Cohousing-L Mailing List: Cultural Creatives and Cohousing?

[Chris ScottHanson (chris]

Are all cohousers cultural creatives as some have suggested? [see below]

What intersection is there between the participants in the cohousing
movement and the cultural creatives in western culture?  I wonder if there
is really as much correlation as there might seem?

Chris

*******************************
CULTURAL CREATIVES: [definition I found recently]
Cultural Creatives are a segment of the U.S. population identified through
13 years of survey research. They care deeply about ecology and saving the
planet, relationships, peace, social justice, self-actualization,
spirituality and self-expression. They are both inner-directed and
socially concerned, and tend to be activists, volunteers and contributors
to good causes more than other Americans. Cultural Creatives, however, are
mostly unknown as a group in American life; most are astonished to find
out how many people share their values and way of life.

As of the year 2000, there are estimated to be 50 million adults in the
United States who have the worldview, values and lifestyle of the Cultural
Creatives. (There are probably about 80-90 million Cultural Creatives in the
European Union as well.)

WEB PAGE:  http://www.culturalcreatives.org/

THE BOOK that introduced the idea:  The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million
People Are Changing the World, Harmony Books, October, 2000 by Paul H. Ray,
Ph.D. and Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D.

QUOTE from the book:
Does the religious right have a hammerlock on values in America? Is the new
American dream really about getting and spending, and being the first
zillionaire on the block? At the turn of the millennium, fifty million
ordinary Americans emphatically disagree. They are the Cultural Creatives -
the leading edge creators of a new culture in America.

In this landmark book, sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth
Anderson draw upon 13 years of survey research studies on over 100,000
Americans, plus over 100 focus groups and dozens of depth interviews. They
tell 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 the values and lifestyles that make this
subculture distinctive.

The Cultural Creatives care deeply about ecology and saving the planet,
about relationships, peace, social justice, and about self actualization,
spirituality and self-expression. Surprisingly, they are both inner-directed
and socially concerned, they're activists, volunteers and contributors to
good causes more than other Americans. However, because 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. Once they
realize their numbers, their impact on American life promises to be
enormous, shaping a new agenda for the twenty-first century.

Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson tell how people departed from Modern or
Traditional cultures to weave new ways of life. Three Americas are
struggling to define what the country should be: Traditionals, Moderns and
Cultural Creatives. The authors show how each one emerged historically, and
how the Cultural Creatives in particular grew out of the social movements of
the Sixties right up to Seattle's WTO demonstrations, and from the
consciousness movements in spirituality, psychology and alternative health.
They conclude that all the different kinds of movements are converging now,
with the Cultural Creatives at the core.

What makes the appearance of the Cultural Creatives especially timely today
is that our civilization is in the midst of an epochal change, caught
between globalization, accelerating technologies and a deteriorating
planetary ecology. A creative minority can have enormous leverage to carry
us into a new renaissance instead of a disastrous fall. The book ends with a
number of maps for the remarkable journey that our civilization is embarked
upon: initiations, evolutionary models, scenarios, and the elements of a new
mythos for our time. The Cultural Creatives offers a more hopeful future,
and prepares us all for a transition to a new, saner and wiser culture.


There are many ways to order the book (ISBN 0-609-60467-8)  Order directly
from Amazon.com or another online bookstore.  Or you can find the book
locally using the Neighborhood Bookstore Locator.


_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l