Managing Death: International Perspectives

279 Pages·2022·2.84 MB·English

by  Gerry R. Cox, Neil Thompson

Gerry R. Cox
Neil Thompson
Managing
Death:
International
Perspectives
Managing Death: International Perspectives
Gerry R. Cox • Neil Thompson
Managing Death:
International Perspectives
Gerry R. Cox Neil Thompson
School of Sociology and Archaeology Visiting Professor at the Open University
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse Independent Writer, Educator, and Adviser
Salina, KS, USA Wrexham, UK
ISBN 978-3-031-05558-4 ISBN 978-3-031-05559-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05559-1
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Gerry dedicates this book to:
Cheryl (Cox) Manlove and Paul Desotelle
Max Douglas, David Autry and Fred Walker,
my childhood friends
Father Alfons Deeken, who taught me about
Japan and life
Neil dedicates this book to:
Sue and Anna Thompson, my towers of
strength
Fellow members of the International Work
Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement
The La Crosse crew
Foreword
International Perspectives on Managing
a Universal Phenomenon
I was honored to be invited by Professor Neil Thompson and Professor Gerry Cox
to offer this foreword. It was prepared when my place was severely influenced by
the Covid-19 pandemic, with travel bans. This book shows me a remedy: “around
the world in 80 days” – going from Africa to Asia, then Europe, North and South
America and Australasia. Timewise, it travels from ancient times to the contempo-
rary present and even to the future. This is a must-join journey for all those who are
interested in the topic of death and dying, and I am glad you are on board!
Neil and Gerry are the few forerunners who bring a sociological perspective to
the field of death and dying, which for so long has been dominated by psychological
and medical perspectives. Their edited book, Handbook of the Sociology of Death,
Grief, and Bereavement: A Guide to Theory and Practice, published in 2017, is
prime reading. This book is primarily an extension of their own work, focusing on
death management through an international lens.
People might ask: “Death is a universal life event everyone will face; so why do
we need an international perspective?” I am the current Chairperson of the
International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement (https://www.iwgddb.
com/), of which Neil and Gerry are core members. Our workgroup facilitates inten-
sive intersectional and international exchanges and mutual support in stimulating
and enhancing innovative ideas, research and practices around death, dying and
bereavement. We have found that the process of understanding death, dying and
bereavement through an international lens is paradoxical. While we see the differ-
ences between groups at the beginning of the sharing, we eventually realize signifi-
cant convergences.
While death is the final destination for us all, without exception, social forces
influence how we manage and deal with it. Most importantly, we are not passively
reacting to it, but acting as agents to make changes in the social circumstances. The
authors articulate well that sociology offers the chance to learn about the
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viii Foreword
decision-making process, while interacting with these influences from our society
or other societies around us. At the same time, it is not about individual decisions,
but the government’s (Thompson & Cox, 2017). The social forces come from dif-
ferent sources, such as cultures, religions, institutions, families, political systems
and economic systems (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015). Each chapter in this book
offers us a glimpse of such interactions from the SPIDER framework proposed by
Thompson (2018), which comprises social Structures, Processes, Institutions,
Discourses, Expectations and Relations.
While discussing the diversities and variations, we find common premises and
strands when reading the chapters describing the death management systems across
different religions and geographical regions. The belief in an afterlife is one of the
common grounds of the religious perspective and most cultures. This belief shapes
death management, such as preserving the body, farewell rituals, grief, and even
continuous memorialization after the death. The farewell rituals across the groups
often involve specialized personnel, such as religious leaders or funeral directors, in
orchestrating the process in a well-structured three-stage format as described in the
Christianity chapter of vigil or wake, funeral liturgy and ritual committal. The
shared objects present in the process include food, drink, music, flowers and candles.
Equally, shared practices are identified when reading the chapters. Coming from
a Chinese background, I am surprised to see Hmong practising burning money and
offerings to the deceased person in the transition to the next life and the male-
dominated roles in funeral and burial rituals. Similarly, Indian and Diné cultures
emphasize the roles of the eldest son or older male relatives, coincidently in line
with Chinese values. In a few traditions, for example in Wales and Poland, bereaved
family members cover the mirrors until the funeral is completed, which is also pre-
scribed in Chinese cultures. Like the Chinese practice of putting rice in the deceased
person's hands or a pearl in their mouth for their journey to their next life, Polish
people place a coin in the deceased person's hand or mouth for the same purpose.
The “y tolaeth” in Welsh tradition is similar to the Chinese prescription of returning
the deceased person's spirit on the seventh day (Chan & Chow, 2006). I strongly
encourage you to use this constant compare and contrast exercise when reading the
book, extracting the similarities and differences in practices in your culture with the
others. You might be surprised at the unexpected similarities.
Such similarities in practices are probably rooted in the ancestors' wisdom, with
the same purposes behind them. However, with the influences of a death taboo and
the monopolizing of death-related professionals, the underlying purposes might be
lost in the transition. The misery of these practices reduces their intended benefit for
the bereaved persons and even increases the secondary distress of ignorance and
fear of not performing well. The chapters in this book offer the historical context of
