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- Title
CRITICAL NOTES ON THE CULTURE LAG CONCEPT.
- Authors
Woodard, James W.
- Abstract
The article discusses the concept of cultural lag. According to sociologist William Fielding Ogburn, when the material conditions change, changes are occasioned in the adaptive culture, but these changes in the adaptive culture do not synchronize exactly with the change in the material culture, this delay is the culture lag. The article examines the concept of culture lag with help of some illustrations as in the matter of forests, the time between the point at which the cutting of trees became a disservice rather than a service and the point at which we adopted conservation measures is the period of culture lag. These illustrations show the subjective nature of the culture lag concept. The term culture lag not only tells what changes are called for and what changes ought to have come about, but also the exact point at which they should have come about. However, this is not completely true, when the concept is cautiously used. There is a legitimate place for the concept of maladjustment. And there is also a legitimate role for inductive appraisals of functional appropriateness.
- Subjects
CULTURAL lag; MATERIAL culture; SOCIAL change; PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation; SYNCHRONIZATION; OGBURN, William Fielding
- Publication
Social Forces, 1934, Vol 12, Issue 3, p388
- ISSN
0037-7732
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2569930