13.6.1 Essential Ideas

Learning Objective 1: How do we explain death and dying as a social problem?

Death and Dying can be a social problem because although each person has a unique death, wider social forces influence the life expectancy and ability to have a good death based on social location. We disagree about who makes the decision for someone to die or what should happen to people’s bodies/ How we define death and choose to care for the dead changes over time and place. Finally, moving toward equity in death and dying requires the interdependent action of changing laws, policies, and practices, engaging in community conversations, and taking individual actions, like being willing to talk about death in a positive way.

Learning Objective 2: What are the cultural, social, and structural factors that impact death and dying?

Depending on which culture you live in, you may understand death to be physical, legal, or social. You may bury or cremate your dead or take time for grief. We also see that social location with corresponding power and privilege changes what the end of life or death looks like for groups of people. More specifically, People of Color, people who are houseless, and people who live in rural areas, among other social locations, have less access to needed services and are likely to die sooner than others with more privilege.

Learning Objective 3: How does the concept of life course illuminate issues around aging and dying?

A life course model defines the expectations for what people will do at various stages of their lives. These models differ by culture, time, and space. Particularly when we think of aging and death, a life course model defines when in a person’s life they should happen. When death occurs as it is expected, it is a “good death”. When this norm is violated, we have an unexpected death. We can also use these models to think about power and oppression related to aging. In some societies, the elderly are respected and revered. In others, they are ignored and silenced. Fear of death and dying can lead to ageism, particularly because the fearful people want to avoid people at end of life.

Learning Objective 4: How does the social institution of religion create the potential for conflict in values, a characteristic of a social problem?

Religion is a social institution and a set of beliefs that is particularly engaged with questions of living and dying. Religions and spiritual traditions differ widely in how they think of life and death, what is acceptable to do with the body, and how funeral rites should occur. In addition, the landscape of our religious affiliations is changing. In the US, fewer people are Christian, membership in other religious traditions is generally growing, and many people say that they don’t have any religious affiliation. Because of the wide variety of differences, and the differences in power related to each religious tradition, we experience conflict in values and norms around death and dying. This conflict generates a social problem.

Learning Objective 5: How does thanatology help us understand the social problem of death and dying?

Thanatology is a discipline that studies death and dying. It combines the knowledge and wisdom of sociology, psychology, biology, medicine, anthropology, and philosophy to make sense of a complex and challenging stage of life. By considering the individual, the family, the body, the community, and the wider social structures, thanatology helps to create a holistic picture of death and dying and support people, families, and communities in moving through the process with grace.

Learning Objective 6: How are individuals and communities creating new possibilities of interdependent improvements to create social justice in the process of death and dying?

Health practitioners, lawmakers, activists, and people who are dying are taking action to make death and dying more equitable. From RIP T-Shirts, to green burials, to POLSTs and advance directives, to conscious communities and concerts in graveyards, we are rethinking what it means to live and die well. It’s not easy, but interdependent action can create social justice for the dead.

13.6.3 Discuss and Do

1. Lifecourse and “a Good Death”: How has COVID-19 challenged our expectations around a good death?
2. Conflict in Values/Right to Die: This 9.27-minute video, Right-to-die movement finds new life beyond Oregon [YouTube Video], discusses the right to die. As you watch, you can think about who is making the decision about when to die. Also, what conflict in values is present in answering the question about who decides?
3. Aging, Ageism and Lifecourse: Does your access to power and privilege change over the course of your life? Please use the life course model to illuminate your answer.
4. Religion, Death and Dying: How do religion and spirituality impact how a person or social group expects to experience death and dying?
5. Culture, Death, and Dying: The sections on culture and death and dying all have additional readings or videos. Please compare two of the sources. What did you learn?
6. Individual Agency, Collective Action and Social Justice: Take action related to death and dying: have” the conversation,” attend a death cafe, evaluate burial options, or take an action of your choice. What did you learn by taking action?