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The Sociology Of The Simpsons: Using SociologicalTheory Can We See The Society We Live In Within The

Simpsons?

Chris Leckey

B00588642

BSc (Hons) Sociology

2016

This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for

the award of B.Sc. Sociology.



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Table Of Contents.

Introduction…..…………………………………………………………………………………………….

.5

Theory…………………………………………...……………………………..6

Literature Review…..…………………………………………………………………………………….7Understanding Culture…………………………………………………7

Studies Done In Modern Television...…………………………...8

The Simpsons in Sociological Practise………………….……...9

Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………….……11

The American Family……………………………………………………………………………… .…14 Homer and Marge – The Sociology Of Marriage....……..15

Bart Simpson – Meet Talcott Parsons..……………….……...17

Power–

The Control Of C. Montgomery Burns In Education and Work …….

19Mr. Burns – The Power Relations and Struggles In The

Workplace………………………………………………………………….20

Principal Skinner – Education and Power Under

Threat ………………………………………………………………….……..21

Gender – Marge The Housewife and Lisa The Young Feminist ………………….22Lisa The Lionheart – Youth and Feminism…..……………25

Marge Simpson–

The Housewife and Gender

Norms…………………………………………………………………..……26

Conclusion…..……………………………………………………………………………………………. .28

Bibliography/References……………………………………………….…………………………..30



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Acknowledgements.

I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Ciaran Acton for his time and patience withsupervising me on this. I understand the difficulty in understanding my approach but

hopefully after reading it in full, he gets it.

My thanks go to Dr. Marie Braniff for being a supportive and understanding lecturer at theuniversity during tough times that I had over the past three years.

Gratitude also goes to Mr. Fred Johnson for his lectures on sociological theory that I haveused extensively throughout this dissertation, without his analytic depth into the area I would

not have known how to write this.

Thanks also go to Jacky Sheridan, Billy Woods and Wilson Davidson for making sure that Ididn’t go insane during the period of writing this.

Another thanks goes to my Mum for having the time to proofread this.



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Abstract.

A sociological analysis of The Simpsons paying particular attention to the ideas of C. WrightMills’s concept of The Sociological Imagination of the ability to see society in a different

light through the discipline of sociology. A comprehensive look at the sociological theories of

family, power and gender by theorists such as Foucault, Parsons, McRobbie, Althusser,

Weber, Hoftstede etc. Contrasting these theorists with episodes of The Simpsons that relate to

these theories. This dissertation will use the research technique of content analysis in a

qualitative setting and will attempt to understand the sociological significance of The

Simpsons and it’s lasting impression on society.

Introduction.



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Can we truly see the society that we live in, in a cartoon? A cartoon known for it’s off -the-

wall humor and silly jokes? The Simpsons is considered a classic. But can we truly scratch

deeper than the surface of this and begin to analyze it as a sociological entity? This piece will

attempt to answer that. C. Wright Mills (1959) in The Sociological Imagination addressed

how we must look at the world with a sociological vision and see the links between them, that

in order to truly understand society around us, we must look at society with a certain gaze. I

believe this to be fundamental in the accomplishments of sociological theoretical ideas and

that in order to achieve a piece of sociological literature, you must look at things with a

different view. This is why I have chosen The Simpsons as the focus of my sociological

imagination. The Simpsons is unique in that it is one of the only television shows that over the

years has created an entire society and series, a whole cast of primary, secondary and tertiary

characters easily recognized from their catchphrase or funny accent. I believe that The

Simpsons is of paramount importance to the area of sociology because of this. No other show

has been able to achieve the amount of social building than The Simpsons and because of it

this, I intend to analyze it along side preexisting sociological texts in order to find the links

that C. Wright Mills refers to. I will be analyzing three areas of social theory. I will first look

at how The Simpsons portrays family life and family living in America and how it is able to

convey the theories of certain family theorists. Secondly, I will analyze the characters of Mr.

Burns and Principal Skinner in the areas of education and work through their power and

domination of workers and students. Finally, I will look at how The Simpsons intentionally

explores gender and how it reflects the changing attitudes towards gender in society at large,

how the writers of The Simpsons understood the changing attitudes of feminism and

addressed them.

I will be contrasting these theories with selected episodes of the series that I feel portray these

theories most clearly. I wish to claim again that I do not believe that the writers are

sociologists but I believe that they portray the society around them in a satirical but accurateway in a setting that they have created. This piece will set these episodes next to real

sociological theory to show how The Simpsons is sociological. I will however be shifting this

idea in the chapter on gender to show how the writers understand gender differences and

feminist thought.

Theory



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The theory is laced throughout this research piece, each chapter will begin discussing the

theories that will be used. A short section will discuss the various aspects of that chapter’s

area and the theory that will employ.

Literature review.



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In this section I will be discussing from various other texts that I have gathered that I feel are

relevant to the study that I will be presenting. The first section is concerned with the concept

of culture and how different theorists from various different perspectives view ideas in

sociology through media and culture. Through the literature you will be able to identify how

the theoretical arc of this paper will pan out. In the second section I will be analyzing various

other sitcoms and popular cultural phenomena and how sociologists have interpreted them. I

have looked at these in reference as to how other sitcoms/modern cultural phenomena have

been analyzed and how I can apply this to my study of The Simpsons. These examples

include studies in Sex and The City, Seinfeld and the characters of shows such as The

Flintstones, The Honeymooners and King Of Queens. The third section covers sources that I

found on sociologists and theorists looking at The Simpsons in the context of various areas of

sociology such as gender and class. These prove to be an interesting insight and a good

starting off point. In this section of the paper, the theory, which I will be employing

throughout, will be discussed and related back to the data of my research methodology.

Understanding Culture.

