The Revival of DeathHow, though, are people to know how to die and to grieve? Is the modern self able to make free choices here? What role do professional carers and their theories play in shaping the experiences of people who are dying or bereaved? How do such people learn from each other? To what extent are they influenced by stereotypical ideas of the good death? Is it possible for the self to be in control when the body has lost control? Can the unique personality of the deceased be incorporated into traditional funeral ritual? This is the first book comprehensively to examine the revival of death as a subject and relate it to theories of modernity and postmodernity. The book will interest not only social scientists but anyone learning to care for the dying, the dead or the bereaved. |
Contents
Outline of the book | 5 |
The revival of death | 26 |
The two strands of revival | 39 |
Traditional modern and neomodern death | 47 |
Keeping on listening | 67 |
Systems for listening | 87 |
Expectations and assumptions | 108 |
The listening community or the defining community? | 121 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American Ariès Attitudinal Healing authority become bereaved person bereavement counselling bereavement counsellors body Britain cancer cancer patients carers cemetery century chaplains Chapter Christian clergy client committed context crematorium culture dead death and dying deceased discourse dying and bereaved dying and grieving dying patients dying person elderly Elisabeth Kübler-Ross emotional euthanasia experience express expressivism expressivist fear feelings friends funeral directors grief process hospice care hospice movement ideal types individual interviews Kübler-Ross late-modern listening live London loss Macmillan nurses meaning meta-story modern mourners mourning natural death neighbours neo-modern death nursing process observed organisation pain palliative care participant observation pathography Philippe Ariès physical postmodern practitioners professional psychological religion religious revival of death revivalist ritual social society Sociology St Christopher's St Christopher's Hospice staff stage survivors talk tell therapy Tony Walter traditional Walter widows