Cultural Creatives - The Opportunity

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The Opportunity

The emergence of the Cultural Creatives in Europe, Japan and the United States is proof that something new and radically different is emerging to replace the old failing culture of Traditionalism and Modernism. This large and growing constituency of Cultural Creatives is beginning to awaken to its own potential, and its rise offers opportunities for new kinds of business, new kinds of politics and new roles for civil society organizations.

Wisdom University and its partners intend to leverage these research results to build the case that the Cultural Creatives are emerging as the new moral majority. This is a tipping point time, a time of change where there is enormous leverage for a creative minority population to really make a difference. In the next few years, the concerns of the Cultural Creatives will be ever more important, as we come to rethink and reinvent practically every institution of American life and as the world as a whole tackles complex global challenges.

This makes the completion of the new study much more than an academic exercise. It is a matter of urgent historical necessity. Cultural Creatives are potentially capable of bringing a major set of new values and rules, and some important new players, to the table precisely at the time when both political parties, the corporate sector, and the government are facing their lowest ebb in public credibility and trustworthiness.

It is a critical time because we do not have very long to put new solutions into place before the chaos of global warming, global instability and violence start to take their toll. This is the time of maximum leverage for positive change. This new survey will give precisely the insights that are needed concerning potential support for fundamental change in the current system. Once analysis of the results is completed, State of the World Forum will take the results and begin a sustained program to disseminate the information as extensively as possible and link actors across a spectrum of disciplines to reinforce their commitment to constructive change.
The focus will be on building a new vision of what is possible in a positive way. To get the creative response we need for our times, we need to get people out of their prison of fear that has been shaped by 9/11, the war on terrorism and global warming—and start focusing them on what they can create constructively together. The solutions are already here. What remains is to change our capacities of perception sufficient to embrace them and create a better world.

The Emerging Power of the Cultural Creatives in Politics

Cultural Creatives represent a new value basis for politics. They are being powerfully represented in the campaign of Barak Obama, something actually prefigured in an analysis in 2005 by Dr. Ray of his original data in which he shows what one sees when one includes the effect of all kinds of values on politics. A new fourth voter constituency pops out that takes things beyond the antiquated "left-right" political paradigm. A fourfold political compass emerges(see diagram). Ray calls this new fourth group New Progressives, or Political North. It is immense (70 million adults, or 36% of the population, of whom 55 million are voters, or 45% of the electorate). Their core is Cultural Creatives, but it is a wider population. They are 56% of all swing voters, so they can potentially dominate any election outcome. This makes them the largest untapped political resource in the United States.

To complete the compass: Taking values into account, liberals (Political West) are 12% of the American population and 15% of the electorate. They mostly oppose social conservatives (Political East) who are 19% of the population and 21% of voters. Economic conservatives are 14% of population and 19% of voters. They are in the Political South opposite the New Progressives. The New Progressives hunger for authentic political leadership. This is at the core of all that the cultural creatives long for. They are fed up with current politics and politicians. They take this view because they believe in ecological sustainability and personal growth; they have a planetary focus beyond nationalistic views; they are for women’s issues and for peace; and they are concerned with the legacy that is being left for future generations. Ray’s paper on this new paradigm, The New Political Compass, provides a fresh and comprehensive viewpoint on the American electorate and holds dramatic implications for politics and American society. To download The New Political Compass: https://www.wisdomuniversity.org/NewPolitCompass7-5-5.pdf

The central fact about the new constituency from a political perspective is that, like the cultural creatives as a whole, the political north is a population and not yet a group. It is comprised of individuals who hold progressive values, but 5 out of 6 of them don’t identify with the Left or liberalism, or with the Right or conservatism, and they are not mobilized into a coherent political force. They represent the largest single values group in the country but they have virtually no presence in the current political dialogue or debate. The key questions, therefore, are: how can we identify, mobilize, and turn this emerging cultural group into an effective moral, economic and political presence? What are the possibilities of linking cultural creatives globally? How do we focus social and political attention on the innovations already here that could solve our problems? This is the ultimate goal of undertaking the new study and developing the film, book and conference at this crucial time of both challenge and opportunity.

The Emerging Power of the Cultural Creatives in the Marketplace

The power of the Cultural Creatives is also already being felt in the marketplace. In 1999, building on Paul Ray's data, the Gaiam Corporation established LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), an association of companies focused on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living, and social justice. LOHAS companies practice "responsible capitalism" by providing goods and services using economic and environmentally sustainable business practices. LOHAS consumers are primarily Cultural Creatives and are interested in products covering a range of market sectors and sub-sectors, including: Green building supplies, socially responsible investing and "green stocks", alternative healthcare, organic clothing and food, personal development media, yoga and other fitness products, and eco-tourism. In 2006 LOHAS companies earned $230 billion in the United States and over $500 billion worldwide. The market has been growing by about 10% - 15% per year since 2000. Every indication is that this market and this buying power will only increase in the future. For more information abou this, please visit the Lohas website.

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