Culture itself is a large part of sociology with many different theorists analyzing culture in

order to understand how it can reflects various aspects of society such as religion, race,

gender and social interaction through symbolic interactionism. In his book Culture: Key Ideas, Chris Jenks (1993) tries to understand “how culture came to be and argues that culture

is a symbolic force that robs man of his nature and places him in this socially produced

symbolic form.” Jenks goes to say that he believes that culture came about in the eighteenth

century as a response to the massive changes that were occurring in the structure and quality

of life on social, political and personal levels. Jenks then speaks of how culture was

developed as a euro-centric form and that it in itself is simply a symbolic force. Jenks goes on

to give four accounts of what culture is described to be; in the first he describes it as cerebral

and cognitive category that carries the idea of perfection or emancipation. This theory is

closely related to the writings of the Frankfurt School and earlier to the writings of Marx with

his emphasis on false consciousness and philosophical commitment. The second is that

culture is a form of development that occurs in a society and is a natural part of a developing

society, this is an theory closely associated with anthropology. The third of these accounts is

that culture is a concrete category that is seen as a collective body of art and intellectual work

and comes with a degree of elitism and dominance with it, this account can be seen as being

closely related to Pierre Bourdieu and his theory of cultural capital. The final account is that

culture is a social category and that it is a way of life with some people, this account is a



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generalized notion that sociologists and in a more localised sense cultural theorists see

culture. A very different perspective of how culture can be analyzed would be that of post-

modernists. In her book Postmodernism and Popular Culture, Angela McRobbie (1994)

argues that pervious cultural studies have been ineffective in understanding how culture can

be analyzed and has been dominated by Marxist and structuralist/post-structuralist views.

Robbie argues that we must not worry about what culture is, but rather think about what it

means and how it relates to society instead of how it mirrors society. One of the positive

aspects of this approach to understanding culture and society as a whole is that post-

modernism allows us to challenge the preconceived notion of sociology and analyze every

aspect of society with precision. This theory is interesting in how you can look at culture from

a different perspective and shows how culture theory has many different areas and

perspectives. Bourdieu’s theories of capital (social, cultural etc.) will be employed in this

paper in the coming chapters. This is due to Bourdieu’s nature of applying it to culture.

McRobbie is a key theorist in feminism and gender studies, she will be applied in the chapter

discussing gender. The Frankfur t School’s cultural ideas and theories that dictate their thought

will be considered in relation to the chapters ahead.

Studies Done in Modern Television.

Sociologists have used various popular culture phenomena in order to understand society and

see how popular culture can mirror society at the time. A prime of example of sociologists

using a popular television show in order to understand social phenomena is the studying of

Seinf eld. Tim Delaney’s Seinology is an examination of Seinfeld in order to understand key

sociological theories that run throughout. Delaney (T Delaney 2006) uses Seinfeld in order to

understand certain social phenomena such as social behavior and social interaction between

the show’s four characters. Delaney also looks at how this relates to aspects of culture such as

class, race, sports and gender. Gender is a large area of study for sociologists, in

understanding how the culture can relate to the understanding of gender norms and the

aspects of woman’s lives within the public and pr ivate sphere, sociologists will analyze theculture in order to see how men and women are represented. In the book of essays Gender,

Race, Class in Media edited by Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez is an essay by Jane Gerhard in

which she details how Sex and The City is a postfeminist show, a show in which women

enjoy the fruits of the second wave of feminism in the 1970’s. Gerhar d (2011) goes onto

explain how the show explores sexual equality in the wake of the social and cultural

achievements of the second wave feminists. Gerhard also explains how the writers of the

show explored the nature of queerness in the 90s through subplots and narratives with the

characters. This is a prime example of how a show can explore the ideas of gender through

their plots and narratives. In the same book, Richard Butsch analyses the sitcom King Of



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Queens as well as other famous TV dads including Homer Simpson, Ralph Kramden and Fred

Flintstone in order to understand why television keeps recreating a male working class idiot.

In this study (Butsch 2011) Butsch is interested in why TV networks decide to reproduce this

type of person for sitcoms and why the class system is used in order to get laughs. This study

is a key example of how class can be used to relate and understand its audience as Butsch

finds that they use the working class man as the loveable but sometimes stupid main character

in order for working class men to have someone to relate to but also to have relief that they

are “not that bad” in comparison. He makes this comparison with Homer who while being

exceedingly stupid and sometimes inconsiderate is still loveable. These theorists all employed

various levels of research methodology in these studies, however the most prominent is

content analysis with an emphasis on qualitative studies.

The Simpsons in Sociological Practice.

The Simpsons have been a staple in modern pop culture since the early 90s and because of

this, they are a reflection of the culture during that time period. Unlike most of the previously

mentioned studies on different pop culture phenomena, The Simpsons have managed to

sustain a degree of popularity in it’s 27 season run and in that run have lampooned and

satirized many aspects of society that we take for granted such as class, gender and the ideas

of domination be it in the work place, school or criminal justice system. One of the key texts

in understanding society through The Simpsons is Simpsonology by Tim Delaney. Delaney

(Delaney 2008), breaks society down into chapters, such as race, family, gender, religion and

a chapter on how The Simpsons has been received in society. Another example is Matthew A.

Henry’s The Simpsons, Satire and American Culture, Matthew A Henry, who is a professor of

Cultural Studies at Richland College. Henry’s book (M.A Henry 2012) much like Delaney’s,

deals with societal topics in a fun and informative way, breaking down sociological themes

and coloring them with characters and episodes of The Simpsons. Unlike Delaney however

are the differences in discipline approach. Where Delaney comes mainly from much of a

sociological approach, Henry opts for a more refined direction of cultural studies; theoutcome, is the narrow nature of his thought, whereas Delaney has the ability to employ

various techniques and ways of inter preting, Henry’s is contained in just one discipline.

Henry’s book follow much the same structure but with an emphasis on the idea that satire in

The Simpsons is a way of addressing social problems, actions and norms. Most notably is his

chapter on gender and family where Henry details the theories and ideologies surrounding

gender, family and femininity detailing this with prominent female characters and through

this using episodes where these norms and actions are most on show. In this dissertation I will

be using this as a key text in order to show how society is exposed (albeit, in a humorous

light) through The Simpsons.



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Methodology.



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In this chapter, I will detail the aspects of research methodology I have employed in this

dissertation, paying particular attention to the aspects and benefits of qualitative research over

quantitative research in the context of my research topic. I will be paying particular attention

to the research method of content analysis and draw on previous research that has been

carried out on culture using this research method. The disadvantages and advantages of this

research method will be analyzed and then using this, detail my research plan for my topic of

research.

