The term was first coined in William F. Ogburn's 1922 work Social Change with Respect to Culture and Original Nature.
[1] If people fail to adjust to the rapid environmental and technological changes it will cause a lag or a gap between the cultures.
This distinction between material and non-material culture is also a contribution of Ogburn's 1922 work on social change.
Ogburn's classic example of cultural lag was the period of adaptation when automobiles became faster and more efficient.
Ogburn states that there is a gap between traditional cultural values and the technical realities in the world.
Ogburn's theory was not widely accepted at first due to people having different interpretations of the work.
In the book he also details the four factors of technical development, which are: invention, accumulation, diffusion, and adjustment.
In the work he suggests that primary engine of change and progress is technology, but that it is tempered by social responses.
In Social Change with Respect to Culture and Original Nature, sociologist William F. Ogburn coins the term 'cultural lag'.
Ogburn makes claims that he played a considerable role in solving the issue of social evolution.
He goes on to say that the fours solving factors of social evolution are: invention, exponential accumulation, diffusion, and adjustment.
He states that this accelerating rate of change is causing people to feel disconnected from the culture.
[4] Toffler argues that balance is needed between the accelerated rates of change in society and the limited pace of human response.
Toffler says that it is not impossible to attempt to slow or even control the rapid change and that it is possible for the future to arrive before society is ready for it.
[6] The term can include things like houses, churches, machines, furniture, or anything else for which a person may have some sentiment.
These non-physical things can be information passed down from past generations or new ideas thought up by somebody in today's world.
In this example, the cultural lag is the fear of people to use a new possibly beneficial medical practices because of ethical issues.
Issues can also arise when an aspect of culture changes so rapidly that society is unable to prepare or adjust to it.
Broader roads, traffic rules, and separate lanes for horses did not come until some time after automobiles became a part of the mainstream culture.