Constructing Death

Sociologically, death poses problems at two levels: for the stability of social structures, and for the maintenance of individual meanings that sustain ontological security. This chapter will deal with each in turn, and will outline ways in which people have organised to deal with these problems, and to ‘kill death’. The contrast between tribal, traditional or pre-modern social organisation, and modern, industrialised societies is helpful in exploring this, though this approach inevitably tends to overlook differences between, say, contemporary hunter-gatherer groups and medieval European village life. The discussion of mortuary ritual draws on anthropological studies of tribal and traditional groups; the analysis presented here sets the scene for the application of these ideas, in modified form, to late modern experience.

In the course of this chapter three ideas will be introduced, to be developed further later in the book. First the idea of imagined community will be discussed, adapted from Anderson's (1991) study of nationalism, which I use to explain the nature of the membership which dying and grieving people assert and defend. This is elaborated fully in chapter 4. Secondly the concept of revivalism, derived from Walter (1994), is introduced, describing certain institutionalised responses to the problems of dying in late modernity. This concept is developed and illustrated in chapter 5, where its relevance to hospice care is shown. Finally, the idea of resurrective practice will be used to show how everyday talk-as-ritual is used by members to reorient themselves towards life in the face of death.