This story saturizes a number of social issues, including the reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions, ideas, rules, laws, and practices.
The lottery represents traditions of pagan sacrifice. The people shed most of these traditions except for the morbid stoning.
The Lottery points out a theme, "People tend to follow the crowd to avoid being an outcast, but that can lead to negative effects. So, don't always follow what society does". This is a key theme for the short story because the whole village has never even questioned the ritual, until Mrs. Adams tells Old Man Warner that other villages have stopped, and suggests they should too.
