The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World, Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, CulturalCreatives.org
Does the religious right have a lock on values in America? Is the new American dream really just about getting and spending? 50 million Americans emphatically disagree. They are the Cultural Creatives -- the leading edge creators of a new culture in America, say sociologist Paul Ray and Psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson in their recent book The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (Harmony, 2000). But who are these people, really? 'Cultural Creatives care deeply about ecology, about relationships, peace, social justice, and self actualization, spirituality and self-expression,' write the authors on the book's companion website, CulturalCreatives.org. '[T]hey are both inner-directed and socially concerned, they're activists, volunteers and contributors to good causes more than other Americans.' Interestingly, they note, one of this growing subculture's defining characteristics is its lack of a group identity: '[B]ecause they've been so invisible in American life, Cultural Creatives themselves are astonished to find out how many share both their values and their way of life.' Sound familiar? If you suspect that you might fall into this group yourself, visit the site and take the Cultural Creative quiz.
--Leif Utne
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