OGBURN, WILLIAM FIELDING

born June 29, 1886, Butler, Ga., U.S. died April 27, 1959, Tallahassee, Fla. American sociologist known for his application of statistical methods to the problems of the social sciences and for his idea of cultural lag. Ogburn was a professor at Columbia University (191927) and the University of Chicago (192751). He frequently served as a labour mediator and was research director of President Herbert Hoover's committee on U.S. social trends (193033). Ogburn's insistence on the verification of social theories by quantitative methods helped to shift the emphasis in sociology from social philosophy and reform programs toward the development of a more nearly exact science of social phenomena. Ogburn considered what he termed inventiona new combination of existing cultural elementsto be the fundamental cause of cultural evolution. He noted that an invention directly affecting one aspect of culture may require adjustments in other cultural areas; he introduced the term cultural lag to describe delays in adjustment. Although lags are generally imperceptible when long periods of history are considered, they may be so acute at a given moment as to threaten complete disintegration of a society. For example, a major innovation in industrial processes may disrupt economics, government, and the social philosophy of a nation. From these disturbances a new equilibrium will be realized. Among Ogburn's writings are Social Change (1922) and Sociology (with Meyer F. Nimkoff, 1940).