the development of the practices and inspire us in identifying the meaning of the
practices.
As shared earlier, we are not passive respondents to these systems, but active
agents in shaping them. Moreover, as the authors highlight, some of these practices
have become commercialized, which inevitably induces a social force to shape our
behaviors. Therefore, learning about the practices, unveiling their purposes and
Foreword ix
meanings, judging the compatibility with the current context, and empowering the
people during their vulnerable times to have decision-making competence are of
utmost importance. This book will be a good foundation for the mission.
This foreword has been written during the Covid-19 pandemic, which provides
food for thought on this topic. While the chapters offer us the “ideal” or “normal”
way of management of deaths, there are times when external forces constrain cus-
tomary practices. With the skyrocketing number of deaths, mortuaries were over-
whelmed, and some people were buried in mass graves without any rituals. While
family members are expected to take care of the dying person, it has become a new
norm of dying alone due to the social distancing policy during the pandemic.
Participating in a funeral, if it could be arranged, is a privileged opportunity.
Infection control has been the priority, and the handling of the bodies of those who
have died of Covid-19 is with a minimal human touch, and viewing the body has not
been possible in most cases. People facing death and dying seem powerless, with no
chance of making decisions. If we stick rigidly to prescribed normal practices, this
sense of helplessness will become guilt, regret or anger. With a better understanding
of the meaning of the prescribed practices, alternatives in achieving the purposes
can be formulated. The use of online platforms or video conferencing for hospital
visitations and participating in the live streaming of a funeral have become common
practices. Though these are far from ideal, the objective of facilitating communica-
tion between patients and families and eliciting support can still be achieved. These
new practices might be transformed into the norm when families are geographically
apart. Recently, Birrell and colleagues (2020) explored the relationship between
restrictions on cremation ceremonies and the psychological adjustment of the
bereaved person over time. Surprisingly, the reduction of the cremation ceremony to
minimal, or what they termed “funeral poverty”, was not found to affect the psycho-
logical adjustment and grief of the bereaved over time. The components of the cer-
emony or the appraisal of the arrangement was found not to be related to the level
of grief. Notably, this study was carried out before the pandemic. The impact of
straight observance of the rituals might not be as big as we expected. Thus, I appre-
ciate the authors, at the forefront, expressing the purpose of this book as being to
learn about the process of decision making in relation to death and dying under the
influences of social forces.
I hope this book will be the starting point for you to reflect on and ponder how
social forces are affecting us around death and dying, but at the same time, how we
can change the norms according to the new context.
Amy Y. M. Chow
Head and Professor, Department of Social Work and
Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong,
Chairperson, International Work Group on Death and
Dying, Director, Jockey Club End-of-life Community
Care Project, Hong Kong, China
x Foreword
References
Birrell, J., Schut, H., Stroebe, M., Anadria, D., Newsom, C., Woodthorpe, K., Rumble, H., Corden,
A., & Smith, Y. (2020). Cremation and grief: are ways of commemorating the dead related to
adjustment over time? Omega, 8(3), 370–392.
Chan, C. L. W., & Chow, A. Y. M. (2006). Death, dying and bereavement: A Hong Kong experi-
ence. The Hong Kong University Press.
DeSpelder, L. A., & Strickland, A. L. (2015). The last dance: Encountering death and dying (10th
ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Thompson, N., & Cox, G. R. (2017). Handbook of the sociology of death, grief and bereavement:
A guide to theory and practice. Routledge.
Thompson, N. (2018). Applied sociology. Routledge.
Preface
Why This Book?
The field of literature relating to death, grief, and bereavement is vast, but one area
that has received relatively little attention in comparison with other aspects is the
management of death. By “management” what we mean is the various ways in
which the communities concerned respond to death, both specifically when a person
dies and more generally in terms of death as an ongoing aspect of social life. An
important part of this is how the relationship between the living and the dying is
managed in different societies and at different times.
One of our main aims, therefore, is to play a part in trying to tilt the balance, so
that these important issues begin to receive the attention they deserve. In doing so,
we also hope to fulfill a further aim of providing a sound foundation of knowledge
for professionals and lay people involved in the various processes associated with
the management of death.
What happens at an individual or familial level when a person dies has been
widely studied and serves as the basis of a wide range of educational and training
programs. However, what happens at a wider cultural or structural level has featured
much less and has left a significant gap in our understanding – a gap that we hope
this book can play a part in filling.
Because the traditional focus is on individual and familial concerns, what we
offer here is a broader social scientific perspective. This is not intended to replace
existing psychologically based knowledge and understanding, but rather to comple-
ment it by setting it in its wider context. We therefore draw on social science
insights, particularly from sociology, but also to a certain extent from social psy-
chology, anthropology, human geography, and the human relations field more
broadly. Our reason for doing so is to develop a more holistic picture of death man-
agement, one that recognizes the big picture and does not limit itself to a narrow
focus that omits consideration of important social structures, processes, institutions,
discourses, expectations, and relations (Thompson, 2018).
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