Cultural Lag



Culture takes time to catch up. Culture lag is defined as the slowness in the rate of change in one part of a culture in relation to another part, resulting in maladjustment within society. As previously mentioned in the post, “Culture Changes”, hipster culture has been around since the 1940’s, although, it is only in recent years that the so-called counter culture has become mainstream. In previous years, hipsters would have to nit-pickingly search for the perfect outfit to fit their non-conformist style; nowadays, one can simply go to Urban Outfitters to find the latest mainstream hipster trends.


Urban Outfitters was founded in 1970, long before hipsters rose to ultimate popularity. It is self described as a store, which offers, “a lifestyle-specific shopping experience for the educated, urban-minded individual in the 18 to 30 year-old range”—in other words, it is a store specifically designed to cater to every hipster’s desire. In past years, Urban Outfitters has laid remarkably under the radar, but it was not until recent years—due to the culture lag—when it finally blossomed. In the last quarter, Urban Outfitters has earned $62 million, or 42 cents a share. As well, total sales are up 11% to $676 million. 

 



Bibliography 


Articles: http://buzz.money.cnn.com/2012/08/21/urban-outfitters-stock/ , http://www.urbn.com/profile/urban.html