Edu.01 ppt

Edu.01 ppt

1. SEMINAR EDU-01: KNOWLEDGE AND CURRICULUM: PHILOSOPHICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Submitted by Ludiya Stanly S.G B.Ed social Science Roll no:47

2. Topic: CULTURAL LAG, CULTURAL INERTIA AND CULTURAL DIFFUSION

3. Introduction Culture is the way of life of people. The word “culture” is derived from the Latin word “cultura” means”to cultivate”(to cultivate good manners and habits). Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge,belief,arts,morals,law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of the society.

4. CULTURAL Lag The term”CULTURAL LAG” was coined by the US Sociologist and Educator William Ogburn in 1922. It refers to the imbalance in the culture of a society due to different rate of changes happening in the material and non-material aspects of the culture. Ogburn has divided culture into 2 parts : material and non-material culture. Material: economic, technical, industrial, science, means of transport etc…

5. Non-material: values, beliefs, custom, practice, tradition, moral, institution like family, religion, education etc… He used cultural lag to describe the gap between the material culture and non-material culture. Cultural lag occurs when one phase of culture changes more rapidly from another phase. According to Ogburn, cultural lag is a common societal phenomenon due to the tendency of material culture to evolve and change rapidly and voluminously while non- material culture tends to resist change and remain fixed for a far longer period of time.

6. Cultural lag causes social problems and cultural conflicts. Education is the only means to bridge the gap between material culture and non-material culture through consciously planned curricular and co-curricular activities. Example: Differing attitude found in various groups about jobs that are suitable for women. Proper well planned education should be given to remove the cultural lag.

7. Cultural inertia The term “CULTURAL INERTIA” was coined by Psychologist Michael Zarate. It refers to the desire to avoid cultural changes and to cling to traditions and ways of thinking that have outlived their usefulness even when better ways are presented. It is the resistance to change. Example: Resistance to use computers in offices when they were introduced. Reaction to social change such as those caused by immigration.

8. Also the desire for change to continue once it is already occuring. Within the cultural inertia framework, the dominant group is stable and resists cultural change. While subordinate groups desire cultural changes which incorporate their cultural traditions so that they don’t have to assimilate into the dominant culture. Example:In the context of the United States and immigration, the framework suggest that while majority members resist the cultural change that occurs from immigration. While immigrant groups try to enact change in US culture.

9. CULTURAL DIFFUSION It is the process through which the ideas, beliefs,practices, food habits,art, literature etc of a particular culture are spread (diffused) through an area beyond the culture who came up with the idea. Example: Spread of Christianity, Buddhism, different languages,food habits etc… Cultural diffusion can be seen in many different cultures throughout the world. Things that are spread through diffusion include ideas, values, concepts, knowledge, practices, behaviours, materials and symbols.

10. The study of cultural diffusion was pioneered by Anthropologists. Edward Tylor,a British Anthropologist,who wrote during the mid- 19 th C,posed the theory of cultural diffusion as an alternative to using the theory of cultural evolution to explain cultural similarities. Following the Tylor, the German-American Anthropologist Franz Boas developed a theory of cultural diffusion for explaining how the process works among areas that are close to each other. These scholars observed that cultural diffusion happens when societies that have different ways of life come into contact with each other and that as they interact more and more, the rate of cultural diffusion between them increases.

11. Conclusion Cultural lag is seen as a critical ethical issue because failure to develop broad social consensus an appropriate uses of modern technology may lead to breakdown in social solidarity and the rise of social conflicts. Cultural inertia causes differential preferences for cultural change as a function of the extend to which people identity with a cultural group, their sense of esteem for a cultural group and the perception that a culture is (or is not) already changing. Cultural diffusion has lead to enrichment of cultures.similarly, cultural diffusion enhances peace by improving , understanding and interaction between people.

12. References “Teaching And Research Aptitude” . -Dr.K.Kautilya “Social Change With Respect To Cultural And Original Nature” . -William Fielding Ogburn