Bsbwor501 Final Exam

Funerals, like all industries, are changing with the times. The fact that funerals can be referred to as an industry shows just how much they have changed. At one time a funeral was a ritual that offered support to a community by allowing them to fall back on beliefs. Funerals now are less impactful. A funeral today is deritualized and rationalized. They are more of an obligation than a ritual for support.

In “Disposal of the Dead”, Kroeber arranges a cross cultural comparison of different cultures, and by doing so Kroeber aims to understand why cultures take on a variety of strategies in the treatment of the deceased. As a result of Kroeber’s research among the aborigines of California and incorporating information from other cultures, Kroeber found that cultures varied within themselves and other surrounding cultures in regards to their burial procedures. Therefore, Kroeber concludes that there is a lack of consistency in the different burial methods among cultures that should process similarities. As a result, Kroeber compares the disposing of the dead among these cultures as economical and material entities like matters of fashion. However,

Laurence Shatkin seems to think that the industry is recession proof. He ranks a funeral director at number 84 in his recent book “150 Best Recession Proof Jobs”. Yes the work will continue to come and as the baby boomers come of age, so to speak, the funeral industry doesn’t look like slowing down. However, it is not just the people that are dying, the profits are too! People have become more cost conscious as a consequence of the recession and even in their time of grief they are starting to shop around for the best deal to bury their loved ones. Remember, death can be sudden and unplanned and a costly funeral will rarely be budgeted for. A funeral is a celebration of someone’s life and often the extravagance is a reflection of the respect for that person. Irish people are famed for their funeral celebrations otherwise known as a “good send off”. Nobody wants to cut back on any of the customs associated with a traditional funeral, however, Dermott Jewell of the Consumers Association of Ireland has said “I don’t think anyone can underestimate the difficulty of asking questions or querying things at the time of a funeral but the fact is, you are availing of a service that comes at a cost and it can be quite extreme. There are alternatives and you do have a choice. There is a personal barrier there that you may be seen as being mean but nobody should think in that vein” The alternatives are straight forward. Choose a less ornate coffin;

It is vital for funeral homes to start taking the time and effort to market and advertise cremation products. With the increase in cremation as the final disposition of a body, it will be to the funeral homes interest to take the time and money to advertise and offer cremation products to the families they serve. I truly believe that cremation will take over this industry within the next ten years. I understand that funeral homes try to veer away from cremation, but if the funeral home takes the time and effort to advertise cremation products, it will also bring in more money. I am going to talk about many different products throughout this project, but the one thing I am going to focus on the most is, cremation

Sandy Hingston offers many intriguing views of a funeral service from the conventional method of a service in a church and the burial of the deceased to a service that more so relates to a party than a funeral. “The Death of the Funeral Business” also raises many questions to be pondered by the reader. Hingston says, “A societal changeover from burial to cremation is momentous for our culture. It signals a cataclysmic shift in how we think about our bodies and ourselves” (38). The questions that arise from this quote are what parallels may Hingston be trying to draw between the trend in cremation and the way we “think about our bodies and ourselves?” Why may she be trying to develop these connections? These are the questions I will be focusing on and how they relate to what I think the purpose of the article is. I believe the purpose of this article is to show how our generation is changing the way we view death and how the use of technology has greatly impacted the way funerals are done.

Source: Banks, Dwayne A. "The Economics Of Death? A Descriptive Study Of The Impact Of Funeral And Cremation Costs On U.s. Households." This article is relevant to the main moral issue in this case because it explains the high cost of funerals. This article helps the main point by stating multiple facts about the the increasing cost of cemetery burial cost. This article also explains the impact of funeral cost to the average household.

There have been tremendous changes over the past few decades as a result of FTC mandated changes in funeral service pricing, changes in consumer preferences, and consolidation of funeral service providers. Beginning in 1984, the FTC required funeral homes to provide consumers with a general price list (See exhibit #1) which breaks down the prices of each element of the funeral. For example, instead of charging one price of say $9,000 for all the merchandise and services listed above, the funeral home must break the charge down into elements, such as $3,450 for the casket, $540

A funeral is a chance for the deceased’s friends and family to say goodbye, to honour the life he led. In Blackley, funeral directors understand how important a carefully planned funeral can be to the members of the family. A funeral is also a healing

Identified by the majority as "funeral directors” in America, these specialists have transformed the twentieth-century experience of death and body disposal. On the flip side though, this does not mean that they have made things any easier.

I do not feel that the funeral industry has really changed, I feel that it has evolved new techniques and practices. Funeral techniques and practices has evolved with the advancement in science and the knowledge of human anatomy. With new advancements in technique came to equipment and tools specialized in the new methods. Today we still try to improve our techniques in order to improve safety, and the effectiveness of the embalming. Today the funeral industry is evolving to make funeral service more affordable and environmentally friendly for example green burials and cremation. Cremation is a way for the funeral industry to make cost more affordable for their clients, this method is becoming more and more popular creating one of the

In the article “The Death of a Funeral Business”, technology is a very prominent and recurring topic.  Throughout the whole text, Hingston discusses the impact of technology.  She states, “Facebook allows Timelines for the dead to stay open so messages can be sent across the great divide” (Hingston, 44).  By replacing regular traditional funeral activities to memorial websites for the deceased, technology has been shaping the way we go about funerals more throughout the years.

Criticisms of American funeral practices have been made publicly aware since the 1920’s, and actually go back to ancient times in the scope of human’s ceremonies for the dead. Since the first published argument against modern funerals various authors joined the movement publishing their disparagements of customs for the deceased; that in essence contend the grandiosity and lavish displays are merely a social and psychological representation of the monetary opportunity of funerals (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 306-307). Even further, regarding the encompassing funeral industry as exploiting grieving loved ones for their financial gains, while disregarding the actual needs of modern society (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2015, p. 307).

Ever since the beginning of mankind, civilized cultures all have one specific thing in common. They all practice a dignified disposition of their loved ones who die. In fact, Robert G. Mayer, author of a widely used embalming text book writes in his text that "the art and science of embalming has been performed, in one form or another, for well over 5500 years." Of course the methods of embalming have varied greatly over course of time; however one important aspect for many of these practices is the ability for our species to scientifically preserve the remains of the dead human body. In more modern times, mankind has come to understand this process to be known as embalming.

Throughout time burial has been the most common way of disposing of the body, but today the expenses are getting to be outrageous due to the many processes that need to that take place prior to the burial. In the article, The Cost of Cremation it says, “The average cost of burial $7,500 not including the cost for a casket, and the average cost for a cremation is around $2,000.” This is showing the significance in price range, highlighting that cremation is a cheaper decision. The amount of money saved can have a huge impact on families and friends, easing the pain of a difficult event. It could also allow the family to use the $5000 difference to do something, like a donation or foundation, that would memorialize the loved one

Even as the speaker tries to comfort the family and friends nothing but the smell of corpse cosmetics, flowers and tears fills the air. The only upside that could possibly be found is in the fact of the sheer number of people the deceased touched in life and the amount of people that loved them. Although funerals are necessary they are enjoyed by no one.