In her book The Content Analysis Guidebook, Kimberly A. Neuendorf (Neuendorf 2002)

defines content analysis in a quantitative perspective as “the systematic, objective,

quantitative analysis of message characteristics, it included the careful examination of human

interactions; the analysis of character portrayals in TV commercials, films and novels; the

computer-driven investigation of word usage in news releases and political speeches; and so

much more.” Neuendorf is speaking of content analysis in a quantitative perspective where

she shows how theorists have used quantitative research methods to analyze the words used in

television. Neuendorf uses a case study of a theorist using content analysis on Porky Pig’s

vocalizations from a clinical speech therapy perspective. He found that Porky would stutter

around 11.6% to 51.4% of words uttered from 37 cartoons watched. Neuendorf goes on to

explain how content analysis is significantly easier to use in research than other types of

research methods because of its accessibility. However, Neuendorf dispels the myth that it is

an easy method to use when researching. Neuendorf believes that content analysis is as easy

or hard as the researcher makes it out to be, citing that it must conform to the rules of good

science because of the nature of it’s approach being purely analytic. Each researcher makes

decisions as to the scope and complexity of the content-analytic study. This displays the

quantitative nature of content analysis and within the context of this research; it shows the

strengths of how qualitative it more appropriate to this writing.

In her book Qualitative Content Analysis In Practice, Margrit Schreier, details various aspectsof the qualitative side of content analysis paying attention to the distinction and similarities of

qualitative and quantitative research methods in content analysis. Schreier (Schreier 2012)

believes that qualitative content analysis (QCA), is a much more in depth way of

systematically explaining data. Schreier believes that the use of the qualitative method is a

much more apt method to use because of it’s ability to be less systematic and more in depth;

using an example, she says that if you wish to find the number of men and women shown in

magazine advertisements then little interpretation would be needed in order to understand

that. For that research you could simply use computer aided quantitative content analysis but

in the research of ‘if women are placed in more trivial contexts than men’, the research



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becomes much less standardized than before, there must be more depth. More interpretation is

needed in order to understand that complex relationship. In relevance to this research, I

cannot simply use a quantitative method in order to find out how many times a women is

represented in a gender role or if the role of upper class is shown in a more positive light than

others, I need to research my data (The Simpsons) in a much more complex and interpretative

way. I believe that by analyzing my data in a more interpretative way, I will ultimately be

looking deeper into the hidden sociological ideas of The Simpsons. Schreier explains how

qualitative research in content analysis can be systematic and that is the ultimate goal of

qualitative research. The goal is to systematically describe the meaning of the material; the

systematic nature of QCA allows you to be flexible with your research, which differentiates it

from different quantitative research methods because it is based on interpretation. Another

positive of this method is that QCA reduces the amount of data that comes from the research.

QCA does this from its lack of interviews/interview tapes in which to work though and also is

because the way that you can focus on certain aspects of the data and bring together your own

interpretation of it. This is particularly important when analyzing television, film, literature

and other important cultural phenomena.

E.E. Fields in his contribution to the journal Qualitative Sociology discusses the aspects of

QCA in the analysis of media particularly in new media. Fields (Fields 1988) also states a

distinction between quantitative and qualitative content analysis stating that quantitative

analysis is much more statistical significance, where as qualitative is based more on data that

can be interpreted for theoretical significance. Fields then lays out eight points in which to

follow:

1. Unitizing content – the unit that the researcher expects aspects of the data to fall into

(in the case of this research, which episodes of The Simpsons fall into the categories

of family, gender, power etc.).

2.

Transcription – this is the script of the data and the use of words (the charactersscripted words on The Simpsons).

3. Developing and using categories – this is a synthesis of the previous two, how is the

script put into the context of your categories (how the characters words in The

Simpsons match my coding frame).

4. Verbal analysis – Once the context is achieved, how can the structure of discourse be

examined (how the characters speak to one and other).

5. Verbal and Expressive Analysis – this is the actual way that the data speaks or moves

(body language and quotes of characters).



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6. Scene Composition Analysis – the settings and background of the characters

(Springfield).

7. Describing the interplay of components – the interrelations of theme that run

throughout various aspects of a categories (how certain episodes relate to each other).

8.

Explanation – The ‘account of accounts’ the collective perception of all of the points

above.

From this you can see there is a clear path that develops when analyzing content in the media

and that everything needs to be relevant to the categories. Coming back to Margrit Schreier

(2012), she calls this a ‘coding frame’; Schreier uses influences from the coding aspects of

quantitative to explain how the research must be ‘coded’ in order to understand it

theoretically.

I have been watching The Simpsons and have been a large fan since I was a young boy and

because of this my encyclopedic knowledge of the episodes, plotlines and dialogue has helped

me in creating my coding frame. I have gone through an episode guide from seasons 2-9 and

from my vast understanding of the show have been able to identify episodes that would relate

to the chapters I wish to write about. By doing this I have created a coding frame, where

episodes fall into one of the three categories I have created (family, power or gender) and

marked them accordingly.

The American Family in Springfield.



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Central to the identity of The Simpsons are the concept of family and more importantly the

concept of a post-World War II nuclear family domination. This chapter will detail the

sociological perspective of family within The Simpsons and how the characters relate with

one and other through the private (family life) and public (family within a class environment)

spheres of family in a changing American society.

In 1992 (Pinskey M.I 2007), then president of the United States George H.W Bush stated at

the National Religious Broadcasters towards the end of his presidential term:

“We need a nation closer to The Waltons and less like The Simpsons”

Following this attack on The Simpsons, an episode was broadcast three days later in which

Bart responded to the criticism uttering, “We’re just like the Waltons, we’re praying for the

end of to the depression too.” First Lady Barbra Bush then responded by stating, “The

Simpsons is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.” Referring to the matriarchal figure of The

Simpsons, Marge Simpson (actually series developer James L. Brooks), wrote to the first lady

and explained how Marge and the First Lady have a lot in common and that the teachings that

they have heard while attending church must be different to the ones in Washington. Barbara

Bush responded and called The Simpsons “charming” and “setting an example for the rest of

the country. Barbara Bush took a U-turn on her opinions on The Simpsons. Since 1992 the

concepts of family have changed and The Simpsons has stayed relevant within the concept.

The Simpsons kept up with changing family trends in the US that occurred within the 1990s. I

will now detail the reasons why The Simpsons is a relevant source of sociological ideas of

family.

