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First Globals, Secular Spiritualists and the Evolving American Dream
By Neil Peterson | March 17, 2009
An crisis like the one our nation is currently going through can make us examine our heritage, our values and our perceptions to try and find an anchor in uncertain times. Someone who does that for a living is John Zogby, the well known pollster who heads up Zogby International. He has recently written a book called The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream,, which takes an insightful look at how we’ve changed as a people over the last 20-30 years. He uses the results of his many surveys to shows us how our attitudes have been shifting, trends which were established well before the current troubles began.
John Zogby is challenging the idea that our greatest hour is behind us. Leaving behind the realm of politics – though that does play a factor – Zogby questions the nay-sayers, supporting his views with over two decades of data he has collected regarding the evolution of American consciousness. His observations show how the transformation of American culture is taking place and where it might lead in the future.
Zogby is a master at asking questions that probe the core of the American psyche and at identifying key groups who signify the changes taking place in our society. Two groups that he uncovered and discusses at length are what he calls the First Globals and the Secular Spiritualists.
Zogby’s research into the generation he terms the ‘First Globals’ – the 18 – 29 year olds who are poised to be tomorrow’s leaders. While current thinking may have you believing the worst, Zogby goes to tireless lengths to disprove those harmful stereotypes, instead replacing them with a description that is wholly optimistic, and thought-provoking.
As he writes in his book, the First Globals are the “most outward-looking and accepting generation in American history.” They are more likely to live in another country during their lives. They demand transparency in government and business. They are more aware of the damage we are doing to the environment, and taking steps to be more eco-concious. This is not the jaded teenager of earlier times, but the new global citizen. The first generation to be raised with the internet, they have access to the world and to see firsthand that someone who lives on the other side of the world is not actually so different.
Interview with John Zogby
Another group that Zogby identifies are the secular spiritualists. This is a growing segment of Americans who are comprised of multiple groups. First are the 27% of Americans who have been disenfranchised: downsized, outsourced, eliminated from the American dream. The other group are those 9-10 million Americans who have made it, but feel they have too much and are not being fulfilled by the things they own. Finally, there are the Baby Boomer who are going to redefine retirement and old age in a more activist way. As Zogby said, in an article for Forbes magazine:
“. . . as I probed deeper, I found a renewed spirit, a survival instinct, a readjustment of life’s expectations and a redefinition of the American dream. I have found for years now that more Americans say the American Dream has more to do with spiritual fulfillment and leading a genuine and honest life than with the attainment of material things.”
Secular spiritualists are looking to simplify their lives and fill them with meaning, rather than things. This could be the most profound trend that Zogby has teased out of his polls. It could have long term ramifications for how we define the American dream as well as what and how much we’ll consume.
Amid the doom and gloom of today, Zogby paints a surprisingly upbeat picture of the American consciousness, albeit a different one from eras past. He sees a long term, emerging concern for transparency an authenticity, as well as a need to be more responsible on a personal level, to demand and affect change in our relations with other people, other countries, and the planet. These values are beginning to permeate every corner of our society.
Zogby has taken a good hard look (20 years of it!) at who we were, are, and hope to be. He has determined that America is still an optimistic and forward looking nation, but is seeing things with a new lens. As shown in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, hope can be a powerful thing, an idea with a force of its own. A thing worth fighting for. The election results showed that the First Globals and Secular Spiritualists were a powerful combination in the dramatic mandatte for change that was accorded Mr. Obama.
As he ably demonstrates, beneath all the poll numbers (which we Americans are so fascinated with), there is a new and more hopeful American dream in gestation.
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