[originaltext]Interview with PAUL RAY:AD: How did you discover the Cultural Cr

Interview with PAUL RAY:
AD: How did you discover the Cultural Creatives?
PR: When in 1986 I co-founded American LIVES, I was less interested in traditional market research and more in how America was changing. One of the first things we discovered in our research was that a clear cultural change was happening: not just change in one area of people’s lives, but in many areas. From environmental issues to consumption patterns, from media preferences to the purchase of food products. We also discovered that the people who were changing were a definite subculture and part of a longer-term pattern. Although most Cultural Creatives in our surveys thought they were alone or part of a very small group, it turned out that they represented a sizable and fast-growing portion of the American population, now reaching over 50 million.
AD: How do you explain this impression of Cultural Creatives that they are not part of a larger group?
PR: Cultures are generally self-maintaining, and the Cultural Creatives differ from the official culture of the U.S.: i.e., the modern culture, which is a culture of getting and spending, a culture of materialism, a culture of big government, big corporations, and big media. That official culture is adhered to by just under half of Americans. The other half of Americans doesn’t believe in it at all. Mainstream media usually describe Cultural Creatives as isolated individuals often labeled as tree huggers, protesters, New Agers, etc. When Cultural Creatives follow the news media, they see they are hardly mentioned, and therefore come to the false conclusion that they are only part of a very small group. Another reason why Cultural Creatives believe they are alone is that when you go to the workplace, you are supposed to check your values at the door. Cultural Creatives in the average workplace don’ t express themselves as such. A third reason is that in the process of becoming a Cultural Creative, one frequently had to shed old friendships, old marriages, old careers, because their views were changing in ways others weren’t. This is a very individualized process, the benefit of which is that it really lets you change. The cost is that you believe you are unique and the only one going through this process.
AD: You indicate that there are 50 million Cultural Creatives in the U.S. and 80 million in Europe. What are the reasons for their rise?
PR: In part this is because our planet is in deep trouble. There is a daily drumbeat that we are moving into a crisis period for humanity. People who are good at synthesis, like most Cultural Creatives, see that if we continue our way of life we will be in deep trouble. At the same time there are personal changes happening at a psychological and spiritual level. Today, for the first time in human history, people who are interested in an inner life have access to every esoteric tradition in the world. Access to information about personal growth is enormous. Access to information about what is going on around the planet is never ending. In short, better information, large crises at the social level, and miniature crises at the individual level all contribute to more and more people being exposed to the opportunity to deal with personal change.
AD: Why are there so many women among Cultural Creatives?
PR: Women as both wage earners and homemakers feel the contradictions more in our society. They feel more subtle, institutional discrimination. If a society inherits dysfunctional institutions then it is often the people with intelligence, skills, and an alternative perspective who are going to come up with better answers, rather than the people who have inherited positions that were already favored. In these cases, it is women who will play an increasingly important role. Besides this, approximately 80 percent of the people in the Western world are concerned that their children will inherit a worse world than the one in which they grew up. People tend to do for their children what they wouldn’t do for themselves. Women, especially, will push for change and for a better world because of their children.
AD: You are currently researching how the political system is affected by cultural changes. What attracts you to this political research?
PR: I have been an activist all my life. I was involved in the environmental and peace movements in the 60s. I have always been interested in many different issues, from the impact to new technologies to how the economy works, from government politics to civil society. I am now connecting the dots between citizen activism, political activity, and change in business, as they are all part of one big picture. What I actually care most about is social change. Social change, however, is only possible through system change.
AD: What do you mean with systems change?
PR: If you are taking a system perspective of what is going on, one should ask what is our need as a whole system. As a planet, can we continue with 10 percent of the population having 80 percent of the resources? As a planet, can we survive if eco-systems all around the world are being destroyed? Looking at this big picture means changing the usual way of looking at the world and changing politics as usual. If all your time as a politician is spent on what bill is coming up or what political power struggle is being played out, you miss what it is all for. What I am trying throughout my life is to keep looking at that big picture.