Cultural Creatives

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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 2000 in their book The Cultural Creatives. How 50 Million People Are Changing the World (Harmony Books, NY), 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 which has not yet found its identity but is disenchanted with materialism and hedonism. Dr Ray calls this segment New Progressives.

This growing section of the population is admittedly spiritual and embraces the practice of spiritual values in daily life without the necessity of formal religion (Anderson and Ray, 2000). Many adherents to the the tenants of the cultural creatives tend to become familiar with a variety of religions and seek to identify with the inherent truth that is essential to each. The intention is to search for universal, practical spiritual principles that are self-evident, have intricisc value, and do not depend on ecclesiastical authority.

[edit] See also

• alternative lifestyle
• modernism and postmodernism
• post-materialism
• tempered radicals
• voluntary simplicity

[edit] External articles, references, and further reading

Books

• Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, "The Cultural Creatives". New York: Harmony Books, 2000. ISBN 0-609-60467-8.
• Cole, Gary, "Artless: The Odyssey of a Cultural Creative". Portland: Ooligan Press, 2006. ISBN 1-932010-12-2.

Websites

• "Author's Web Site: CulturalCreatives.org".
• "The Cultural Creatives Business Network: Business Networking for Cultural Creatives". Cultural-creatives.net
• "SANGA.cc - International Organisation for Cultural Creatives".

Essays

• Paul Ray, "The New Political Compass"
• Paul Ray, "The Rise of Integral Culture".
• Duncan Campbell, "The cultural creatives".
• Arundhati Bhanot, "Creating a new culture".
• Rebecca St. Martin, "Cultural Creativity: A New Brand of Esoteric".
• Rebecca St. Martin, "Recreating Business and a New World".