The concept of family is one the fundamental areas of sociology, extensively covered over theyears. Bert N. Adams (1975) discusses this in his book The Family: A Sociological

Perspective. In it he draws from various theorists and sociological perspectives on what the

family is and how it can be used as an agent of socialization and of a class definer. Adams

(1975) states that the family is remarkable in consideration of other social institutions

compared to class and culture, because of its distance from political or state structure

regulating the production of goods and services. But, rather that the family is historically the

institution that is basic in social organization, socialization and discipline. However, the key

word in that pervious sentence is historically, The Simpsons is not a historical relic but rather

a modern television sitcom; Adams’s book provides an account of how the f amily has



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changed and how it has progressed with single parent families, divorce and gay relationships.

Adams discusses these changes in his book while also detailing various historical research of

families from pre-colonial days to the 20th century and their changes. One of the difficulties,

he states, about this historical progression is the tendency of researchers to draw more on the

classical perspective of a family, that is a family perspective sexual promiscuity and other

internal difficulties. Another problem is that the rapid industrialisation at the end of the 19th

century drastically changed the public and private sphere of family. Drawing on the concept

of the nuclear family, Adams’s finds that one of the biggest changes that occurred in the 20th

century were moderate-to-great and happened to the internal structure of the family. One of

these were changes of children being allowed more freedom, this is seen throughout The

Simpsons particularly with Bart Simpson being allowed to do what he wants and typically

getting into trouble. Another change was the division of labor within the household between

the two parents. Whereas before the father figure would ideally be the main bread winner,

more and more women would go out to work in the turn of the century. This again is relevant

to many episodes of The Simpsons. That will be discussed in full further into the research. The

Simpsons used these changes in order to satirize them, while still paying attention to the

family’s middle class setting and American surroundings.

The family as a social concept is always shown in The Simpsons. The show is about a family

with the central characters being in the unit. However, due to the nature of the research, I am

interested in when the family unit is stressed especially to Homer and Marge’s marriage and

episodes in which their marriage is on the line. The overall aim is to see if The Simpsons does

keep up with changes that occur in marriage primarily during the 1990s. Many episodes deal

with this, however, some are more relevant than the others.

Homer And Marge – The Sociology Of Marriage.

An early episode that shows the marriage being strained is Season 2’s The War Of TheSimpsons (The War Of The Simpsons 1991). In this episode, Marge and Homer are sent to

marriage therapy because of Homer’s drunk enness at a family dinner party. While Marge is

interested in helping the marriage, Homer is more interested in fishing, especially after

hearing the news of a giant catfish that roams the lake. After catching this fish, Marge is

furious with Homer, saying “I thought our marriage was in trouble, but never this much

trouble”. With the fish on the boat, Homer then kicks the fish off of the boat even after

fighting it for 6 hours and is astounded that he was able to do it and aims to improve his

marriage. Upon arriving home, Homer tells his children that their marriage is “Same as usual,

perfectomundo”. This episode displays many aspects that can occur in the every day life of a



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married couple. In his book The Family In Social Context Gerald R Leslie (1973) discusses

the emergence of conflict within marriage; Leslie finds that in middle class families, conflict

is done using words and that these words can have deeper wounds than in the case of physical

attacks. This is displayed well in The War Of The Simpsons by Marge being asked to list

Homer’s flaws and ends up talking all night listing them; this shows that Marge’s pro blems

with Homer are very deeply laid. Leslie lists the types of conflict that can occur within

marriage. The first type is that of acute conflicts, which are short bursts of disillusionment

that can be easily resolved, this type of conflict is used as mechanism of humor within many

episodes of The Simpsons, used by the writers for comic purposes. The second type of conflict

is progressive conflict, in which acute conflict becomes a progressive means in which

marriages can survive and move on. This type of conflict is shown in The War of The

Simpsons prominently and how these two types of conflict can form. At the beginning of the

episode, Homer is seen acting like a drunken fool but as the episode progresses, Homer

begins to see the errors in his ways and choose to progress from them and eventually Homer

and Marge are happy, learning from their fight. The transition between these two conflict

types are interesting in this episode when considering the final type of conflict, habitual.

Habitual conflict is conflict which emerges from a habit that a partner has developed and the

spouse begins to take notice of. When considering the ending of The War of The Simpsons

Homer returns from the marriage therapy and is asked by Lisa how the marriage is and simply

says that is how it used to be. This leaves the episode with a very ambiguous ending,

suggesting that the marriage has simply fallen back to it’s habitual surroundings and makes

you wonder if Homer and Marge’s marriage is in fact “perfectamundo” as Homer puts it.

These patterns can be seen in other episodes for example Colonel Homer from Season 3

(Colonel Homer 1992) where Homer and Marge’s marriage is again put on the line because of

Homer’s alleged promiscuity with another woman and also with Secrets of a Successful

Marriage of Season 5 (Secrets of a Successful Marriage 1994) where Homer embarrasses

Marge through Homer’s teachings of a successful marriage. In this episode Homer gives a

speech about how he needs Marge despite his pitfalls,

“Marge, I need you more than anyone else on this entire planet could possibly ever need you!

I need you to take care of me, to put up with me, and most of all I need you to love me, 'cause

I love you.”

Marge replies asking how she can trust him, Homer responds saying “Marge, look at me!

We've been separated for a day, and I'm as dirty as a Frenchman. In another few hours I'll be

dead! I can't afford to lose your trust again.” This last line ( I can’t afford to lose your trust

again) shows Marge and Homer’s conflicts fall into a progressive nature that Leslie listed.



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This shows that The Simpsons’s writers saw the progression of marriage from the 1970s and

showcased it in its progressive nature.

Bart Simpson Meets Talcott Parsons.

With the theories of marriage contrasted with Marge and Homer, we can begin to see how

these characters within the fictional family setting can socialize their children. Bart, Lisa and

Maggie are Homer and Marge’s children with Bart and Lisa being shown as stereotypical

siblings fighting constantly. Bart is displayed as the ‘bad boy’ child and Lisa is commonly

displayed as being smarter than most of the family and more often than not being the voice of

reason within the family. This chapter will detail the theory of socialization within the family

unit through the work of Talcott Parsons and through the characters of Bart and Lisa

Simpson. This section will detail how the writers are able to showcase the difficulties in

socialization from a functionalist perspective.

