Toward a Sociology of Living Death
October 26, 2015 1:24 PM Subscribe
In some areas (e.g., Pittsburgh, Raccoon City), zombification is now more common than attending college or serving in the military and must be understood as a modal life course event. Even if one is “objectively” a mindless animated corpse, one cannot really be said to be fulfilling one’s cultural role as a zombie unless one shuffles across the landscape in search of brains.
Having a zombie in the family involves an average of 25 hours of care work per week, including such tasks as going to the butcher to buy pig brains, repairing the boarding that keeps the zombie securely in the basement and away from the rest of the family, and washing a variety of stains out of the zombie’s tattered clothing. Almost all of this care work is performed by women and very little of it is done by paid care workers as no care worker in her right mind is willing to be in a house with a zombie.It always comes back to unpaid emotional labor
posted by modernserf at 1:49 PM on October 26, 2015 [38 favorites]
It always comes back to unpaid emotional labor
Well, those examples are all physical labor. And the alternative is to have a salaried job and spend your wage to hire a careworker who's not afraid of zombies. Might as well cut out the middleman and do the zombie maintenance yourself. (Unless you can negotiate a high enough salary elsewhere, of course.)
posted by Rangi at 1:53 PM on October 26, 2015
Well, those examples are all physical labor. And the alternative is to have a salaried job and spend your wage to hire a careworker who's not afraid of zombies. Might as well cut out the middleman and do the zombie maintenance yourself. (Unless you can negotiate a high enough salary elsewhere, of course.)
posted by Rangi at 1:53 PM on October 26, 2015
I don't know, I think feeding pig brains to the slavering shell of what used to be your mother could be some very emotional labour.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:02 PM on October 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:02 PM on October 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
hire a careworker who's not afraid of zombies
Needing the money for rent and food and brains for your own zombie at home does not necessarily equal 'not afraid of zombies'. Zombie care is another example of disadvantaged classes getting lumped with the drudge work.
posted by Thella at 2:03 PM on October 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Needing the money for rent and food and brains for your own zombie at home does not necessarily equal 'not afraid of zombies'. Zombie care is another example of disadvantaged classes getting lumped with the drudge work.
posted by Thella at 2:03 PM on October 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Sociologist here!
This is really, really funny. But probably isn't as funny to non-sociologists. Also, it is inside baseball enough that I am not even sure how to explain it in a way that would make jokes about population ecology funny. But happy to try, and thanks for posting.
I trained with the guy who developed categorization theory and some of the people behind population ecology (the most lame brag ever) - so I will let you know what they think.
posted by blahblahblah at 2:15 PM on October 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
This is really, really funny. But probably isn't as funny to non-sociologists. Also, it is inside baseball enough that I am not even sure how to explain it in a way that would make jokes about population ecology funny. But happy to try, and thanks for posting.
I trained with the guy who developed categorization theory and some of the people behind population ecology (the most lame brag ever) - so I will let you know what they think.
posted by blahblahblah at 2:15 PM on October 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
In the past year, over 800,000 Americans have died. Despite millions of dollars of research, death continues to be our nation's number one killer. Although so far, there is no known treatment for death’s crippling effects, still, everyone can acquaint himself with the three early warning signs of death.
1. Rigor Motis
2. A Rotting Smell
3. Ocassional drowsiness
It is also important to know what to do when you die.
1. Do Not Drive
2. Do Not Ooperate Heavy Machinery
3. Do Not Talk
posted by filthy light thief at 2:20 PM on October 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
1. Rigor Motis
2. A Rotting Smell
3. Ocassional drowsiness
It is also important to know what to do when you die.
1. Do Not Drive
2. Do Not Ooperate Heavy Machinery
3. Do Not Talk
posted by filthy light thief at 2:20 PM on October 26, 2015 [7 favorites]
This is really, really funny. But probably isn't as funny to non-sociologists. Also, it is inside baseball enough that I am not even sure how to explain it in a way that would make jokes about population ecology funny. But happy to try, and thanks for posting.
Please do try.
posted by dis_integration at 2:22 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Please do try.
posted by dis_integration at 2:22 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
It is not that one is a zombie but that one does being a zombie such that zombieism is created and enacted through interaction.
