The sociology of zombies

My personal interest in zombies likely goes back to some time in middle or high school when I began to see more horror and/or science fiction movies.  My academic interest in the idea of zombies stems from a 2003 article by George Ritzer where he uses the metaphor of islands of the living dead to describe the current state of society (http://abs.sagepub.com/content/47/2/119.abstract).  While I have not brought the metaphor into my research or academic writing, as I reflect back over 8 or so years of university teaching, it has been a metaphor that I have threaded through many of my classes such as introduction to sociology and global cultures.

Drawing from popular Ritzer theories, such as McDonaldization and the Globalization of Nothing, I've suggested to many students that we may be entering a zombie apocalypse full of mindless consumption and moved away from critical and meaningful engagement with our social and natural worlds.  I often ask students "Who has ever been bored and just gone shopping for something to do?" as evidence of this trend (needless to say, many hands are raised, including my own).  Certainly not everyone is a zombie, but aren't those creative, dynamic, critical thinkers simply magnets for the zombie hoards who threaten to tear them apart (brains!) and turn them into the same mass-produced nothingness that is the hoard?

The metaphor is not without problems, but with the growth in popularity of zombies as a pop cultural reference (who hasn't seen the Walking Dead by now?) it is certain great fodder for class discussion.  Hey, if everyone else is doing it why not you?