Title: Downton Abbey, Season 1, Episode 7 (17.05-17.20 and 41.35-42.10)
Tags: social hierarchy, social movement, social norms, technological advance
Author: S. Webber
Date: April 26, 2015
A period piece spanning from 1912-1924 produced by PBS and
BBC Masterpiece Drama, Downton Abbey follows the everyday occurrences and
struggles of the individuals of the estate. This includes the Crawley family,
the owners, and a predominant selection of their household servants. This
household provides excellent displays of C. Wright Mills’ theories from The Power Elite, regarding traditional
power dynamics. The power elite, to which the Crawleys belong, determine the
existence of everyday life and the social mobility curtailed to those not born
into the correct class. The show illustrates the precarious walk the Crawleys
perform in efforts to maintain their status and estate during changing social
times. The inevitable advance of technology serves throughout the show as a
metaphor for the collapse of the known social hierarchy, and exemplifies Mills’ theory of
balance in this particular episode. Mills’ theory demands that all members of
society uphold the social norms, regardless of how they fail to serve the majority
in the long run. This is done simultaneously to hold onto what small power they
may have amassed and because challenging power balances is unbelievably
difficult (p. 234). The head butler, Carson, provides this example in his
resistance to adapt the telephone into the household, illustrating his
maintenance of tradition. Later, he falsely claims he knows how to work
it when asked by lower servants- done so to preserve his status as head of the
house ‘below the stairs.’
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