Since their start in the early 1950s U.S. television sitcoms have charted many of the social conflicts in U.S. society: civil rights, women's rights in the home and in the workplace, children's rights, immigration and multiculturalism, as well as evolving conceptions of the family. Each of these issues has been addressed through humour in a way that has helped to make more progressive values more acceptable than previously. Often a character, usually someone marked as a bigot, resisted one or more of these developments and was then made to appear ridiculous. They were cut down either through their own stupidity, a brief scolding from others, or both. In this way, the humour of sitcoms acted as a cost-effective means to encourage acceptance of a more pluralistic and tolerant society.