Essay On Social Lag

Superior Essays
The word lag suggests disabled development. Therefore, social lag means the wavering of one part of culture behind another. For example, if either material or the non-material part of culture were to remain behind the other, it would be an instance of social lag. In most cases material culture advances quicker in correlation with non-material culture (Tischler, 2014). The term cultural was begat by a famous sociologists William F. Ogburn's treatise entitled "Social Change." Ogburn stated that culture has two viewpoints: material and non-material. The material perspective, as contrasted to the non-material, tends to advance quickly (Brent and Lewis, 2013). Consequently, the non-material part falls behind. It is this faltering activity which …show more content…
For example, cultural lag occurs when the village folks cannot accept innovations in scientific farming practices since they cannot give up the antiquated methods they learned from their forefathers, even if their system of farming can no longer meet the demands of the present time. They resist the new approaches despite the saturated soil, need for insecticides, and lack of irrigation, just because they have practiced the traditional system for years.
Causes of cultural lag
The primary cause of cultural lag is that the various elements of culture possess a varying degree of changeability. The material such as technology changes rapidly than a non-material aspect of culture (Tischler, 2014). Another cause of cultural lag is the human psychological dogmatism. People commonly respect old concepts and dogmas among others. People think that it is advantageous to take after the way of their predecessors (ancestors). In such circles as religion, novelty is questioned as well as viewed as an indication of evil.

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