Vocabulary- Thanatology: Sociology of Funeral Service Flashcards
Of or characteristic of the present or recent times; not ancient, often used to designate certain contemporary tendencies.
Modern
A social grouping in which members possess roughly equivalent culturally valued attributes.
Class
Rites with the body present.
Funeral
A process involving all activities associated with final disposition.
Funeralization
Must-behavior which dictates the individual must abstain from certain acts dealing with death.
Taboos
Must-behavior; the basic and important patterns of ideas and acts of a people as related to treatment of the dead, which calls for a strong reaction from the society if violated.
Mores
Living or happening in the same period.
Contemporary
Any event performed in a solemn and prescribed manner.
Rite
The method by which the social values are internalized (learned).
Enculturation (Socialization)
The family into which one is born.
Family of Orientation
Categorization of people by money, prestige and power; a ranking of social status (position) in groups such as upper, middle and lower class.
Social Stratification
A funeral rite that is in essence devoid of religious connotation.
Humanistic Funeral Rite
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.
Social Function
A division, or small identifiable unit of culture, connected to that culture by common traits, having quite traits to itself.
Subculture
Any disposition of human remains which is completely devoid of any form of funeral rite at the time of disposition.
Immediate Disposition
Male and female have equal rights, duties, and governing power.
Egalitarian
Pertaining to demography; the science of vital statistics, or of births, deaths, marriages, etc of populations.
Demographic
The change from rural to urban in character.
Urbanization
Specified methods of procedure.
Rules
An instrumental action dealing with death, that is also expressional and that m ay or may not be charged with symbolic content expressing, amount other things, the attitudes of the participants and possible onlookers (passive participants) who may be regarded as co-beneficiaries.
Ceremony (Ritual)
Things to which socially created meaning is given.
Symbols
Social behavior as dictated by the tradition of the people.
Customs
The family established by one’s marriage and the production of children.
Family of Procreation
A household or family unit created by one make and one female and the children from their previous marriages and may include children from the present marriage.
Blended Family
Two unrelated adults of the opposite sex sharing the same living quarters.
Cohabitants
A funeral rite which deviates from the normal or prescribed circumstances of established custom.
Non-Traditional Funeral Rite
The tendency of off-spring to move away from the area in which they were born.
Neo-Localism
Behaviors which are construed as somewhat less compulsive than mores of the same society, and do not call for a strong reaction from the society if violated.
Folkways
Consists of abstract patterns (the rules, ideas, beliefs shared by members of society) of and for living and dying, which are learned directly or indirectly.
Culture
The emotional attitude that one’s own race, nation, group, or culture is superior to all others.
Ethnocentrism
The state or quality of being mobile; the ability to move from place to place readily, or to move from class to class, either up or down.
Mobility
Individual crafting of products is replaced by manufacture of goods utilizing mass production techniques.
Industrialization
The science of social groups; the processes that tend to maintain or change these forms of organizations and the relations between grounds and individuals.
Sociology
A household or family unit consisting of one man and one woman married to each other and their children, if any.
Nuclear Family
Funeral rites with the body not present.
Memorial Service
An all-inclusive term used to encompass all funerals and/or memorial services.
Funeral Rite
A culturally entrenched pattern of behavior made up of 1) sacred beliefs, 2) emotional feelings accompanying the beliefs; and 3) overt conduct presumably implementing the beliefs and feelings.
Religion
The father rules the family; power is passed to the oldest male child.
Patriarchal
The creation of a system which governs through departments and subdivisions managed by sets of officials following an inflexible routine.
Bureaucratization
Ceremonies centering around transition in life from one status to another (ex Baptism, marriage and the funeral).
Rites of Passage
A funeral rite that follows a prescribed ritual or ceremony dictated either by religious belief or social custom.
Traditional Funeral Rite
Any of the basic divisions or groups of mankind, distinguished by customs, characteristics, languages, rather than physical characteristics of race.
Ethnic
A culture developed before the invention of writing, and hence, leaving no written record.
Pre-Literate Society
The emotional attitude that all cultures are equal and pertinent.
Cultural Relativism
Like abstract patterns of and for living and dying, which are identifiable in all cultures.
Cultural Universal
The mother rules the family; a woman holding a position analogous to that of a patriarch.
Matriarchal
A must-behavior not necessarily a basic or important pattern of people (related to death) but one which is enforced by those governing; a rule of action prescribed by an authority able to enforce its will.
Law
A funeral rite that is adjusted to the needs and wants of those directly involved; one which has been altered to suit the trends of the time.
Adaptive Funeral Rite
A household or family unit consisting of one adult, either male or female, and his/her children.
Single Parent Family
A household or family unit created by related nuclear families and/or friendships.
Modified Extended Family
A household or family unit consisting of father and mother, all their children (except married daughters), their son’s wives and children (except married daughters).
Extended (Joint) Family
A funeral rite which may be construed as being identifiable with a pre-literate society.
Primitive Funeral Rite
A group of persons forming a single community with some interests in common.
Society
