Everything is fine! Using “The Good Place” to teach administrative ethics

Aug 21, 2026

Creating an engaging and educational experience in an ethics class can be difficult, and media can help supplement instruction in public administration. This study uses the TV series “The Good Place” as a case study for a master’s-level Administrative Ethics course. It analyzes themes in the show and develops discussion questions to stimulate conversation. It also builds on prior scholarship by examining how television and films can strengthen ethics education and apply classroom lessons to concrete scenarios.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Teaching ethics in public administration

Using media for administrative ethics

Teaching administrative ethics

Journal of Public Affairs Education ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: [https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/upae20](https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/upae20) Everything is fine! Using “The Good Place” to teach administrative ethics Seth J. Meyer To cite this article: Seth J. Meyer (2020): Everything is fine! Using “The Good Place” to teach administrative ethics, Journal of Public Affairs Education, DOI: 10. 1080/15236803 .2020.1782102 To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2020.1782102](https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2020.1782102) Published online: 07 Jul 2020. | Submit your article to this journal | | --- | | View related articles | | View Crossmark data | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=upae20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=upae20) Everything is fine! Using “The Good Place” to teach administrative ethics Seth J. Meyer Bridgewater State University ABSTRACT Creating an engaging and educational experience in an ethics class can be difficult. But media, such as TV and movies, can supplement ethics education in public administration. For this study, I used the TV show “The Good Place” as a case study for a masters-level Administrative Ethics class. Through this, I explore the themes presented in the show and discussion questions which can be used to encourage conversation. Furthermore, building on previous literature, I explore how TV and movies can accent the ethics education ina public administration classroom. KEYWORDS Administrative ethics; The Good Place; TV and movies Teaching ethics in public administration is difficult (Facer & Bradbury, 2005) . It is an important part of the public education curriculum (Svara, 2014), and ethical leadership is connected to positive organizational outcomes (Bellé & Cantarelli, 2017; Downe et al., 2016; Mostafa & Abed El-Motalib, 2018) . But there is debate about the best ways to teach ethics to students of public administration (Facer & Bradbury, 2005; Hejka-Ekins, 1988; Menzel, 1997; Nieuwenburg, 2003; Plant & Ran, 2009; Svara, 2014). This study adds to this debate by presenting ways that media, such as TV, can enhance the experience of an ethics class. I explore how to use the TV show The Good Place as a part of the ethics education, and using media as part of ethics education in general. TV shows and movies can help support the lessons taught in ethics education by applying the lessons taught in the class to a case study. Within the education literature, there has been a lot of discussion on how to use media, such as TV shows, in college pedagogy (Hathaway, 2013; Hutton & Mak, 2014; Kernodle, 2009; Lee, 2001, 2004; Peterlin & Peters, 2018; Raisio & Lundström, 2017; Sementelli, 2009) . TV shows and movies can be used in the same ways as case studies as well as an engaging way to encourage discussion around complicated issues. In public administration in particular, TV show such as Parks and Recreation (Borry, 2018a, 2018b) and Game of Thrones (Yu & Campbell, 2020) and various movies (Dubnick, 2000) have been identified as educational tools. But another option is also available. The TV show The Good Place, created by Mike Schur, provides an interesting and humorous examination of ethics. Used in conjunction with Public Administration ethics textbooks, this TV show can be used as an ethical case study to guide discussion for students. This article adds to the public administration literature in several ways. To start, it presents the TV show The Good Place as an educational tool for a Master’s level ethics CONTACT Seth J. Meyer [s2meyer@bridgew.edu](s2meyer@bridgew.edu) Department of Political Science, Bridgewater State University, Clifford House, Room 102, 180 Summer Street, Bridgewater, MA 02325 © 2020 Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration 2 S. J. MEYER class.

FAQs

How does the article propose teaching administrative ethics using “The Good Place”?

It presents the TV show as an educational tool and ethical case study, using show themes to guide classroom discussion and help students apply ethics lessons to concrete situations.

Why are media like TV and movies considered helpful for ethics classes?

The article argues that media can supplement ethics instruction by providing engaging material and enabling critical analysis of modern popular culture, similar to case studies.

What does the study add to existing ethics education literature?

It extends the debate about teaching methods in public administration by showing practical ways television can enhance an ethics class experience and by summarizing how media can support teaching ethics generally.

Aug 21, 2026

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