Cultural lag is a dysfunction in the sociocultural system that results when a change occurs in one part of the system but another part of that system fails to adjust to the change. The failure often causes conflict until adjustment is made. An example is the engagement of married women in outside employment and the continuance of the traditional domestic division of labour.
Cultural lag is the continued use of outmoded ways of doing things even after the introduction of more effective means for attaining the particular goals of a society.