culturalcreative

Cultural creatives is a sociocultural category used to describe a broad population segment identified by certain values, motivations, and lifestyles. The term was popularized by Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson in their 2000 book The Cultural Creatives, which proposed that about 50 million adults in the United States—roughly one in five—shared a set of postmaterialist, holistic, and transformative values. The concept has since been used in cross-national research and marketing to describe people who emphasize ecological sustainability, social justice, spirituality, arts and culture, and inclusive thinking, often seeking meaning through personal growth, community life, and cultural diversity.

Characteristics commonly associated with cultural creatives include openness to experience, empathy, collaborative orientation, and a preference for nonmaterial rewards. They tend to favor sustainable consumption, civic engagement, and holistic problem solving that integrates science, spirituality, and the arts. Demographically they are not a single cohort but are frequently described as educated, urban or suburban, and secular or spiritual without adherence to traditional dogmas. They can cut across age, gender, and political lines, making them a heterogeneous but overlapping audience for cultural production, green entrepreneurship, and social innovation.

Critics argue that the category is fluid and its size and political implications are difficult to quantify. Methodological criticisms concern self-selection biases and definitional vagueness. Nevertheless, the concept has influenced marketing research, urban planning, and discussions of cultural change by highlighting a set of values associated with sustainability, creativity, and global-mindedness.

See also: The Cultural Creatives book; related concepts include the broader idea of the creative class and postmaterialist value theory.