cultural lag

or culture lag

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noun Sociology.

slowness in the rate of change of one part of a culture in relation to another part, resulting in a maladjustment within society, as from the failure of the nonmaterial culture to keep abreast of developments in the material culture.

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Words nearby cultural lag

cultural cringe, cultural diversity, cultural exchange, cultural imperialism, culturalize, cultural lag, cultural pluralism, cultural relativity, Cultural Revolution, Cultural Revolution, Great Proletarian, cultural sociology

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cultural lag in a sentence

These generally come from the outside, from cultural pressures and messages.
How Skinny Is Too Skinny? Israel Bans ‘Underweight’ Models|Carrie Arnold|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Is it anti-Semitism, or are less insidious cultural forces at work?
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
So my way to point out his cultural cluelessness is to be even more clueless?
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire|William O’Connor|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In the absence of cultural shifts, then, new reproductive technology might not matter as much for women as it would for men.
Men Will Someday Have Kids Without Women|Samantha Allen|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Instead, local life is defined by cultural products that are more national or more global—think of the Sunday New York Times.
Will Texas Stay Texan?|David Fontana|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Owing to its inertia, it would thus tend continually to lag behind the particles of matter about it.
Outlines of the Earth's History|Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
This organization marked the formal beginning of Richmond as a cultural center in Virginia.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia|Dorothy M. Torpey
Education, the "backbone" of cultural activities, is one of the most challenging current problems facing Virginia.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia|Dorothy M. Torpey
Ecclesiastical is ever wont to lag somewhat in the rear of political improvement.
The English Church in the Eighteenth Century|Charles J. Abbey and John H. Overton
They belong, it would appear, to a stock of common inheritance from an uncertain cultural centre of immense antiquity.
Myths of Babylonia and Assyria|Donald A. Mackenzie

British Dictionary definitions for cultural lag

cultural lag

culture lag

noun

the difference in the rate of change between two parts of a culture

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012