Pretty deep! If it weren't a self link I'd refer you to my recent paper entitled "Who is the REAL Monster: Improvised Human Cooperatives and Vulnerable Populations" which I presented while huddled in a pantry in an abandoned elementary school.
posted by bleep at 2:24 PM on October 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
Pretty deep! If it weren't a self link I'd refer you to my recent paper entitled "Who is the REAL Monster: Improvised Human Cooperatives and Vulnerable Populations" which I presented while huddled in a pantry in an abandoned elementary school.
posted by bleep at 2:24 PM on October 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
brain-flavored Doritos
I prefer Ghoul Ranch.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:25 PM on October 26, 2015 [16 favorites]
I prefer Ghoul Ranch.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:25 PM on October 26, 2015 [16 favorites]
I really find a lot of this language objectionable. I married into a large zombie family, we eat zombie, we practice all zombie rituals and celebrate all zombie holidays, and have raised 2 beautiful zombie children. For all practical purposes I am far more zombie than your typical Upper West Side zombie who shuffles to his job at an advertising agency every day, eats Greek take out and enjoys art openings among the still-living. Yet all of these discussions always exclude my perspective simply because I am not dead. It is time for a new paradigm and new language for those of us who choose to be practicing zombies but are excluded simply because our flesh is not rotting. Inside we are just as undead.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:29 PM on October 26, 2015 [19 favorites]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:29 PM on October 26, 2015 [19 favorites]
OK, this will not be funny, but I will try to explain a few zombie sociology jokes. Here are some of the obscure sociological theories that are (a) actually important in sociology today and (b) I know enough about to discuss:
Cultural toolkits are a dominant idea in the sociology of culture, that says that culture isn't just a constraint, it is also a way we make sense of the world and is subject to change. Thus: "The human being besieged by zombies is not constrained by culture, but draws upon it. Actors can draw upon such culturally-informed tools as boarding up the windows of a farmhouse, shotgunning the undead, or simply falling into panicked blubbering."
Categorization. Category theory shows that we implicitly categorize the world into particular types and draw on categories as heuristics in decision making. As a result there is a penalty for people or organizations that do not clearly fit into categories (with some exceptions). For example, movies that don't fit into clearly defined categories generally do less well than those that do. Thus: "This categorical uncertainty has effects in that insurance underwriters systematically undervalue life insurance policies against monsters that are ambiguous to categorize (zombies) as compared to those that fall into a clearly delineated category (vampires)."
Neo-institutionalism. Kicked off in the 1980s with the awesomely-titled article The Iron Cage Revisited, it is basically an argument about organizations, asking the question: "why do so many organizations look alike?" The answer is that much of what organizations do is not actually productive work ("technically efficient"), but rather an attempt to look like other organizations - a process called "isomorphism". Fitting in with other established organizations grants you "legitimacy," which means that you are taken for granted as a normal thing in society, rather than as something to be regulated or shunned. Thus: "Although early on strategies for dealing with the undead (panic, “hole up here until help arrives,” “we have to get out of the city,” developing a vaccine, etc) are practiced where they are most technically efficient, once a strategy achieves legitimacy it spreads via isomorphism to technically inappropriate contexts."
Population ecology. has two main points. The first is that organizations rarely change after being created. The second is that survival rates ("hazard rates") for new organizations are lowest when there are either too few organizations in a space (a new industry category, not yet legitimized - see above) or else when it is too crowded and there is competition. Thus: "Furthermore, IHSC demonstrate the essentially fixed nature of organizations as those IHSC that attempt to change core strategy (eg, from “let’s hole up here until help arrives” to “we have to get out of the city”) show a greatly increased hazard for being overwhelmed and devoured."
Diffusion. One of the best-proven ideas in the social sciences, it is that ideas spread through diffusion - you have seen diffusion curves before. Funnily enough, I actually use a zombie analogy when teaching this.
