Cultural lag

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The term cultural lag refers to the notion that society is unable to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change, and that social problems and conflicts are caused by this lag. It is also a Marxist principle, established as a way to describe the period after the proletariat revolution.

[edit] Cultural lag in Marxism

Marxism refers to cultural lag as the time after the proletariat revolution in which capitalist economic principles are still vaguely followed to foster the new society of communism. Basically, once the revolution is complete, Marxism calls for the dissolution of the government and complete control of the people. However, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels speculated that immediately following the revolution there would have to be a transitional period from capitalism to communism–socialism–that would not completely do away with capitalist economy.

Of course, in order to complete the transition from capitalism to communism, even this socialist state would dissolve. The essential steps in doing this, based on the Communist Manifesto, are:

• abolition of private property, extending it to all the people
• a heavy and increasing income tax
• all defectors and emigrants property would be confiscated and given to the government (the state, the people)
• credit would be centralized to the state by means of one national bank
• subsidized communication and mass transit
• subsidized factories and government involvement in the improvement of the environment
• obligation of all to work equally
• equalize the distribution of the people across the country and combine agriculture and manufacturing
• free education for all children and abolition of factory labor

With the institution of communism as per these steps, cultural lag would also end.
The term was officially coined by sociologist William Ogburn in his 1964 work On Culture and Social Change. His theory of cultural lag resonates with ideas of technological determinism, in that it presupposes that technology has independent effects on society at large.

[edit] References

Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto.