Cultural Factors Of Social Change

• Cultural lag:
- W.F. Ogburn:
- Formulated cultural lag
- Distinguishes between material and Non-
Material culture
- Changes occur in material culture
- Stimulate changes in Non – material culture-
Adaptive Culture
- Adaptive culture- Slow to respond
- Factory system came first workmen
compensation Acts Came later
• What lags behind What?
- Something falls behind
- Pace maker and laggard
- Cultural lag applied to disequilibrium
- Lag between basic technology and higher
technology
- Lag between basic technology and higher
technology
- Lag not applicable to technology and culture
- Technological lag preferable
• Technological Lag:
- Lag within interdependent functions of
technology
- We exploit forest products but fail to maintain
forest
- Failure of particular part.
• Technological Restraint:
- Tradition opposes efficient techniques
- Govt departments oppose efficient
procedures
• Restraint by Economic Interest:
- Trade union opposes labour saving devices
- Automation opposed by employees
• Restraint by cultural interest :
- Technology opposed by tradition, Mores
- Technology threatens cultural life
- Primitive people resist technology
- When alien technology imposed on high
cultural – resisted
- Gandhi clung to old ways to maintain culture
- Discoveries of science decried by tradition
- Contraceptives opposed by tradition.
• Culture clash:
- Conflict of opposing values
- Fear of alien technology- disturb old values
- Conflict between two culture patterns
- Conflict between imported culture and
indigenous culture
- Culture clash- sword of division within
countries
• Culture Ambivalence:
- Sumner:
- Consistency in mores
- Clashing culture leads to ambivalence
- One cannot achieve accommodation
• Culture – determinant of change:
- Connection between – beliefs and institutions
- Valuations and social relations
- Cultural change involves social change.
• Directorial Role:
- Culture responds to technology
- It acts back on it.
- Influences its direction
- Powers of production- we produce whatever we
will.
- One can produce – necessaries or luxuries
- Ship can sail to various ports
- we sail to – cultural choice
- Machine – enemy of culture
- It also become means to culture
- High culture needs equipment of civilization.
• Max Weber:
- Culture – basic condition of social change
- Source of social change
- Acts on utilitarian order also.
• Capitalism and Protestantism:
- Relation between Protestantism and capitalism
- Protestants prepare the way for capitalism
- Virtues of thrift, savings of Protestantism
- Social systems are creations of cultural values.
• Hob House:
- Relation between changing social forms and
changing beliefs, cultural attitudes
- Organic needs of food, shelter- satiable
- Competitive interests – possession, power
- One of these – culturally determined.
• Manifestations of Cultural Change
- Culture – valuations, styles
- Styles – always changeful
- Suppression of the old by the new
- Oscillations between –
- Conservatism and radicalism
- Orthodoxy and tolerance
- Culture always in flux
• Indices of Cultural Change :
- Cultural trends not measurable
- Many aspects of culture – intangible
- Easy to trace changes in decoration, dress
- We can trace changes in opinions through voting
- Not easy to study changes in ideas,
philosophies
- Changes in attitudes indicated through their
effect on – habits, customs, fashions, art
literature
- Rapid shifts in attitudes in modern society.