Sociological Concepts In Parks And Recreation

For my final project I chose to find concepts from the hit NBC show Parks and Recreation. It’s a comedy about Leslie Knope, and all her work mates doing their jobs the best way they know how to. They live in Pawnee Indiana, and work in the parks department of the government. Throughout the show there are many hidden sociology concepts. After learning about certain topics, and rewatching the show I was able to make connections to what we were learning in class. Some of the sociological concepts that I noticed were culture, socialization, race, and sex and gender roles. Each episode had a different story line so it was fairly easy to find these concepts.
Since culture is everywhere, there are many different types of culture. Throughout the many episodes of Parks and Recreation, culture is a repeated theme. One of the first episodes that shows a strong example of culture is “Sister City.” In this episode Pawnee’s sister city from Venezuela visits. Leslie and everyone realize they have a lot to learn about their new friends culture. Another example of culture is in the beginning of the sixth season, Leslie, April, Andy, Ben, and Ron visit London. They all have to adjust to british culture. When Andy
In this show racial comments are made quite often. As I was watching these examples were the ones that stood out to me the most. The first example is when Leslie assumes Tom is from India. Leslie and him are on a stakeout and she asks where he lived before he lived in Pawnee. He said South Carolina, but Leslie insisted that he came from somewhere in India. Another example of race is Jerry. He falls under a very typical white man stereotype. He has a decent job, and beautiful wife, three gorgeous daughters, and he loves his life. Finally there is a very racist councilman on the show. He is referred to as Councilman Milton, and he thinks that everyone should go back to