Culture Lag

The many elements of any given culture are interrelated. However, some elements may change at a faster rate than others. Culture lag is the concept created by the American sociologist. William F. Ogburn, to explain what happens when new features of a culture appear and create new social conditions or contradictions with other values.

Technological and material culture frequently change much more rapidly than other features of a culture. Stress and cultural change may be the result.

Henry Tishler provides a more current example of culture lag. The Internet and the World Wide Web provide many educational opportunities for students, but the integration of the technology into the classroom has been a slow process. Traditional school values have left education virtually unchanged over the past century. These values support the role of a teacher as the main guide in the student’s path to learning. With the introduction of computer technology, the teacher’s role is being challenged. If the merging of the World Wide Web and the classroom is to be a success, the role of the teacher will have to evolve into a more collaborative one. Internet technology is currently producing many other changes. Buying books, CDs, or plane tickets is simple, efficient, and usually at lower cost over the Internet. Many Internet sales companies are growing rapidly. Their impact on other parts of the society is only partly understood. For example, traditional bookstores will find it hard to compete. Usually Internet purchases do not involve a local sales tax.

Are there cultural universals? Are there common features found in diverse cultures? When similar behaviour occurs in almost all societies, it is considered a cultural universal. For example, all human cultures have a language, property rights, religious rituals, marriage and a family system. Taboo against sexual relations with close relatives is another cultural universal. George Murdock, in “The Common Denominators of Cultures” (1945) included other universals: dancing, joking, gift giving, rules of hygiene, art and bodily adornment. In one sense the concept of cultural universals is useless. In spite of the fact that every culture has a marriage and human ritual we know nothing about the diversity of ways these are done in any particular culture.