Grounded theory. The idea that we need to build theory by first examining a number of cases close up to inform theory building, creating "thick" as opposed to "thin" description. Thus: "Only participant observation can allow one to provide a thick description of the mindless zombie perspective."
posted by blahblahblah at 2:39 PM on October 26, 2015 [31 favorites]
Cultural toolkits are a dominant idea in the sociology of culture, that says that culture isn't just a constraint, it is also a way we make sense of the world and is subject to change. Thus: "The human being besieged by zombies is not constrained by culture, but draws upon it. Actors can draw upon such culturally-informed tools as boarding up the windows of a farmhouse, shotgunning the undead, or simply falling into panicked blubbering."
Categorization. Category theory shows that we implicitly categorize the world into particular types and draw on categories as heuristics in decision making. As a result there is a penalty for people or organizations that do not clearly fit into categories (with some exceptions). For example, movies that don't fit into clearly defined categories generally do less well than those that do. Thus: "This categorical uncertainty has effects in that insurance underwriters systematically undervalue life insurance policies against monsters that are ambiguous to categorize (zombies) as compared to those that fall into a clearly delineated category (vampires)."
Neo-institutionalism. Kicked off in the 1980s with the awesomely-titled article The Iron Cage Revisited, it is basically an argument about organizations, asking the question: "why do so many organizations look alike?" The answer is that much of what organizations do is not actually productive work ("technically efficient"), but rather an attempt to look like other organizations - a process called "isomorphism". Fitting in with other established organizations grants you "legitimacy," which means that you are taken for granted as a normal thing in society, rather than as something to be regulated or shunned. Thus: "Although early on strategies for dealing with the undead (panic, “hole up here until help arrives,” “we have to get out of the city,” developing a vaccine, etc) are practiced where they are most technically efficient, once a strategy achieves legitimacy it spreads via isomorphism to technically inappropriate contexts."
Population ecology. has two main points. The first is that organizations rarely change after being created. The second is that survival rates ("hazard rates") for new organizations are lowest when there are either too few organizations in a space (a new industry category, not yet legitimized - see above) or else when it is too crowded and there is competition. Thus: "Furthermore, IHSC demonstrate the essentially fixed nature of organizations as those IHSC that attempt to change core strategy (eg, from “let’s hole up here until help arrives” to “we have to get out of the city”) show a greatly increased hazard for being overwhelmed and devoured."
Diffusion. One of the best-proven ideas in the social sciences, it is that ideas spread through diffusion - you have seen diffusion curves before. Funnily enough, I actually use a zombie analogy when teaching this.
Grounded theory. The idea that we need to build theory by first examining a number of cases close up to inform theory building, creating "thick" as opposed to "thin" description. Thus: "Only participant observation can allow one to provide a thick description of the mindless zombie perspective."
posted by blahblahblah at 2:39 PM on October 26, 2015 [31 favorites]
Count me as another one who thought (and hoped) the zombie fad would be long dead by now.
posted by doctor_negative at 2:51 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by doctor_negative at 2:51 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
A couple years ago, we received an "Emergency Response Guide" wall hanger thingy that every department is supposed to display in a public place in case all hell breaks loose. The guide was, as far as I know, sent to every department on all of the University of California system's nine campuses. The hell breaking loose we have to deal with most often is student protests (and indeed, there's a tab for civil demonstrations), but it also has a tab for chemical spills, disasters, active shooters (which, you know, is a thing that happens a lot now on campuses)....
...and also, zombie invasions.
I have no idea if this was meant as the kind of subtle joke that's funny because you have to wait for people to notice it, or if someone snuck it by an editor and by the time they realized that it made it into the final version they'd already printed tens of thousands of copies and didn't want to incur the expense of doing another run.
In any case, you can rest assured that the UC System, true to its tendency towards risk aversion, has a formal and formalized plan for what to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:56 PM on October 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
...and also, zombie invasions.
I have no idea if this was meant as the kind of subtle joke that's funny because you have to wait for people to notice it, or if someone snuck it by an editor and by the time they realized that it made it into the final version they'd already printed tens of thousands of copies and didn't want to incur the expense of doing another run.