Talcott Parsons was one of the leading figures in the sociological framework of functionalism

with being heavily influenced by Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, from which he

synthesized into his own theories. In his book Family, Socialization and Interaction Process

co-written with Robert F Bales (Parson et al 1968) Parsons not only details his functionalist

theories using Freud’s psycho-sexual development as a reference point. Parsons details his

ideas of the American family in the first chapter saying, “The American family has, in the

past generation or more, been undergoing a profound process of change.” By this, Parsons

means the increasing numbers of divorce and changes in age-old mortality; he illustrates this

by calling it “the loss of function of the family”. As was detailed in the previous section, these

changes in family have been covered through Homer and Marge and their interaction with

each other. Parsons goes on to discuss the socialization process of children within family.

Parsons begins by stating “the parents, as socializing agents, occupy not merely their familial

roles, but these articulate with their roles in other structures of the society” Essentially hereParsons is explaining how parents try to teach their children in order to be ready for the

outside world. Parsons continues by stating “secondly, the child is never socialized only for

and into his family of orientation, but into structures which extend beyond this family”; here

Parsons is explaining how the socialization process moves onto the other institutions of

society such as school eventually, family helps a child grow into an adult in marriage and

occupational roles. With this mind, we can look at the characters of Lisa and Bart through

their socialization process. Firstly looking at Bart, one of the early example of Homer’s

‘attempt’ at socialization is a scene in New Kid On The Block from the Season 4’s (New Kid

On The Block, 1992). When Bart asks Homer for advice about a woman Homer begins to



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ramble on how a woman is like a beer and subsequently gets drunk and passes out, this shows

how Homer is a negative influence on Bart, with Bart’s personality and actions seen as

irrational to both his parents and his school and Bart by getting into trouble. Bart’s behavior is

constantly shown as being erratic and only being bad to get a kick out of it. This could be

from Bart’s upbringing of being abused as a child by Homer and being continually brought up

with the wrong ideas, it is important to understand that this shows that Bart is being socialized

in a wrong way, the writers use Homer’s buffoonery as a method of humour but in a

sociological perspective, he is in fact a bad father who is not raising his child correctly. Two

episodes showcase this perfectly, first in Season 8’s Homer’s Phobia and second in season 7’s

Marge Be Not Proud . In Homer’s Phobia (Homer’s Phobia 1997) the family befriend a local

shop owner and homosexual, Homer is disgusted to find out that he is homosexual and begins

to attempt to make Bart “a regular Burt Reynolds”. Homer’s attempts include placing Bart in

front of a highly sexual billboard, taking him to a steel mill (which turns out to be a gay steel

mill called ‘The Anvil’) and finally bringing him hunting with his friends. This is again an

example of Parsons (Parsons 1968), an example of a father’s role being of power and

relativity, that by enforcing a sense of power over Bart to become less like himself and more

in the mould that Homer wishes for Bart. Another example is Marge Be Not Proud of Season

7 (Marge Be Not Proud 1995) in which Homer teaches Bart to give into peer pressure in order

to gain more social friends, Homer tells Bart this and this in turn makes Bart become a thief

being pressured into shop lifting a new video game.

These examples showcase the character of Homer being an unfit and father and Bart as his

misled son. In the following chapter, we will begin to look at how the role of education on

Bart and power at work on Homer has influenced this.

Power – The Control of C. Montgomery Burns and Seymour Skinner

in Education and Work.



19

In sociology, power is one of the central themes that run through many different theories and

perspectives, particularly those of Marxism, Structuralism and Post-Structuralism. In this

chapter I will be detailing the ideas of power that run through The Simpsons especially those

that involve two of the series central characters. The first is C. Montgomery Burns or Mr.

Burns as he is commonly ref erred to. He is Homer’s boss the main employer of Springfield;

he owns the city’s nuclear power planet, and the richest character on the show. Central to his

identity is that of a feeble old man, inherently evil and because of his wealth and power he has

a hold over the city. The second character is Seymour Skinner, or Principal Skinner, the

principal of Springfield Elementary School, the school Bart and Lisa attend. Unlike Mr.

Burns, Principal Skinner is seen as weak and unable to control the children of his school,

particularly Bart. He is a Vietnam veteran, lives with his abusive mother and is constantly

under threat of being fired by his boss, primarily Superintendent Chalmers. Both of these

characters will be analyzed looking primarily at the theories of Marx, Weber, Foucault and

Bourdieu while also paying attention to the theories of Althusser, Lukes and Durkheim. This

chapter will attempt to understand how power is shown through these two characters, Mr.

Burns displaying a very evil and assailable form of power and Principal Skinner showing how

power can be weakened and overthrown.

Power is a central theme that runs through many areas of sociology such as class, gender andculture, because of its ability to be extended into various areas of society. This is an important

aspect to consider when studying cultural phenomena such as The Simpsons. Marx’s

perspective of power and its relation to other areas of sociology are a crucial starting point to

the understanding this concept. Marx’s “historical materialism” is central to the early

understandings of power and in Anthony Giddens book “Capitalism and modern social

theory” (1971) he sees it as “ Marx’s critique of Hegel’s philosophy of the state”. Giddens

states that Marx was interested in subjectivity and the identification of the true subject from a

process of objectification in the political institutions of the state. Marx’s theory grew and

stated “alienation must be studied as an historical phenomenon which can only be understood

in terms of the development of specific social formations.” Here Marx is conceptualising his

theory of wage labourers and wage slavery. From here Marx developed his theories on class

domination stating that those who held the means of production were the ruling class and

dominated the working class for this labour , although Marx’s concept are much more

complex, I believe that these are the fundamental aspects that will relate to The Simpsons.

This is a very basic concept of power, a concept expanded under the theories of Michel

Foucault. Foucault (Sheridan 1980) believed in the analysis of discourse in understanding



20

power relations. Foucault was influenced by existential German philosopher Friedrich

Nietzsche as well as Marx. Foucault believed that while Marx was interested in the power of

the production, Nietzsche was interested in power through a purely social and mental thought

without political attention. Foucault published the book “Discipline and Punish, the Birth of

the Prison” in 1975 and with this Foucault expanded his ideas through the power relations of

coercive forces and in a more modern setting, the work place. Mr. Burns is an example of

these two theorists ideas in practice in a modern cultural setting.

Mr. Burns - The Power Relations and Struggles in the Workplace.

