For example, Archie couldn't prevent his black neighbors from moving next to him or stop his daughter's marriage to a liberal Polish man. Archie's ire stemmed from his belief that gains by minorities were coming at the expense of the hard working, lower-middle class whites such as himself. Therefore, he used stereotypes to position minorities as groups of lazy people wanting a free ride and unfair favoritism. When Michael tells Archie that the black man and other minorities also want their rightful share of the American dream, Archie responds, "Now let me tell you something. If your spics and your spades want their share of the American dream, let them go out and hustle for it, just like I done." (Cited in Firetto and Gaffney, 2006). Archie refuses to acknowledge the struggles of minorities to earn their rightful place in society, stating that the black man has had more opportunity than he ever did. According to Archie, he didn't have "no million people out there marching and protesting to get me my job" (Cited in Firetto and Gaffney, 2006).

Of course with the outlandish remarks made by Archie, there is considerable debate about how much good All in the Family did to advance the position of minority groups in American society. Critics charge that the use of comedy diminished the seriousness of issues such as racism and sexism. In fact, to many conservative blue-collar workers, Archie Bunker became...

However, many liberals believed that arguments between Archie and his family and neighbors demonstrated just how ridiculous and ignorant the viewpoints of Archie really were even though this character wasn't portrayed in a totally unfavorable light. Rather than making Archie out to be an all-out villain, casting him as a real person with flaws was believed to be more believable. Despite these different points-of-views about the social merits of the show, practically everyone can agree that All in the Family was the first television show to openly deal with prejudice and that it opened the door for future shows to include real-world social concerns. For this reason alone, All in the Family should be viewed as one of the greatest innovations in television shows for advancing diversity and multiculturalism. To this day, it is still considered to be one of the best television shows of all time.
Bibliography

Firetto, C. And Gaffney, K. (2006, May 15). Race in American lit. And popular culture. http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:6gV7chKy6rAJ:www.raritanval.edu/departments/english/full-time/Gaffney/Elective/All%2520in%2520the%2520Family.doc+%22all+in+the+family%22+%22Archie+Bunker%22+essay&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture on All in the Family. http://www.bookrags.com/All_in_the_Family