(Fantasy) Rights of the Living Dead

I've had thoughts before on the impact of undead on societies, most frequently stemming from events on Faire thought they're more general than that. I know some books/games have addressed it at least in a small measure, but I don't think I've read anything that goes into great depth. Perhaps that edges too much toward the theme of science fiction.


Zombies!
Least of the corporeal undead types, zombies are perhaps the most obvious undead to have in quantities. I think I'm going to set aside thoughts of "plague" zombies. Their diet of flesh or brains would make them awkward to maintain and doesn't fit well with creatures whose resilience comes from a lack of metabolism anyway.
So... purely "magical" zombies (which get to defy biology and physics almost by definition): basically mindless, reasonably strong, tireless, and potentially obedient. You've got the makings of excellent dockworkers and military grunts for direct engagements. If the power animating them staves off decay, they may not even smell bad. Zombies become a source of probably-cheap labor that might displace living people from some physical jobs. There's both good and bad to that from an economic standpoint.
Zombies are typically no more aware than automatons, so there's little worry about them as anything other than property. That might make for some awkward cases, though. Do people sell rights to their body (I remember this approach from Planescape: Torment)? Do bodies belong to a family, or the community? Over time, people would probably lose the sentimental attachment to the bodies of their kinfolk, but in the early years of zombification-for-labor, I can definitely see problems there. And if there are people/sects against the practice, they'd probably take up cremation or somesuch.
Again, depending on the magic, there might be some sanitation issues with the walking dead. Aesthetically, it would probably be preferable to keep zombies out of common view - but they might become overlooked or even accepted in time.
What creeps me out is the thought of some communities coming to have more zombies than living people. >.>

Ghosts
If ghosts only exist by summoning/creation, then there's likely some overlap with the above section. It seems more usual to me, though, for a fantasy world to accept left-over spirits of the dead as "common" and give magic the role of allowing communication/interaction with them. That would tend to mean there are a lot of ghosts around.
Though more limited if everyone can see/interact with them, ghosts would make excellent spies and messengers. They don't sleep, might be able to fly, can pass through physical matter, and may even be able to possess people.
As spies, ghostly impact could go different ways. They could serve to gather secrets only for the elite. They could cause a society to give up on the concepts of secrets and personal space (a magical "Big Brother" scenario). Or they could make ghost wards (salt rings?) standard on every major building or home to keep them out. Potentially all of the above in phases.
If they can possess/control people, you've got a whole crapload of possible implications there. Would people allow possession, or would it be treated akin to rape? Does responsibility for action fall on the host or possessing spirit or both? You'd probably need heavy magic to prove things either way, but there's a whole legal mess there.
There's also an issue of trust. Ghosts are more typically sentient, which means a bias in anything they do or relate. Ghostly spies may be subject to bribes in some fashion.
And if everyone (or almost everyone) leaves behind a ghost, they really start piling up. It might be cool to hear history lessons from the manifest spirit of someone who was there, but how else would a society change when half its residents are phantasms that can walk through walls? A king might not give up his throne upon death, oaths might be binding for eternity. Living people may actually become a minority, and could well be treated as "children" throughout their lives by the specters with centuries of experience.

Vampires
Vampires tend to be set up either as a small, hidden minority or a public, powerful nobility. I find it almost annoying that I see so little that isn't those extremes, though I have to admit it sort of fits their profile. Vampires are "superhuman" in most ways, and very literally feed on the living. If they're openly accepted, their power may well tend to propel them upward in society.
They're disturbing because of that diet. If they can acquire power and can feed without serious negative impact, it wouldn't be that hard to gain followers to snack on. If they're powerful and lethal, they're probably going to be tyrants demanding sacrifice - and ripe for being torn down by anyone who can. If they don't have the "power" of nobility/wealth, they're a little more screwed. I think people would be less likely to offer themselves up as a meal for a peer/lesser, even if the feeding isn't fatal. I recall a vampire-run nation in Rifts (South America maybe?) that made extensive use of blood banks and donations from living people, but again I think that only really works because the vampires had the influence to pull it off. Their predatory spot on the food chain definitely makes it harder for me to envision vampires as a "normal" part of any society.
If a society can overcome the feeding issue, vampires aren't a whole lot different from the living. They're (generally) physical and sentient. Whatever metaphysical powers you ascribe to them (strength, mind control, shapeshifting, etc.), the same could probably be done with magic.
If sunlight is a weakness, though, I could definitely see that shaping things. Depending on their influence, a society might gear itself toward operating at night or maybe vampires would just work the "night shifts." You could almost have two overlapping societies in the same place.

And that's just all of the stuff I thought of at the moment...