Family

Marxism and The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is a popular American TV show centring on a small band of survivors from a zombie apocalypse.

A trailer for series one can be found here (please watch this before deciding whether to share with students):

In this page from the Sociological Cinema, Ami Stearns provides a sociological analysis of the programme using Marxist theory:

Discover More The Zombie Manifesto: Marx and The Walking Dead

Questions follow at the end and as a homework exercise, students could attempt a Marxist or other theoretical analysis of a TV show or film of their choice.

You could then possibly use this to introduce Ulrich Beck’s (2004) idea a ‘zombie category’. For Beck, zombie categories are ideas or concepts that were more applicable to a previous era, but sociologist, still hold onto. For example, Beck suggests that social class is a nineteenth century concept that no longer has much relevance today, but sociologists insist on keeping it alive like a zombie. Could we also say that the family is a zombie category – a category and concept that no longer describes how we live our lives in contemporary society?