Creating
an Integral Culture
Observers have noted
that contemporary society is characterized by three sets of opposing forces:
Business-as-usual
forces that want to maintain the existing institutions and ways of doing
things. They want to keep the mechanisms of institutional and governmental
control pretty much as they are, keep the economy global and growing,
and keep the world's economic wealth in the hands of those who currently
possess it.
Nostalgic
forces that want to go back to an earlier time and way of doing things
— to a simpler, less anarchic period characterized by traditional
values and a slower pace of change.
Insightful
forces which recognize that neither of the above approaches are viable.
This group's vision is rooted in a deeper-than-ordinary understanding
of our existential situation, and incorporates a new ethics which values
both the-good-of-the-whole and the well-being of individuals. These forces
advocate
- the long term
sustainability of human society,
- economic justice
(e.g., an adequate material standard of living for all, and an equitable
sharing of resources and the fruits of technological innovation), and
- the establishment
of cultures and institutions which
- allow people to
develop their innate physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual
potentials,
- facilitate a deep
understanding of our existential situation, and
- lead people to
voluntarily choose an empathetic, caring-based personal morality —
a morality that is compatible with our existential situation, and which
must become widespread if this vision of the future is to become an
actuality.
This third group
is surprisingly large. For more than a decade, pollster and values researcher
Paul H. Ray studied the lifestyles, interests, values, expectations, preferences,
and choices of Americans. Based on his work with hundreds of focus groups,
dozens of surveys, and especially a highly-focused values survey at the
end of 1994 [1], Ray reports that the insightful group, who he
calls cultural creatives, total 44 million people. He says:
American culture
is changing rapidly. . . . Three different streams of cultural meanings
and worldviews are evident at this moment in history: Traditional, Modern
and Trans-Modern (i.e. becoming Integral), each comprising distinct
subcultures of values. I use the terms Heartlanders, Modernists, and
Cultural Creatives to denote, respectively, the bearers of these three
subcultures.
Today's Heartlanders
believe in a nostalgic image of return to small town, religious America,
corresponding to the period 1890 to 1930. It is a mythical image that
defines for its adherents the Good Old American Ways. The Heartlanders,
America's cultural conservatives, are 29% of the population, or 56 million
adults.
Modernism emerged
500 years ago in Europe at the end of the Renaissance. . . The dominant
values are personal success, consumerism, materialism, and technological
rationality. Bearers of Modernism represent about 47% of the population,
or 88 million adults.
Cultural Creatives
(CCs) are so called because they are coming up with most new ideas in
American culture, operating on the leading edge of cultural change.
CCs have two wings: Core Cultural Creatives and Green Cultural Creatives.
Core CCs (10.6%,
or 20 million) have both person-centered and green values: seriously
concerned with psychology, spiritual life, self-actualization, self-expression,
like the foreign and exotic (are xenophiles), enjoy mastering new ideas,
are socially concerned, advocate "women's issues" and are strong advocates
of ecological sustainability. They tend to be "leading edge" thinkers
and creators. They tend to be upper middle class, and their male:female
ratio is 33:67, twice as many women as men.
Green CCs (13%,
or 24 million) have values centered on the environment and social concerns
from a secular view, with average interest in spirituality, psychology,
or person-centered values. They appear to be followers of the Core CCs
and tend to be middle class.
This new subculture
is busily constructing a new approach to the world: a new set of concepts
for viewing the world, an ecological and spiritual worldview, a whole
new literature of social concerns, a new problematique for the planet
in place of the old set of problems that Modernism set out to solve,
a new set of psychological development techniques, a return in spiritual
practices and understandings to the perennial psychology and philosophy,
an elevation of the feminine to a new place in human history.[2]
Ray explains his
use of the word Integral:
The appearance
of the Cultural Creatives is about healing the old splits: between inner
and outer, spiritual and material, individual and society. The possibility
of a new culture centers on the reintegration of what has been fragmented
by Modernism: self-integration and authenticity; integration with community
and connection with others around the globe, not just at home; connection
with nature and learning to integrate ecology and economy; and a synthesis
of diverse views and traditions, including philosophies of East and
West. Thus Integral Culture.
Other studies support
Ray's analysis. Duane Elgin has reported on a massive 43-nation World
Values Survey[3] which revealed a major values shift in Scandinavia,
Switzerland, Britain, Canada and the United States. Ronald Inglehart,
the study's coordinator, calls it the "postmodern shift." The study revealed:
- A loss of confidence
in all kinds of hierarchical institutions including government, business,
and religion.
- A shift in emphasis
from external authority to the authority that comes from an inner
sense of what is appropriate.
- A shift from
concern about material well-being to subjective well-being.
- A tendency to
subordinate economic growth to environmental sustainability.
- A growing interest
in discovering personal meaning and interest in life.
- An interest
in roles for women that allow for greater self-realization.
In the "Wisdom in
Action" section of THE
WISDOM PAGE there is a list
of 80+ links to organizations working toward a sustainable and more equitable
world. You might also want to read reviews of two integrative books
— books that link the inner and outer, the personal and the societal,
to give us a clearer sense of how we can heal and transform ourselves,
our institutions, and the global society:
Review
of Ken Wilber's book A Theory of Everything
Integralis: Journal of Integral Consciousness, Culture, and Science,
Vol. 1, No. 0.
Review
of Michael Lerner's book Spirit Matters
Integralis: Journal of Integral Consciousness, Culture, and Science,
Vol. 1, No. 0.
Notes:
[1] Ray, Paul H.
1996 - The Integral Culture Survey: A Study of the Emergence of Transformational
Values in America - a study sponsored by the Institute of Noetic Sciences
and the Fetzer Institute, and available from the Institute of Noetic Sciences
as Research Report 96-A, 415-331-5650.
Note: A more recent
work which covers much of the same territory but updates some of the numbers
is The Cultural Creatives by Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson.
It was published in 2000 by Harmony Books, New York. You might also want
to check out their Cultural
Creatives Web site.
[2] Ray, 1996, pp.
ix, x, 72.
[3] Elgin, Duane,
1997. Global Consciousness Change: Indicators of an Emerging Paradigm.
San Anselmo, CA: Millennium Project.
Copthorne Macdonald is a writer and independent scholar.
He has written 8 books (3 of them on aspects of wisdom) and many articles,
reviews, and column installments. Since 1995 he has tended THE WISDOM
PAGE — a website devoted to wisdom resources at http://www.wisdompage.com/
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