Surviving Sociology 109: Culture, Norms, Values — and Zombies
Posted on October 27, 2025
You and a handful of classmates have just survived the unthinkable: a zombie apocalypse. There’s no government, no power grid, no cell service — and definitely no rules. What do you do first?
If you’re in Dr. Marie des Neiges Léonard’s Intro to sociology class, you form a team, name your new community and rebuild society from the ground up — deciding, in one hour, which institutions are essential, not just for survival, but for a thriving, sustainable life — and choose a leader you can trust.
By the end of day one, with the approach of Halloween, the classroom is alive with debate and creativity. Entire “villages” spring up from nothing, each with its own rules, values and sense of identity.
The next assignment: After learning that there are other survivors outside your group, determine whether they’re friends or enemies, and pursue alliances or barricades depending on which.
A longtime fan of simulation games and the zombie genre, Leonard designed the course as a serialized experience, each class an “episode” in an unfolding story.
In Episode 2, students discover they’re not the only survivors. Later “episodes” tackle questions of deviance and social order — what counts as acceptable behavior when breaking the rules could get you exiled… or worse.
On the last episode of the series, each community ranks “deviant behaviors” in this new, terrifying world — everything from cheating on an exam and stealing food from the pantry to sleeping late or eating breakfast at midnight. The goal: Decide which of these actions threatened the group’s stability most and how they’d enforce the rules.
The spokesman of Jetsons, the team that took the trophy in the finale, came to class fully dressed as a zombie, makeup and all. Adam Cern, a longtime performer in local haunted houses, argued that it would be “deviant behavior” for a community member leave the encampment alone, because, as he told his classmates, “if you come back looking like this, you’ve got some explaining to do.”
Adam Cern of Team Jetsons came fully prepared for the end of the world. A haunted-house
performer in his spare time, he played the part to perfection.
