Sociology for Funeral Service Glossary Flashcards
A rite adjusted to the needs of the family or the trends of the time
Adaptive funeral rite
Dealing with agriculture
Agrarian
Being unknown
Anonymity
Existential statements about the physical and social world
Beliefs
One male and one female and children from their previous marriages as well as children from the present marriage
Blended family
A form of organization characterized by specialization, hierarchy, formal rules, impersonality, and a specialized administrative staff
Bureacratization
Any action performed during a rite which may or may not have symbolic meaning to the participants or observer of the action
- Ceremony
* Ritual
A grouping of people with similar socio-economic status in an industrialized society
Class
Living or happening in the same period
Contemporary
The combustion of a dead human body to its essential inorganic elements by rapid oxidation
Cremation
The emotional attitude that recognizes other cultures as equivalent and pertinent
Cultural relativism
Common traits or patterns found in all cultures of mankind
Cultural universal
A set of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and rules for behavior that are held commonly within a society
Culture
A social behavior which is considered to be normal and is based on tradition
Custom
Pertaining to the science of vital statistics, or of births, deaths, marriages, etc., of population
Demographic
The science of vital statistics, or of births, deaths, marriages, etc., of population
Demography
Immediate disposition of the body with no form of funeral rite at the time of disposition
Direct disposal
The acquisition of the culture by a person through deliberate instruction by other members of that society
Direct learning
The belief that the created is reunited with the creator at death
Doctrine of atonement
Behaviors which are construed as somewhat less compulsive than mores of the same society
Folkways
A form of family government which holds that both male and female have equal voice in governing
Egalitarian family
The process by which a person is taught the mutually accepted and understood behaviors associated with the various roles encountered in a society
- Enculturation
* Socialization
A group of people who are recognized as a distinct group on the basis of cultural characteristics such as common ancestry or religion
Ethnic
A pattern whereby people view their own culture as superior to all others
Ethnocentrism
One man, one woman, married sons and their wives and issue all living within a single household
- Extended family
* Joint family
In the socially accepted monogamous marriage, one man (husband), one woman (wife) and any number of issue (children
Family unit
Relatively informal norms that carry only informal sanctions such as mild joking or ridicule, when they are violated
Folkways
A rite performed with the body present
Funeral
A process involving all activities associated with final disposition
Funeralization
A funeral service practitioner who arranges the funeral service with the family
- Funeral counselor
* Funeral service counselor
A funeral service practitioner who conducts that funeral which has been arranged prior to the funeral service
Funeral director
Any rite of the funeralization of a human being
Funeral rite
Any licensed person who is involved in any and/or all of the various stages of the funeralization practice
- Funeral service practitioner
- Undertaker
- Mortician
- Funeral director / embalmer
A philosophy which contends that one must seek life’s meaning or fulfillment in the future rather than in the past or present
Futuristics
A philosophy of care where a home-like atmosphere is provided for the terminally ill allowing for the family to be close at the time of death
Hospice
A funeral rite that is devoid of religious connotation
Humanistic funeral service
A funeral rite that is devoid of religious connotation
Humanistic funeral service
Any disposition of a human remains which is completely devoid of any form of funeral rite at the time of disposition
Immediate disposition
A process by which a person learns the norms of his culture by observation of others in his society
Indirect learning
The change from independent multi-talented, self-sufficient family units to employment of family members in jobs outside the unit, making them dependent on outside resources
Industrialization
The offspring or children of a specific set of parents
Issue
Behavior expectations sanctioned by rewards and punishments and enforced by people appointed or elected for that purpose
Law
A program which enables families to exchange a purchased lot or grave in one cemetery with a family who has a purchased lot or grave in another cemetery
Lot exchange programs
An agreement between two families and the cooperating cemeteries involved
Lot exchange programs
A family government where the mother or female possesses power and the right of decision making
Matriarchal family
The process of the emergence of the personal characteristics and behavioral phenomena through endogenous growth processes
Maturation
A rite with the body not present
Memorial services
An organization, public or private which endorses the practice of conducting funeral rites without the body of the deceased being present
Memorial society
The state or quality of being mobile
Mobility
The ability to move from place to place readily, or to move from class to class, either up or down
Mobility
Of, or characteristic of the present or recent times
Modern
Not ancient, often used to designate certain contemporary tendencies
Modern
A cluster of two or more nuclear families united by social or familial bonds for security, protection and help
Modified extended nuclear family
Rules of behavior which are considered vital to the welfare of the group and accompanied by relatively severe sanctions
Mores
Accepted abbreviation for the National Funeral Directors Association
NFDA
The movement of families from the place where they were born
Neolocalism
Those funeral rites which deviate from the normal or prescribed circumstances of established customs
Non-traditional funeral rite
A family that is restricted to parents and their unmarried children
Nuclear family
Behavioral patterns which are observable by others
Overt conduct
One who participates in an event simply by listening and observing rather than by overt actions
Passive participant
A form of family government where the father, or male, possesses the power and right of decision making
Patriarchal family
Any society which exists in a stage of development prior to the invention of the written word in their culture
Pre-literate society
Agreements between client and funeral service practitioners which designate details of a funeral service prior to the death of the person to which the agreement pertains
Pre-need programs
Rites of funeralization usually associated with pre-literate societies
Primitive funeral rite
A culturally entrenched pattern of behavior made of sacred beliefs, emotional feelings accompanying the beliefs, and overt conduct presumably implementing the beliefs and feelings
Religion
Any event performed in a solemn and prescribed manner
Rite
Ceremonies centering around transition in life from one status to another
Rites of passage
Examples: Baptism, marriage, and the funeral
Rites of passage
A specific method or procedure used to comply with a folkway, mores and / or law
Rule
A family unit made up of one adult, either male or female, and their children
Single parent family
An event which allows those who have something in common with each other to deal with one another in regard to that which they share in common
Social function
The upward or downward movement of a person or family within the social classes of their society
Social mobility
The categorization of people according to their attainment or lack of attainment of finances or social status
Social stratification
A group of persons forming a single community with some interests in common
Society
The study of social groups, their modes of organization, the processes which tend to maintain or change these forms, and the relationships between the groups
Sociology
A division of a culture, connected to a larger culture by common traits, while having unique traits of its own
Subcultures
Anything to which socially created meaning is given
Symbol
A social prohibition of certain actions
Taboo
A behavior which dictates that one must abstain from certain acts
Taboo
The study of death
Thanatology
Derived from the name Thanatos, Greek God of Death
Thanatology
Those funeral rites that follow a prescribed ritual which may be dictated either by religious beliefs or social customs
Traditional funeral rite
The change from rural to urban areas
Urbanization
