A death in the family: experiences of dying and death in which everyday family practices are embedded and enacted

Abstract

‘Family’ is an important concept in end-of-life care policy and practice but familial relationships are rarely considered, beyond a bio-medical framework and/or as a resource for informal care. Furthermore, bereavement and grief have largely come to be seen as the domain for psychiatry and psychology. I argue for an exploration of death, dying and bereavement as experiences within which everyday family practices are embedded and enacted. In doing so, I draw on experiences, in an English setting, relating to my parents’ coming to the end of their lives. Morgan’s work is central to this endeavour and I apply aspects of his work to this important but understudied area of family sociology. Building on insights from this important body of work, I argue this can help to develop richer, more nuanced understandings of the everyday familial experiences of dying and death bound up in social, material and cultural contexts.

The Aftermath of Death in the Continuing Lives of the Living: Extending ‘Bereavement’ Paradigms through Family and Relational Perspectives

“…At the same time, sociological approaches themselves have largely neglected the relevance of ‘family’ in the aftermath of death. Recent research has however shown the significance of ‘doing’ and ‘being’ ‘family’ at the end of life, in regard to the dying process itself (Almack, 2022; Almack et al, 2010; Borgstrom et al, 2019; Ellis, 2018; Hilário and Augusto, 2021) and the arranging and conducting of the funeral (Woodthorpe, 2017; Woodthorpe and Rumble, 2016). Beyond the funeral, Pearce and Komaromy (2021: 16–17) consider how family life is ‘done’ and made meaningful after a parental death; such issues may include the reconfiguration of roles and responsibilities, the construction or silencing of narratives of collective ‘family’ memories or loss of the very concept of ‘family’.…”

The Mortality of Family Business Leaders: Using a Palliative Care Model to Re-imagine Letting Go

“…(Borgstrom et al, 2019). A 'doing family' perspective demystifies and provides a nuanced understanding of how families experience the end of life (Almack, 2022).…”

Family sociology as a theoretical enterprise? A personal reflection

“…But it seems that this particular 'family event' (Morgan, 1985) has not (yet) been theorised through family sociology (Almack and Woodthorpe, 2021). Some exceptions here include a focus on (children's) accounts of biographical disruption through family death (Jamieson and Highet, 2013), children's perspectives and biographies interwoven with family deaths (Davies, 2019), and the implications for family and family relationships after a death (Finch and Mason, 2000;Almack, 2022;Walter, 2020;Ribbens McCarthy et al, under review). Family sociology has so much to offer here through the lens of family practices, with many of David's theoretical concerns central to such a project: 'families and troubles are mutually implicated […] families are constituted through the ways in which they respond to and create problems […] family boundaries are created and recreated through the engagement of family members with troubles' (Morgan, 2019(Morgan, : 2227(Morgan, , 2229.…”