A pivotal episode in The Simpsons series is that of Last Exit To Springfield from Season 4

(Last Exit To Springfield 1993). In this episode, Homer is made the union leader at the

Nuclear Power Planet and strikes in order to get back the workers dental plan (Lisa’s needs

braces). This episode shows Mr.Burns’s need for domination over his workers and even over

the entire city. In order to understand this domination we must turn to Structurialist Marxist

Louis Althusser. Althusser’s book For Marx (Althusser 1965) discusses how Marxism and

socialism enter a period of ‘humanism’, which is said to be celebrated in Marx’s early

writings and later in “ Das Kapital”. Althusser is speaking from a perspective of criticizing the

dictatorship of Stalin and Soviet style communism. With this in mind, Althusser speaks of

how the class dictatorship of the U.S.S.R is fulfilled with zero class antagonisation but at a

cost to personal freedom. Althusser believes that throughout history, humanism has split into

two forms, first, class humanism, which is the dictatorship of the proletariat and second,

personal humanism which is prevented by Soviet socialism, despite Marx’s wishes for

communism/socialism being a fully developed naturalism he terms humanism. These two

contrasting accounts of humanism are evident in Last Exit To Springfield , in a purely political

and sociological sense; Mr. Burns is portrayed as a powerful tyrant and dictator of the

working class exemplifying the ideas of Althusser’s account of Soviet style class humanism.

In this episode you can see Mr. Burns attempting to reason with Homer (as union leader) witha variety of methods such as showing him around his mansion and bribing him. Mr. Burns is

using his power and wealth in order to keep the workers from striking, hence using his keep

the proletariat down in an attempt to keep his class humanism alive. Homer’s striking

exemplifies the ideas of Althusser’s personal humanism by striking around his master and

dictator Mr. Burns he is attempting to exercise his personal humanism and achieve his goal.

The class dictatorship of Mr. Burns in this episode is put to the for of the episode. Another

episode that shows Mr. Burns flexing his power is Who Shot Mr. Burns of Season 6’s (Who

Shot Mr. Burns (Part One) 1995). Here Mr. Burns becomes maniacal over controlling

Springfield when finding that Springfield has struck oil. In the process of stealing this oil he



21

destroys many local businesses and institutions such as the school and the retirement home.

At the episode’s conclusion, he blocks out the sun and throws Springfield into darkness. The

residents have to turn on their lights day and night, thus becoming dependent on his nuclear

plant. In the episodes conclusion, an unnamed assailant shoots him. In this episode Mr. Burns

is at his most evil and power hungry. Max Weber (Brennan 1997) states that power “is among

the most fundamental and universal components of the actual course of interpersonal

behavior.” Weber said this because he believed that power was central to his theory of social

stratification, Weber believed that this is due to the fact “classes”, “status groups” and

“parties” are phenomena of distribution of power within a community and that power is not

an independent quality but is an attribute of economic, social and political relations. This is

true of this episode and portrayal of Mr. Burns; his power is not of an independent quality but

because he wishes to strengthen his economic and political stranglehold on Springfield.

Weber defines his theory of power ( Macht) and domination (Herrschaft) as the probability of

forcing one’s will on the behavior of others, much like how Mr. Burns by blacking out the sun

is forcing his will onto the people of Springfield. Weber further explains that this depends on

the different types of resources, mainly being either political power or through financial

power. Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One) is an excellent example of Mr. Burns’s attempts to

enhance his financial powers where as in Season 2’s Two Cars In Every Garage and Three

Eyes on Every Fish ( 1990) we see Mr. Burns running for governor of the state in order to

prevent being inspected for environmental issues. These aspects of power show how Mr.

Burns is characterized as a powerful person using his status and power to enhance his social

standing. According to Weber’s theory and in Althusser’s theory he uses his power to keep a

Soviet style dictatorship, to keep his workers under his thumb.

Principal Skinner – Education and Power Under Threat.

Principal Skinner is often portrayed as hapless and unfortunate and the constant victim to

Bart’s pranks. The sociology of this character and his school is most akin to the work ofPierre Bourdieu in his book The State Nobility (Bourdieu 1989). Bourdieu was responsible for

theories of what he calls ‘capital’. Taking influence from Marxist perspective of capital,

Bourdieu applies it to other areas of society such as cultural capital (the gathering of books

and art), political capital (power affiliations) and social capital (the people that you know).

Bourdieu talks about “the field of power, a field of forces structurally determined by the state

of the relations of power among forms of power or different form of capital.” In education

Bourdieu believes there is power. Referring to family, Bourdieu sees school and education as

taking over from a child’s family. Bourdieu sees education as an arena where inequalities in

society result from the operations of power. The character of Principal Skinner is a cultural



22

criticism (or possible satire) on Bourdieu’s views that through education a child gains cultural

capital, which can then be used to exchange for other capital. Bart’s mischief proves that he is

not interested in achieving in school and thus Principal Skinner attempts to punish him but

Bart does not learn his lesson. Although Bourdieu’s writings are aimed at more prestigious

schools, the education system displayed in The Simpsons shows two different views of

Bourdieu’s concept. Lisa Simpson is seen as a grade A student along with Martin Prince, they

both exhibit Bourdieu’s view that through education, they can move into better aspects of

society through gaining cultural ca pital (through Martin’s literary nature and Lisa’s musical

nature), this is highlighted in several episodes of The Simpsons such as Season 2’s Lisa’s

Substitute (1991), where Lisa falls in love with a substitute teacher who recognizes her

smartness and Season 9’s Lisa The Simpson (1998), where Lisa is worried that she will be

become stupid like her brother and father. Lisa knows how education can make you gain

cultural capital through education as Bourdieu states. Lisa understands that in order to

become successful she must read and keep ties with other intelligent. Bart on the other hand

shows how Bourdieu’s theories are flawed, in the episode Sweet Seymour Skinner’s

Baadasssss Song (1994), we see Principal Skinner fired at the hands of Bart and his refusal to

accept the school’s rules and thus, does not gain cultural capital. This episode shows how

Superintendent Chalmers fires Skinner for bad conduct, this is similar to Stephen Lukes

power theories displayed in Power: A Radical View (Lukes 2004) in which Lukes identifies

the three faces of power being that of decision making, understanding observable conflict,

subjective views and others. He critiques this by stating that in order for a person in power to

exercise decision-making he does so as a reproduction of power of a higher form. This is true

when it comes to Superintendent Chalmers decision to fire Skinner; he is showing that power

is not independent of itself but in fact dependent on an establishment state system, in this

case, the education system. This episode also shows how when Skinner is fired, the overly

kind and indecisive Ned Flanders is put in charge of the school; the school runs amok. Going

back to Anthony Giddens work (Giddens 1971), Giddens looks at the work of Emile

Durkheim and his views of democracy and occupational groups, education falls into thesecategories as does Principal Skinner’s character. According to Durkheim, Principal Skinner

(and even Chalmers) cannot be held responsible for the failures of the school, as the education

system that is meant to hold a degree of power is only a part of a state looking to grow

society. With his positivist viewpoint of society being above the individual, Skinner is

helpless in attempting to control his state ran school. This along with Lukes theories, Skinner

is not to blame for his power mishaps it is a higher power that is to blame.

