“Imagine a country the size of France suddenly sprouting in the middle of the United States. … Think how curious we all would be, how interested to discover who these people are and where they have come from. …
Now imagine something different. There is a new country, just as big and just as rich in culture, but no one sees it. … This country is decidedly American. And unlike the first image, it is emerging not only in the cornfields of Iowa but on the streets of the Bronx, all across the country from Seattle to St. Augustine.”[1]

Doctors Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson did exhaustive research over 13 years to conclude there are three predominant subcultures in the United States. Their numerous studies, interviews and focus groups are documented in their book, THE CULTURAL CREATIVES. The Moderns, “about 48 percent of the American population”, believes “in a technological economy that is reshaping the face of the globe.” The remainder of the country is almost equally divided into the other two groups. Traditionalists make up “about 24.5 percent of the US population or 48 million adults”. For the last 100 years much has been written about the Traditionalists and the Modernists. Almost nothing has been said about a third subculture until Ray and Anderson introduce us to the Cultural Creatives.

Ray and Anderson have a hard time fitting 50 million Cultural Creatives into a box. Except for the fact that 60% are women; the Cultural Creatives do not display any other demographic pattern. They are best identified by their values and beliefs. Ray and Anderson list 23 values/beliefs where Cultural Creatives have highest agreement. Their highest agreement, 93%, is with the statement “Want to rebuild neighborhood/communities”.

A fork in the road

The Industrial Age for all the good it has done has run out of gas. Continuing to do what we have been doing for the last 200 years and expecting a different result is madness. Our nation has reached a fork in the road and has three choices, take one road, take the other or turn back. Now picture two men and two women approaching a fork in a road. Each represents 50 million adults between the ages of 18 and 65. One is a traditionalist, two are modernists and the fourth is a cultural creative. The traditionalist wants to turn back to a world where father knows best and where he can afford a home and support his family comfortably on his secure 40 hour a week job. He is confused because he is beginning to understand that turning back is no longer an option. He feels betrayed by his government that is doing nothing to protect his job from going overseas and his family from run away housing, education and health care costs.

The two modernists are a young married generation “X” couple with high tech jobs. They are living in a $300,000 house in the suburbs. They are confident modern technology will solve our social and economic problems. There is no hesitation in their decision to go forward on the information age superhighway.

The cultural creative also wants to go forward but throughout her youth and as a young adult she had been taught to adapt and not to question the way things are. Then several years ago she became involved in a neighborhood issue. A developer was planning a project which would bring harm to her community. That was the beginning of an uncharted personal journey into areas she had never been before. With some fear and unease as she began asking questions she had never thought of or dared to ask.

Culturally creative women in the leadership

As we declare 2007 to be the year of the neighborhood and launch The Center for the Study of Neighborhood Economics it should be obvious the woman, the cultural creative at the fork in the road, should be the focus of our attention. Women, in my opinion, are much more likely to be attracted to neighborhood economic development plans. They, most often, manage the household and make the economic decisions. Women are looking for long term change and will be best able to ignore the barrage of advertisements offering short term fixes. Women have been engaged in a 100 year battle for equal rights. Women have taken leadership in demanding our male dominated government end the war in Iraq. They know what it is to set long range worth-while goals and they know the joy of overcoming strong opposition and achieving their goals.

We do not exclude anyone from joining us in our plan “to build a healthy national economy, one wealthy neighborhood at a time.” Everyone is welcome, Traditionalists, Modernists, Cultural Creatives, men and women. But the odds are stacked against anyone who believes long term systematic efforts are needed to solve our current social and economic problems and we need culturally creative women in leadership to overcome these odds.

[1] Paul M. Ray, Ph.D. & Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D., THE CULTURAL CREATIVES, Three Rivers Press, Random House, New York, NY, 2000.