Lecture 7: Sociocultural Issues in Death and Loss Flashcards
How can culture support people through death? in what ways does it make people feel immortal? (2)
Immortality:
1. can make people feel literally immortal VIA the concepts of a soul and reincarnation
- can provide symbolic immortality VIA one’s contributions and identity to be preserved after death.
Burials and Mourning rituals allow cultures to help people process grief and find meaning
It also allows the community to support the bereaved
How does death affect the community in the modern age? How is it specifically in Western cultures?
`Deaths impact the public much less than before, but the individual is affected much more.
Those who are most relevant to the functional and moral activities of the social order
Western culture takes a modernist approach, prioritizing efficiency, progress and rationality over emotionality
“our ideals regarding death are rarely met”
- deaths are neither good or well managed
How might grieving be restricted today?
social institutions today place explicit restrictions on bereavement behavior
the attitudes underlying these institutional requirements may place implicit constraints on behavior
- EX: not much time off work
What are some conclusions regarding death in western society, according to Harris?
- Western society is defined as a death-denying and product driven society, where foundation rests upon capitalism and patriarchal hierarchies in all significant social institutions”
- stoicism and denial of
emotionality - Those who are terminally ill are looked at with pity for their dependency because they are a reminder of our mortality; that we are all going to die eventually
- Death is seen as a failure of
technology and source of
shame - people are generally concerned about what they should be doing and what is considered normal
What are social rules of grieving? (5)
What is specific about this to western society?
norms that attempt to determine who, when, where, how, for how long and for whom people should grieve.
- losing a friend vs a family member; a miscarriage
- bereavement leave of only 3 days for close family
- Intense emotions; too much crying
- public displays of grief, grieving at social events
- gender differences in acceptable responses
Grief and mourning are considered private matters in western society
How do social rules of grieving uniquely interact with social media?
social rules for grieving are still developing for social media
people tend to avoid content regarding other people’s grieving, without openly violating the norms
- possibly because itis considered a private matter
Explain Disenfranchisement , disenfranchised grief and its 5 types:
Disenfranchisement: to take away a person’s rights, or sense of having rights, removing their sense of equality
Disenfranchised grief occurs when grief does not adhere to social norms and it not openly acknowledged, publicly mourned or socially supported
- Relationship not recognized (e.g., LGBTQIA+, extramarital, friend or co-worker, ex-lover or friend)
- Loss not acknowledged (e.g., miscarriage, abortion, adoption, pet)
- Griever excluded (e.g., young children, elderly, people with developmental or intellectual disabilities)
- Circumstances of death (e.g., suicides, executions, AIDS)
- Styles of grieving (e.g., failing to show emotion, too much emotion)
Briefly explain self disenfranchisement:
people can create their own disenfranchisement by failing to accept their grief as valid due to real or imagined input from others
- can lead to shame, guilt and compromised social support
Explain perinatal grief:
Occurs with the death of an infant VIA unintended or involuntary loss of the child
Sources of disenfranchisement include:
- viability of pregnancy, physical loss of pregnancy
- making arrangements, funeral arrangements, spreading the news
Complicated grief is more likely and can worsen due to men and women grieving differently
briefly explain Stifled grief and how it can be promoted:
any recognized experience of grief that is denied its full course
Can be promoted by allowing bereaved employees time off for a funeral, then expecting them to return back to work immediately after.
What are differences that are found in collectivist societies?
may provide better community support and improved opportunities for social bonding after a loss.
Collectivist cultures tend to be higher in conformity though.
- because there is less of a focus on emotionality and public displays of grief/emotion, some people may feel restricted in their ability to grieve in their own way.
think: what leads to disenfranchisement in one culture can be a source of connection in another
What is shame and what factors can contribute to shameful death? (3)
Similar to guilt, but is more to do with self standards than empathy
a painful emotion that can occur via comparing oneself to one’s own standards of the ideals of a social group
- compromised honor of family of community
- behavioral, sexual or social improprieties
- Shameful fatal illnesses
- EX: AIDS
What are the effects of drug related deaths (OD’s) on the bereaved?
higher likelihood of shame, as well as a greater likelihood of PTSD in the bereaved
SOURCES OF SHAME:
- a sense of responsibility for the death
- Drugs associated with criminal behavior
- comparisons to other deaths such as cancer, CVD, natural causes, etc.
- not feeling the right to grieve or receive sympathy from others
How can drug related deaths affect bereaving parents?
parents sense that others will see the death as the child or parent’s fault
worries that people will see them as neglectful for having a child die in this way
How can survivors feel shame?
- Living while others have died
- having not saved someone
- acting in ways that enabled their own survival while others did not
all relating to a tragic event/accident