural Creatives could conceivably give the Republican Party a real beating in the next Congressional elections if President Bush persists in breaking his campaign vow on reducing carbon emissions. A peaceful revolution in our national agenda may truly be a near-term reality.

This is not a book where a summary can do it justice. It needs to be experienced at an individual level and ideally also at a community level, where it could be understood and accepted as a common point of reference for individual choosing to live "in relation" to one another and to the world, at a level much higher and more satisfying than our current arrangements. When this book makes it to the best-seller list, America will have matured and there will be hope for our children's future quality of life.

Rating:
Summary: Where is the harm in the book?
Review:

I've just read some of the negative reviews of this book and felt compelled to re-post my initial review....where's the harm in wanting to do good? I can't imagine a "Mother Russia" scenario, as one reviewer suggests.

Oh, well, that's why there's chocolate and vanilla.

For my money, the 'movement' these authors highlight will most likely run afoul...there is hope for our planet.

Psychologists Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson have written a handbook for people who are working to make this world a better place. Their book, THE CULTURAL CREATIVES - HOW 50 MILLION PEOPLE ARE CHANGING THE WORLD - is a guidebook for those who are interested in saving the planet, nurturing their personal relationships, and being sensitive without being stomped on. You might be a Cultural Creative if you're into: books and music; arts and culture; stories; social causes, especially issues dealing with women and children; and authenticity. The authors have created an interesting test to gauge where you stand in the mix and use a lot of graphs throughout the book to identify cultural creatives and their issues. If you're from the '60s and you've ever wondered what to do with all the energy created during that period of our lives, this book will open your eyes. If you've sometimes felt like an alien in your own family, the authors will offer you comfort because you're not alone. Even if you're just wondering why cultural creatives are so passionate about their lives, this planet, and their causes, this book will help you put it all together. Cultural Creatives include such personalities as: Pope John Paul XXIII; Martin Luther King, Jr.; The Dalai Lama; Annie Dillard; Georgia O'Keeffe; Marc Chagall; Yo-Yo Ma; Robert Redford; Katharine Hepburn; and Bill Moyers. Pretty good company, don't you think? While the book represents a lot of research on the part of the authors, the data is never presented in a dry, boring format. I found it hard to put the book down. The information resonated with me -- I'm from the 60's -- and it gave me hope for the future of our species and our planet. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Where is the harm in the book?
Review:

I've just read some of the negative reviews of this book and felt compelled to re-post my initial review....where's the harm in wanting to do good? I can't imagine a "Mother Russia" scenario, as one reviewer suggests.

Oh, well, that's why there's chocolate and vanilla.

For my money, the 'movement' these authors highlight will most likely run afoul...there is hope for our planet.

Psychologists Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson have written a handbook for people who are working to make this world a better place. Their book, THE CULTURAL CREATIVES - HOW 50 MILLION PEOPLE ARE CHANGING THE WORLD - is a guidebook for those who are interested in saving the planet, nurturing their personal relationships, and being sensitive without being stomped on. You might be a Cultural Creative if you're into: books and music; arts and culture; stories; social causes, especially issues dealing with women and children; and authenticity. The authors have created an interesting test to gauge where you stand in the mix and use a lot of graphs throughout the book to identify cultural creatives and their issues. If you're from the '60s and you've ever wondered what to do with all the energy created during that period of our lives, this book will open your eyes. If you've sometimes felt like an alien in your own family, the authors will offer you comfort because you're not alone. Even if you're just wondering why cultural creatives are so passionate about their lives, this planet, and their causes, this book will help you put it all together. Cultural Creatives include such personalities as: Pope John Paul XXIII; Martin Luther King, Jr.; The Dalai Lama; Annie Dillard; Georgia O'Keeffe; Marc Chagall; Yo-Yo Ma; Robert Redford; Katharine Hepburn; and Bill Moyers. Pretty good company, don't you think? While the book represents a lot of research on the part of the authors, the data is never presented in a dry, boring format. I found it hard to put the book down. The information resonated with me -- I'm from the 60's -- and it gave me hope for the future of our species and our planet. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: There's hope for our species & our planet!
Review:

Psychologists Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson have written a handbook for people who are working to make this world a better place. Their book, THE CULTURAL CREATIVES - HOW 50 MILLION PEOPLE ARE CHANGING THE WORLD - is a guidebook for those who are interested in saving the planet, nurturing their personal relationships, and being sensitive without being stomped on.

