Cultural Creatives

Once natural dangers tied up human energies; now man-made problems – lifestyle diseases, pollution, racism, terrorism, etc. – take the lead and dictate agendas. Entrenchment in fundamental beliefs increases; economism rules, yet aggravates a conflictual development whose root is neither accidental nor 'the human condition', but in a widespread way of thinking, justified by the vast majority of contemporary theorizing: to approach problems dominatively, based on primal assumptions (not openness on principle to the entirety of the subject matter). This way of thinking is self-limited on principle: it can't reach the intrinsic nature of phenomena, it is not generally sound. Action on this basis produces conflicts that can't be resolved by reiterating the method, which is thus not fully sustainable. The mainstream can avoid plurality only by incurring losses, and it is led to believe totally secure thinking is impossible – calling for more formalism, engendering on the theoretical level a self-fulfilling prophecy, and on the practical level an immense inefficiency. Nevertheless secure thinking is viable on the level of pure content. An adequate foundation can be found in completely self-aware querying. Systematizing this path makes perspectivity and universality compatible and opens up categories that are universally applicable within their query perspective. The proposed methodology allows strict thinking from totality towards its aspects – for instance in theorizing seamlessly all human agency, including mental activity. The proposed framework is not just one more theory, but encompasses theory and practice, and fosters personal integrity – the root of all authentic conflict solving.

A change in the way humans relate to nature could be the starting point for a new politics, which will also affect relations among humans. A new approach would help to radically transform the production system, not because it is unjust in the usually considered social terms, but because it endangers nature and humanity.
So far, the citizens’ grassroots organizations have failed to win broad consensus and political power in the representative institutions. When the time comes to transform the single environmental issue into an electoral platform, environmentalists lose unity and effectiveness since they lack a common political vision and an ensuing strategy. On the other hand European politics is rapidly transforming because the challenge brought by so-called populist movements.
We need to transform activists’ shared emotions and attitudes into political ideologies and platforms. Moreover, a new educational process and a new science politics are necessary to reform environmental policy.

This article investigates the phenomenon of transmodern tourism in Soweto as it statistically tests the theoretical assumption that Cultural Creatives are a clearly identifiable group of transmodern tourist in general tourists population. The results of ANOVA confirmed a group difference between Cultural Creatives and general tourists, leading to a major finding that Cultural Creatives presence in Soweto (54.8%) is two-times (26.1%) more than the value predicted by the literature. In addition, Walking around the township is identified as Cultural Creatives' most authentic experience which further validates the recommendation for development of an innovative range of immersive and authentic experiences in Soweto that conforms to Cultural Creative's transmodern value system.

The recent advance of transformatory experience into a foremost mega-trend in tourism attracted considerable scholarly interest. Building on Pung et al.'s (2020) model of transformatory experience, the article revisits the statistical results of the original 2013 model of the authenticity of transformatory experience. The results prove the radical theoretical hypothesis that transmodernism, not postmodernism, is the appropriate paradigm for conceptualising current transformatory experience discourse. The model is founded on the transmodern open centre flat ontology, the epistemology of transformative knowledge co-creation, and the philosophy of Speculative Realism. This quantitative study is based on a survey (N=406) using questionnaires, following a theory-building theory-testing sequential research design. The results of multiple regression analysis (MRA) confirmed the goodness of fit and simplicity of the model informed by only two independent variables (objective and constructive authenticity). The t-test and Mann Whitney-U test results revealed that many respondents are Cultural Creatives identifying transformatory experience as a core experience. The newly proposed concept of ontological transformation best describes transformatory experience as a transmodern phenomenon. The empirical and theoretical validation of the revised model of the authenticity of transformatory experience represents a valuable scholarly contribution to an emerging transformational tourism discourse.

The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cultural Creatives, the new silent class of conscious consumers in a quest for personal transformation through authentic and immersive tourist experiences. The main objective of the study was to identify preferred activities and experiences of Cultural Creatives in Soweto which is expected to drive the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. This qualitative study was based on 20 semi structured interviews with international tourists visiting Soweto in the period 3 January to 30 March 2018. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic content analysis was carried out in identifying tourist activities and experiences most closely aligned to emerging themes of transformative tourism as: individual experiential walking through the township; living as the locals do; and dining with the locals. The results validate the need for clear alignment of South African destinations' offerings with Cultural Creatives' transmodern values and worldviews in facilitating the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa.

This work revolves around the non-religious spirituality of cultural creatives and its influence in the emergence of a transmodern society, that is, humanely and ecologically sustainable. In the 1980s Western societies entered the axial turn of ultramodernity, entry caused by the global awareness of the environmental emergency caused by human activities (era of the Anthropocene). Cultural creatives who hold postmaterialist values and seem to represent according to sociologists Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson one third of Western population, are driven by an ethical and responsible vision of how we inhabit the Earth. While spirituality and personal improvement are central in their approach, I will present a portrait of this group as an ideal-type of today's spirituality, characterized by an ecosophical consciousness, which aims first at “changing oneself” to then "change the world", in an ethical, social and political project. This portrait would indeed distinguish itself fundamentally from the spiritual researcher "consumer" of beliefs. Based on a rich conceptual framework and a qualitative survey of 19 French-speaking cultural creatives, this research seeks to broaden knowledge about non-religious spirituality but also "reclaim" beliefs behind an alternative discourse that is likely to be important in our Western societies.

This chapter aims to understand how the nonreligious spirituality of cultural creatives, who feel the urgency of creating a more sustainable and viable society, is expressed in a repertoire of concrete and daily actions. This growing alternative tendency in modern post-industrial societies is centered around postmaterialist values. No longer believing in the modern myth of progress and refusing to participate in an ecocide model, cultural creatives are aware of the finiteness of the world and the limits of modernity. They seek to develop ways of living that respect the individual, the community, and the environment through pragmatic and daily actions. After presenting the concept of an “ending era”, I will demonstrate what alternative visions cultural creatives adhere to and apply in order to concretize the transmodern utopia. Finally, I will define how spirituality in its “human-ethical” form enables cultural creatives to be congruent and to build a better future.

The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cultural Creatives, the new silent class of conscious consumers in a quest for personal transformation through authentic and immersive tourist experiences. The main objective of the study was to identify preferred activities and experiences of Cultural Creatives in Soweto which is expected to drive the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. This qualitative study was based on 20 semi structured interviews with international tourists visiting Soweto in the period 3 January to 30 March 2018. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic content analysis was carried out in identifying tourist activities and experiences most closely aligned to emerging themes of transformative tourism as: individual experiential walking through the township; living as the locals do; and dining with the locals. The results validate the need for clear alignment of South African destinations' offerings with Cultural Creatives' transmodern values and worldviews in facilitating the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. Introduction Transmodernism signifies a paradigm shift in human consciousness towards a new planetary vision and a new world order not experienced in the past 600 years, since the Renaissance.