As stated, the theory of power is one that shifts through many areas of sociology, a main area,

is that of gender.



23

Gender – Marge the Housewife and Lisa the Young Feminist.

With the theories of power discussed, the theories of gender rely greatly on the theories of

both power and family with the later being discussed already within the context of marriage,

however, this chapter will detail the various aspects of feminism prevalent within younger



24

generations in society. For example I will be using Lisa Simpson, the middle child of the

Simpson family. Lisa is usually the voice of reason in the family because of her highly

developed mortality. More than once, Lisa shows herself as a feminist. This is shown in a

good light and bad. I will also be highlighting the matriarchal figure of the family, Marge

Simpson and the theories of gender roles that are persistent throughout The Simpsons, in both

private and public spheres of society. I will analyze how Marge keeps to gender norms and

how, in some episodes, she breaks from these norms. Unlike the previous chapters where I

have analyzed The Simpsons with the pretense of using the ‘sociological imagination’ in order

to understand how sociology is laced unintentionally into The Simpsons, I will be looking at

this chapter as to how the writers of The Simpsons intentionally place aspects of gender theory

and feminist overtones into certain episodes. I believe that the writers were aware of the

changes that were occurring in society and placed these changes into the show.

The theories of gender are an important aspect to many different sociological theories and

theorists however feminist theorists centrally employs the ideas of gender into the majority of

their theories. In Ruth A. Wallace’s (editor) Feminism and Sociological Theory, Jessie

Bernard (1989) contributes a piece detailing the various aspects of feminism, in particular

focusing on the third post-war period of feminist sociological thought. Firstly, Bernard

discusses the impact of the feminism of the 1960s and 1970s stating “the decades of the 1960s

and 1970s marked a series of eye-opening experiences for a generation of extraordinary

young women activists trained in civil rights and antiwar movements who nevertheless found

themselves victims of male sexism.” This shows how woman were becoming integrated into

societal activism but were still dominated by males. Though Bernard talks of how during the

1970s young, highly educated women started to move to the fore, ahead of male counterparts,

especially in areas such as journalism. Two male sociologists, Talcott Parsons and Jurgen

Habermas have contributed to the ideas of feminism. In the same Wallace book, Miriam M

Johnson (1989) discusses Parsons as being hated through most of the 1960s and 70s while he

was writing from a conservative point of view, but after his death feminist thinkersreinterpreted his theories. One of Parsons’s early contributions as Johnson states, was stating

that the feminine role expected of women was a major point of ‘strain’. Parsons also said that

the husband’s occupation deprives the wife of her role as a partner in a common enterprise

and reduces the housewife role to a kind of pseudo-occupation. While this is a relatively

positive view of women in society, Jurgen Habermas’s theories do not fare as well. Thomas

Meisenhelder (1989) states how Habermas’s theories are void of emotion and because of this,

his model of reason is inherently patriarchal with his belief that men perform better in

theoretical and practical reasons over well-informed and intelligent women. This leaves

Habermas’s theories as being flat and abstract in the eyes of feminism.



25

Lisa The Lionheart – Feminism and Youth.

Lisa’s character on The Simpsons is used to great comic purpose throughout the series. She is

depicted as being a voice of reason and the smartest member of the family, often quoting

passages from books and poetry, choosing to be a vegetarian on moral grounds and having an

incredible sense of logic rationality which her father and older brother lack. Because of Lisa’s

qualities that Lisa holds, it allows the writers to use her as a vessel for issues of gender and

intellectualism in American society. The writers have used Lisa as a banner for young

feminism and gender equality since very early days of The Simpsons. It is interesting to watch

the intentionality of the writers. Two episodes show Lisa as a growing feminist in a male

world. In Lisa Vs. Malibu Stacey from Season 5 (Lisa Vs. Malibu Stacey 1994). Lisa is

shocked to find that the new talking Malibu Stacey doll (a parody of Barbie) says phrases

such as “Don’t ask me, I’m just girl” and “I wish they taught shopping at school”. Lisa tracks

down the creator of Malibu Stacey and cajoles her into creating a new more empowering doll

for children, which they name Lisa Lionheart. However in response, the Malibu Stacey

Company release a new doll, it’s only the standardized model with a new hat but it is favored

over Lisa’s doll however one girl is optimistically seen walking out of the store with a Lisa

Lionheart. In her book Feminism & Youth Culture, Angela McRobbie (2000) dissects the

ideas of feminism with the ideas of youth culture in mind; although speaking from a British

perspective, it is easy to identify ideas McRobbie presents to Lisa’s ideals from this episode.

McRobbie presents a study carried out on the girl’s magazine ‘Jackie’, arguing that

magazines and media etc. like ‘Jackie’ instills certain ideologies into young pre-teens at an

early age relating to their gender. The magazine makes young girls ‘know their place within

society’. The writers have been clever to make what happens with Lisa and Malibu Stacey a

satire. Lisa’s doll being unfavorably compared to a doll with a new hat. However, the ending

shows a light at the end of the tunnel. A similar pattern emerges in the episode from Season 4

Lisa The Beauty Queen (1992); here, Lisa becomes Little Miss Springfield after the previouswinner is killed, but part of her duties as Little Miss Springfield is to promote cigarettes. Lisa

begins speaking out against smoking and is quickly stripped of her crown. This calls into

question the ideas of identity within gender. In her book Gender Trouble, Judith Butler (1999)

discusses these ideas by asking how gender identities are based on assumptions. Butler

discusses how gender identities are formed through a distinct amount of discourse made on

‘how’ genders should behave purely based on these assumptions stating “the coherence,

continuity of the person are not logical or analytic features of personhood, but rather socially

instituted and maintained norms of intelligibility.” Here, Butler is showing how ‘the person’

is a single entity and that the cultural presumptions of gender identity bind the two together to



26

create a gender. In Lisa The Beauty Queen, Lisa is assumed to be like all previous beauty

queens and therefore, the cigarette company, forces their discourse upon her, however Lisa

quickly discovers that as she is a single entity she will not let herself be bound by gender

identities or assumption. These also fall into the ideas of gender norms, which will now be

discussed with the character of Marge Simpson in question.