You might be a Cultural Creative if you're into: books and music; arts and culture; stories; social causes, especially issues dealing with women and children; and authenticity. The authors have created an interesting test to gauge where you stand in the mix and use a lot of graphs throughout the book to identify cultural creatives and their issues.

If you're from the '60s and you've ever wondered what to do with all the energy created during that period of our lives, this book will open your eyes. If you've sometimes felt like an alien in your own family, the authors will offer you comfort because you're not alone. Even if you're just wondering why cultural creatives are so passionate about their lives, this planet, and their causes, this book will help you put it all together.

Cultural Creatives include such personalities as: Pope John Paul XXIII; Martin Luther King, Jr.; The Dalai Lama; Annie Dillard; Georgia O'Keeffe; Marc Chagall; Yo-Yo Ma; Robert Redford; Katharine Hepburn; and Bill Moyers. Pretty good company, don't you think?

While the book represents a lot of research on the part of the authors, the data is never presented in a dry, boring format. I found it hard to put the book down. The information resonated with me -- I'm from the 60's -- and it gave me hope for the future of our species and our planet.

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: How do you want to change the world?
Review: A ripe and potent piece balanced with real evidence and moving stories of how our world is evolving in a most inspiring way. The Cultural Creatives provides a depth of profound familiarity for those in search of a richer inner life and a more conscious outer life. This book is sure to be the catalyst for bringing together a powerful and innovative culture with the power and passion to change the world for the better.

Rating:
Summary: In touch
Review: As one surrounded by Type A personalities running at full gate all the time this book is refreshing. Being a square peg in a round hole I felt some reassurance that lo and behold I am not alone. Seriously, this book does a good job of looking into those that are rewarded by helping others grow. Very cool. Perhaps we could make it a contagious and make the Type A's of the world take three deep cleansing breaths. Om....

Rating:
Summary: come together!
Review: coming from an environment of virtual class struggle in the sixties and now, thirty years later, allready having been trapped in the 90's, and finally lost in the new indivualistic millenium, found myself in this book!

message: you are not alone! 'in solidarity we can defeat them' still is a true statement. don't let any bribed politician in dc do anything for you, go get yourself together and do it yourself, with others who have the same interest.

but don't forget: don't just blame the players, blame the game!

Rating:
Summary: 50 Million "Cultural Creatives" Influencing U.S. Agenda
Review: Every decade or so a book captures the social zeitgeist, the essence of the times, reflecting us as we are and revealing who we are becoming. In the 1980s, books by Alvin Toffler (Future Shock and The Third Wave) and John Naisbitt (Megatrends) took America by storm as they presented leading edge thinking and technology, and foretold how we would live as the millennium ended.

Now, a book for the 21st Century, Ray and Anderson's The Cultural Creatives, is poised to have the greatest impact on Americans' understanding of themselves - and shaping of their future - since Megatrends. "The Cultural Creatives" is already joining the national lexicon as the name of the substantial American sub-culture - 50 million adults - that the authors identified after more than 100,000 questionnaires, 500 focus groups and scores of personal interviews.

The Cultural Creatives, who transcend normal demographic boundaries, are characterized by their values. They tend to: love nature and are concerned about its destruction; hold a holistic perspective; value relationships, psychological and spiritual development; support women's and children's issues; be optimistic about the future; be unhappy with both the left and right in politics and seek a new way that's not the "mushy middle." The authors present 18 "values statements" that tend to define the population.