In any case, you can rest assured that the UC System, true to its tendency towards risk aversion, has a formal and formalized plan for what to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:56 PM on October 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Sad that linguistics was only represented by conversational analysis; some phoneticians I know would totally be out there with recorders and examining the effects of decomposition on the vocal tract; the language change and variation folks would be doing studies on whether or not the zombies were participating in local sound changes; there could be a pragmatic analysis on the meanings of "brains" in different contexts...
posted by damayanti at 2:57 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by damayanti at 2:57 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
...some phoneticians I know would totally be out there with recorders and examining the effects of decomposition on the vocal tract;...
insert obligatory Pontypool joke here
posted by Existential Dread at 3:09 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
insert obligatory Pontypool joke here
posted by Existential Dread at 3:09 PM on October 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Count me as another one who thought (and hoped) the zombie fad would be long dead by now.
posted by doctor_negative at 6:51 on October 27
Technically, it has been dead, for years and years.
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:18 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by doctor_negative at 6:51 on October 27
Technically, it has been dead, for years and years.
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:18 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
insert obligatory Pontypool joke here
...I had no idea this was a thing, and had to google it. Creepy/cool!
posted by damayanti at 3:18 PM on October 26, 2015
...I had no idea this was a thing, and had to google it. Creepy/cool!
posted by damayanti at 3:18 PM on October 26, 2015
Count me as another one who thought (and hoped) the zombie fad would be long dead by now.
I was going to tell you to lighten up, it's Halloween, but then I saw what you did there.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 4:11 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was going to tell you to lighten up, it's Halloween, but then I saw what you did there.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 4:11 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mod note: A few comments deleted. If you think zombies are dumb and bad, go ahead and skip the thread. And please don't flag stuff and then testily comment about it.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:04 PM on October 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 5:04 PM on October 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
However, race trumps humanity as most employers prefer to hire a white zombie over a black human.
ice. cold. satire.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 5:52 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
ice. cold. satire.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 5:52 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
For those of you wondering about the Zombie Preparedness Guide, (not great) photos of it can be found here, along with the rest of the town's local plan of attack.
I actually think the point of it was (a) yes, that's a joke that amuses the nerds, but also (b) that works as a general "prepare for disaster" guide quite well. Though in the event of actual zombie apocalypse, we'd have to worry about getting guns, which only the wiki covers in detail as to where to find them.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:57 PM on October 26, 2015
I actually think the point of it was (a) yes, that's a joke that amuses the nerds, but also (b) that works as a general "prepare for disaster" guide quite well. Though in the event of actual zombie apocalypse, we'd have to worry about getting guns, which only the wiki covers in detail as to where to find them.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:57 PM on October 26, 2015
It's really Monroeville where you have to watch out for the zombification. In Pittsburgh proper, it's the Videodrome that you have to worry about.
Don't you realize the zombification and the Videodrome are connected? Where do you think Pittsburgh gets all its "new flesh"? Long live the new flesh.
posted by jonp72 at 5:30 AM on October 27, 2015
Don't you realize the zombification and the Videodrome are connected? Where do you think Pittsburgh gets all its "new flesh"? Long live the new flesh.
posted by jonp72 at 5:30 AM on October 27, 2015
"However, race trumps humanity as most employers prefer to hire a white zombie over a black human."
*facepalm*
"Almost all of this care work is performed by women and very little of it is done by paid care workers as no care worker in her right mind is willing to be in a house with a zombie."
Of course it's a "her."
"Even if one is “objectively” a mindless animated corpse, one cannot really be said to be fulfilling one’s cultural role as a zombie unless one shuffles across the landscape in search of brains."
...Yeah.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:12 AM on October 27, 2015
*facepalm*
"Almost all of this care work is performed by women and very little of it is done by paid care workers as no care worker in her right mind is willing to be in a house with a zombie."
Of course it's a "her."
"Even if one is “objectively” a mindless animated corpse, one cannot really be said to be fulfilling one’s cultural role as a zombie unless one shuffles across the landscape in search of brains."
...Yeah.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:12 AM on October 27, 2015
doctor_negative: Count me as another one who thought (and hoped) the zombie fad would be long dead by now.
DoctorFedora: Technically, it has been dead, for years and years.
That's undead. Dead things don't move around and moan "braaaiiinsss." Just sayin'. As doctors, I'm sad you didn't get this difference from the beginning. Medical school these days, humph.
