Station 11 Sociological Analysis

Essay 4
Sociological Insights to Station Eleven
“It was gorgeous and claustrophobic. I loved it and I always wanted to escape” (Mandel, 2014, p. 74). When faced with a world of destruction, disease, and chaos, one might insist that they wish for the old world - the one with refreshing swimming pools and television sets that make perfect lives glow on a fluorescent screen before you. Yet, at times, everyone wants to leave that world behind for another; no more first world problems or killing on the T.V. screens, just a chance to start over. A new beginning.
When one reads Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, they can escape to a new world. Taking place after a strain of the Georgia Flu wipes out much of the Earth’s population, characters

For instance, in the case of many people succumbing to sickness and dying, I might look to religion for the answer - something I never would have done before because I have been atheist for the majority of my life. On the other hand, those who were religious might blame their God(s) for the hardships that had befallen them. Another thing to ponder is the role of communication. In a time when cell phones and landlines are no longer available, a different form of communication would become vital. Face-to-face interactions would gain importance because it could serve as one of the only ways to connect with other groups one comes across. In addition, communication could serve as a tool to improve efficiency within a group to help increase safety in the perilous world. Other things would lose importance completely, such as incomes, technology, and schools, since “moral survival” would become the new curriculum. The things people once valued would be entirely different - rather than education, survival; rather than money, food; rather than friends, one’s self – and not until the diseased world would many, including myself, even question them. In a time like this, the phrase “things aren’t as they used to be” would apply quite

Society’s long-established norms would need to be reestablished or rewritten altogether. The reason would be that basic “everyday rules” that people had lived by their entire pre-Station Eleven lives would no longer apply when there wasn’t anybody there to enforce it. Take manners, for instance. Many people are taught at a very early age that acts such as cursing or burping are inappropriate in most social contexts, especially when one is in public. Even shaking hands with someone you meet would likely lose its meaning. Furthermore, families might fall back into the nuclear family structure, which is “governed by a male head with a dependent wife and children” (p. 453), rather than having equal familial roles. Those who went against the new standards would face ridicule or be punished, even for things that were okay previously. And, due to the lack of organized control (such as the government, laws, and other social institutions), the broken windows theory could be applied. The theory, which regards “how social context and social cues impact whether individuals act deviantly,” could be used as an explanation for the chaotic world which Station Eleven characters live in. There would be disorder and increased criminal activity that could be paired with the lack of formal control. People would become rebels to the former life: stealing, harming, and losing morals due to the new conditions