Marge Simpson – The Housewife and Gender Norms.

Marge Simpson is portrayed as being the typical American housewife, tending to her children,

her husband and keeping the family in check. Marge is the archetypal mother and housewife,

constantly needed to help Homer out of situations resulting from his stupidity and for helping

Bart who is always in trouble. The episodes in which Marge breaks from her housewife role

are the most interesting, for testing the ideas of gender norms. In Season 5’s episode Marge

On The Lam (1993), Marge goes out with the family’s neighbor, single mother Ruth Powers;

Homer becomes jealous of their relationship. Ruth and Marge (acting out of character)

become involved in a police chase. This episode explores aspects of female liberation, despite

the fact the episode ends with Homer admitting that he was wrong and Marge forgiving him.

This episode details many ways in which The Simpsons deal with the shifting ideas of female

identity and work to making gender visible. In her essay Making Gender Visible, Joan Acker

(1989) discusses the changes that occurred in which no shifting paradigm in the vein of

Thomas Kuhn occurred to change the views of gender; Acker states that the notion of

paradigm implies assumptions of methodology and epistemology. Acker cites other studies by

Stacey and Throne in order to present her views that functionalist sociology conceptualized

gender as opposed to letting it stand as a theoretical variable. Acker argues that structuralism

provides an alternative perspective that is shifting the paradigm of feminism as well as certain

aspects of modern day Marxism in the respect of personal freedoms. The reason for stating

the shifting paradigms is because I feel that The Simpsons is a cultural example of how the

paradigm was shifted. Assumptions based on the archetypal housewife have been used insitcoms before, but in The Simpsons, the writers present Marge as both a housewife for most

of the series but then show Marge as a breakout independent woman in a few episodes, the

way in which the writers of The Simpsons understand how having the archetypal sitcom wife

is detrimental to feminist views and make Marge an independent woman in various episodes.

This is true for Season 4’s Marge Gets A Job (1992). Marge gets a job at the Nuclear Power

Plant alongside Homer and is then sexual harassed by Mr. Burns. In Geert Hofstede’s book

Masculinity and Femininity (1998), he looks at the ideas of femininity in the workplace and

the gender stereotypes within this. Hofstede discusses that one of the main gaps in gender

roles is that of the employment situation. In the episode, Marge decides that she is sick of



27

being a housewife and decides to take a job offer at the power planet; Homer finds it difficult

to cope with Marge deciding to get a job, and especially at his workplace. In Feminist

Generations, Nancy Whittier (1995) discusses the aspects of sexual harassment in the

workplace for women in a changing gender climate. Whittier details a study in which several

women discussed their experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace and that they could

do nothing but leave their job. Whittier then goes onto to say that the women interviewed felt

a certain amount of empowerment through leaving their job and discussing it through a

feminist perspective. This is similar to how Marge ends up leaving the job and thwarting Mr.

Burns and his advances and discussing it with Homer who begins to understand the issue.

This is yet another example of The Simpsons intentionally writing an episode to highlight an

important gender issue and to showcase how gender roles are shifting.

Conclusion.

At the beginning of this piece I asked the question ‘Can we truly see the society that we live

in, in a cartoon?’ I realize that this must have seemed lik e a fairly odd question. The idea that

a cartoon could show us who we are and what kind of a place we live in must seem

preposterous but after researching The Simpsons with the ideas of C. Wright Mills and his

sociological imagination, it is hard to argue that The Simpsons is not in some way a mirror of

what society is. I argue that The Simpsons is a cultural icon and a lasting beacon of cultural



28

identity to society. The ideas of the family are accurate and believable and while the humor is

first and foremost, look more closely with sociological insight we can understand that the

show has many ideas running through it and with the aid of sociological theory, this brings

the shows sociological concepts up front. Why is this? Because The Simpsons is a TV show

with intelligent and engaged writers using real experiences to portray family and society. I am

not saying that the writers are well versed in sociological theory but that they themselves are

social agents using their experiences of their own family in order to write a coherent and

believable portrayal of family. In the respect to power, The Simpsons simply puts forward the

idea of the working class man being constantly pressed by powers out of his control in order

to achieve more in his work or in their education. Mr. Burns is a caricature of power, greed

and wealth and because of this, it is hard to not see how the theories of power are not

demonstrated in the episodes where he is featured. In the episodes featuring Principal Skinner

a character bowed by a decaying source of power. The aspects of gender in the show are

different in writing from the others. I do not think that the writers have intentionally put

theories of power or family into the show. Although I feel that they understood the changing

climate of gender in mid-nineties and because of this, they wrote episodes which showed that.

When analyzing it in reference to feminist sociological literature you can see that the writers

were aware they were putting these feminist ideas forward.

However, due to its format, the show leaves many of these theories ambiguous. The Simpsons

is not a TV show that carries many story arcs throughout the series and because of this, many

of the aspects of gender and family are left unresolved. In one episode Marge and Homer

have a fight nearly leading to a divorce, but by the next episode they are back to how they

normally are. The creators and network wish to keep it this way and it may even have

contributed to its longevity. Yes, they have taken stands on gender, episodes that show how

Marge breaks from her private sphere as a housewife, but in the majority of episodes, she is

shown as a housewife, a mother and nothing more. But for one episode, every now and again

viewers are challenged about gender, family, power and society

In conclusion, I believe that The Simpsons is a zeitgeist that enhances our understanding of

society without us knowing we are being educated and not entertained. The Simpsons has

stood the test of time and in years to come, cultural theorists and social scientists will see The

Simpsons as a cultural icon instilled with the sociological values of the modern era.



29

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the sociology of the simpsons: using sociological theory can we see the society we live in within...

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