The Cultural Creatives is not only an immensely important work on American culture at this critical time -- with implications for marketing, politics and most aspects of American life -- it is also a fascinating, easy and accessible read. The authors present complete profiles of America's three sub-cultures -- The Cultural Creatives, The Moderns and The Traditionals -- along with historical context for all the groups and a collection of personal stories of cultural creatives from all walks of life ... and how they found their way into this group that's intent on generating "a future that works for everyone."

Not to be missed by anyone interested in the personal and social transformation emerging worldwide.

Rating:
Summary: Not A Member Of Cultural Creatives, Inc.
Review: I always detest attempts by academics engaged in sociological studies to place people into convenient categories in order to describe them. The real world is simply more complex than the one proposed by Ray and Anderson in their book. According to the authors, there are three major subcultures in the United States: Traditionals, Moderns and the newly emerging hippie dippie "Cultural Creatives." They've got mountains of interviews and completed sociological questionnaires to prove it. The trouble with the author's approach is that it never seems to cross their minds that individuals might share the values of more than one of the subcultures they have invented for their book. I for example find myself in general agreement with Cultural Creatives on the issue of militarism, but I am more in agreement with the secularism of the Moderns. The author's brush aside just criticism of the dopey spirituality of the Creatives but never confront why "New Age" has become a term of derision. It's because this dopey spirituality is being expounded by many a gluttonous urban liberal. I know this because I live in place that is overrun with these kinds of people. The spirituality is icky stuff. I can't stand it. There is no doubt that a social revolution has taken place in the United States over the past 40 - 50 years. Ray and Anderson have the data to prove it, but their interpretation of that data is an invitation to join their cult. The book is a good source of sociological information though. It could have been shortened by trimming down the numerous personal anecdotes and testimonials of personal transformation from individual "cultural creatives" they cite.

Rating:
Summary: I'm convinced
Review: I found this book very encouraging. In the corporate-owned mass media, there's a persistent theme that the sixties were a temporary aberration: for a few years, people wore tie-dyed T-shirts, smoked pot, held nude encounter groups, marched for peace, and joined exotic religions; but it was all just a fad, and now everything is back to normal again. The authors point out that, on the contrary, while the big issues of the sixties aren't getting the media attention they used to, in fact they have had a profound effect on society: comparison of survey results from the 1950's and the 1990's shows that there's been an immense shift in public opinion about such subjects as racial equality, women's rights, alternative medicine, and ecology. Also, all the old hippies and radicals haven't died off or dropped out of politics; they're still working for the same "causes," but most of them have transferred their activism to more local, specific arenas.

The authors make an important point that I think mainstream politics often misses: The people they label "cultural creatives" belong to a wide variety of political parties, organizations, and religions, and are passionate about issues rather than politics; so a political strategy that attempts to draw this diverse but active group into supporting a single party or platform (e.g., "If you believe in X, then you should vote for these Democratic candidates") won't succeed.

The book is several years old, and the political/social landscape in the U.S. has changed since 2000. But (based on my own experience) I feel that the authors' conclusions about who the Cultural Creatives are and how they got that way are valid. On the other hand, I think they missed a few things:

(1) They discuss the role of institutes such as Esalen in the human consciousness movement, but don't mention other media: magazines such as Utne Reader, radio programs like New Dimensions, many PBS radio and TV stations, alternative newspapers, etc. In areas of the country where someone who holds non-mainstream opinions can often feel isolated, these media played (and continue to play) a major role.

(2) The Internet has been a major factor in global connectivity for at least 20 years, but the authors give it only about a page of rather vague discussion. While using the Internet for direct political action is a relatively new phenomenon (MoveOn.org, one of the most visible groups, was founded in 1998 in response to the Clinton impeachment), issues-oriented web sites and mailing lists, ranging across the political spectrum, have been around for much longer. I also think the authors underestimated the general effects of the Internet on human relationships: as an acquaintance of mine in Europe once put it, if you have 'Net buddies in another country, you're far less likely to drop a bomb on it.

I think the book is persuasively argued and the authors draw reasonable conclusions from the (very extensive) statistical data. I found some of the lengthy discussions about Traditionals and Moderns rather tedious, but in general this is an exciting and important book that deserves to be widely read.