Social Conflict In The Walking Dead

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The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic television series that mainly focuses on a particular group of people who struggle to maintain life in a world where the dead now walks amongst the living while trying to remain sane. The television show begins with the series’ protagonist, Rick Grimes, who, recently in a coma, awakens to find himself lying alone in a hospital that has already been overrun by zombies. After being saved by a main character known as Morgan Jones, police officer Rick Grimes comes to realization of the world he is now living in and sets out to go look for his possibly dead family which he refuses to believe that they have have died and become what the living dead are known as: walkers. Rick finally manages to find his family …show more content…

The strength and will to protect the in-group is portrayed through Rick. The outgroup, which from a sociological perspective is a group that does not belong to a specific in-group. Due to this concept, Rick has made some harsh decisions that defied the social norms of society that we abide by today. Social norms is another concept that can be viewed in the Walking Dead. No law enforcement, no government, no value in money, no medical help, and the social structure is undefined. Social norms is what this show lacks. Expectations of how people behave are norms in terms of sociology. People are shown killing each other, shelter is sought to keep from attracting attention from the unwanted: walkers and the wrong …show more content…

Characters are forced into defining what they believe to be the living and the zombies. Having to kill on a daily basis automatically breaks the social norm but in this series killing is considered normal due to the fact that everyone wants to remain alive. When it comes to the concept of social control theory, people do not act out of rationality, yet in this series, deviant behavior occurs because the social systems are weak. Limited resources in this series is a major factor for the increase in deviant behavior because survivors commit horrible acts. Stereotypes are in the Walking Dead, too. For example, the “all asians are smart” stereotype can be seen in the character Glenn who is known to be the quick-thinker of the

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