Death in High Modernity: The Contemporary Presence and Absence of Death

Mellor, Philip A.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.1992.tb03384.x

Cited by 52 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Within this framework the contemporary hospice movement, despite its own overt goal of humanising the dying process, is frequently understood as a further exemplar of the widespread social desire to sequester and hide the processes of death and dying from the mainstream of social life (see, for instance, Aries 1974, Mellor 1993, Hockey 1990: 156, Feifel 1959. My analysis, however, suggests this interpretation is far from adequate since, as I have already illustrated, hospices do not veil the dying process per se; rather they have come to sequester a particular type of dying and a particular category of patient; namely, one who is disintegrating and has a body which is unbounded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary Hospice Care: the Sequestration of the Unbounded Body and ‘Dirty Dying’

Lawton

1998

Sociology Health & Illness

196

163

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This paper is based on a 10-month participant observation study within an inpatient hospice in Southern England. I highlight the difficulties of using homogenous categories such as 'the dying patient' and 'the dying process' in exploring the marginalisation of patients within the physical space of contemporary hospices and similar institutions. In opposition to such categories, my findings indicate the importance of focusing upon the body of the patient, and the disease processes taking place within it and upon its surfaces, in understanding why some patients are now sequestered within hospices whereas others are not. I argue that a significant proportion of patients are admitted to hospices because of the way in which their disease spread and subsequent deterioration affects the boundedness of their bodies and undermines their identities as persons. I suggest that conceptualising a hospice as a 'no place' -i.e. a space within which the taboo processes of bodily deformation and decay are sequestered -allows it to be understood as a central part of contemporary Western culture. Setting the disintegrating body apart from mainstream society, as hospices appear to do, enables certain ideas about 'living', personhood and the hygienic, sanitised, bounded body to be symbolically enforced and maintained.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary Hospice Care: the Sequestration of the Unbounded Body and ‘Dirty Dying’

Lawton

1998

Sociology Health & Illness

196

163

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“…This has brought its own confusion in that the rituals which do persist are largely managed within a Christian context and do not easily fit with the belief systems which have been shaped in an age of scientific advance and religious scepticism (Mellor, 1993).…”

Section: The Cultural and Social Meaning Of Death-a Historical Perspementioning

confidence: 99%

Making sense of experience: Death and old age

Machin¹

1998

Journal of Social Work Practice

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This article explores the contemporay context in which older people make sense of death; their own and that of other people. It gives a historical perspective on death for the current cohort of older people, identibng four significant catalytic elements; two world wars, a decline in the place of ritual, increased secularisation of society and an emphasis upon individualism. It goes on to look at the changed patterns of health and social care which have been prompted by new medical advances and the rise in the bureaucratic management of care services. The dilemma of choicdconstraint confronting older people is epitomised in the issues of private freedom v. public control contained in the debate on euthanasia. This article seeks to challenge the social stereotypes in which sight is lost of the possibilities in old age for personal choice and the opportunity to accommodate griet Finally, new theoretical perspectives on grief are examined and seen to offer a broader view than is found in classical theories of grief, of what is 'normal' in bereavement. AdditionaUy they propose that support is necessa y within natural networks as well as within therapeutic settings; a breakthrough in the normalisation of grief for older people.

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“…Death would pose the questions that distort the sociallyconstructed image of the reality. Anomic power of the death penetrates into the innermost aspects of an individuals' identity (Mellor, 1992). Hence, individuals should create their identities through using reflexive mechanisms and available socio-cultural resources (Giddens, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%