...some phoneticians I know would totally be out there with recorders and examining the effects of decomposition on the vocal tract;...
Existential Dread: insert obligatory Pontypool joke here
Eponysterical; and kill is - kill is - kill is kiss? Kill is kiss. Is that it? Kill is kiss? Kill is kiss. Kill is kiss. Kill is kiss. Kill is kiss! Kill is kiss? Kill is kiss. What is kill?
damayanti: ...I had no idea this was a thing, and had to google it. Creepy/cool!
Why google, when you can MetaFilter it?
posted by filthy light thief at 7:38 AM on October 27, 2015
DoctorFedora: Technically, it has been dead, for years and years.
That's undead. Dead things don't move around and moan "braaaiiinsss." Just sayin'. As doctors, I'm sad you didn't get this difference from the beginning. Medical school these days, humph.
...some phoneticians I know would totally be out there with recorders and examining the effects of decomposition on the vocal tract;...
Existential Dread: insert obligatory Pontypool joke here
Eponysterical; and kill is - kill is - kill is kiss? Kill is kiss. Is that it? Kill is kiss? Kill is kiss. Kill is kiss. Kill is kiss. Kill is kiss! Kill is kiss? Kill is kiss. What is kill?
damayanti: ...I had no idea this was a thing, and had to google it. Creepy/cool!
Why google, when you can MetaFilter it?
posted by filthy light thief at 7:38 AM on October 27, 2015
jennfullmoon - if it helps, the comments that annoy you are gallows humor, and intentional, since they are based on (depressing) research about social attitudes towards gender and race.
"However, race trumps humanity as most employers prefer to hire a white zombie over a black human."
*facepalm*
Rossman (who wrote this) is making reference to a lot of work on race and hiring in sociology. Specifically, a series of audit studies have found, repeatedly, that resumes with "black" names are skipped over at a much higher rate than those with "white" names. The penalty can be 50% in job hiring. And even in a setting like academia, professors were more likely to answer emails by "white male" PhD candidates than those by other ethnicity and genders - even if the professor is not white and male. As someone pointed out above, this is real ice cold satire.
"Almost all of this care work is performed by women and very little of it is done by paid care workers as no care worker in her right mind is willing to be in a house with a zombie."
Of course it's a "her."
I think a bit of this is intentional: Gender and care work (paid and unpaid) is a huge interest in the sociology of family. There has been a lot of studies into how care work is gendered female, and how it is considered to be less valuable in a way that leads to exploitation and unpaid labor (see, the many discussions of emotional labor on MeFi). At the same time, I think the "her" is probably unintentional here - in sociology, there is often a tendency to use female pronouns to referred to paid workers, if only in reaction to the issues I raised above (that paid work is assumed to be male.) If so, it may be an unintentional reinforcement of gender norms.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:14 AM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
"However, race trumps humanity as most employers prefer to hire a white zombie over a black human."
*facepalm*
Rossman (who wrote this) is making reference to a lot of work on race and hiring in sociology. Specifically, a series of audit studies have found, repeatedly, that resumes with "black" names are skipped over at a much higher rate than those with "white" names. The penalty can be 50% in job hiring. And even in a setting like academia, professors were more likely to answer emails by "white male" PhD candidates than those by other ethnicity and genders - even if the professor is not white and male. As someone pointed out above, this is real ice cold satire.
"Almost all of this care work is performed by women and very little of it is done by paid care workers as no care worker in her right mind is willing to be in a house with a zombie."
Of course it's a "her."
I think a bit of this is intentional: Gender and care work (paid and unpaid) is a huge interest in the sociology of family. There has been a lot of studies into how care work is gendered female, and how it is considered to be less valuable in a way that leads to exploitation and unpaid labor (see, the many discussions of emotional labor on MeFi). At the same time, I think the "her" is probably unintentional here - in sociology, there is often a tendency to use female pronouns to referred to paid workers, if only in reaction to the issues I raised above (that paid work is assumed to be male.) If so, it may be an unintentional reinforcement of gender norms.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:14 AM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by ryanshepard at 1:48 PM on October 26, 2015 [7 favorites]