Death in American Society
Life styles influence death styles. The way that someone once lived, can show in the way they’re buried. Before the turn of the century, “death usually took place in the home” (DeSpelder, Strickland 6). Basically, a coffin was built which was then set up in the parlor of the home. The funeral was held inside the home and friends, acquaintances, and other relatives would come to the family’s home to view the body and share in the act of mourning. Children even sometimes slept in the same room as the corpse! Quite evidently, each person learned about death firsthand; death was more personal in a way. It seems like now, we’re less “close” to death in a way. When one compares death to other cultures, there is a vast
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Now, in modern times, our participation in the rituals surrounding the dead is minimal. Among other reasons, increases in average life expectancy, as well as lower mortality rates, have had a tremendous influence on our attitudes and implicit expectations about life and death. Advances in medical science and in applied health case technologies have not only contributed to demographic change, they have also altered the usual causes of death as well as the setting where …show more content…
New biomedical technologies (such as the kidney machine invented in 1954) offer a multitude of choices in health care that people of an earlier time would find unfathomable, and they have altered our attitudes about death and dying (DeSpelder, Strickland 14). However, this coexistence of medicine and technology also brings confusing consequences. The same technological device that seems to extend life for one person, may to another person seem to prolong dying (DeSpelder, Strickland 16). This raises the question, “To what degree should we rely on life-saving technologies for sustaining biological functions?” Many of our attitudes toward death today are closely connected with our notions about medical technologies can and cannot accomplish. Thus, experiences of death and dying are segregated from the rest of life; unlike before. As a society, we have given over the care of our dying to specialists; caring for the dead is no longer part of our common
At some point in our lives, we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures, the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example would be the burial rituals of the Native American people.
The two cultures that I decided to compare and contrast is the Mexican culture and ancient Egyptians. Mexicans have embraced death as a part of life. The Mayan and Aztecs practiced human sacrifices which gave and example of acceptance of death. In Mexico when a loved one passed on to a better life the viewing traditional takes place at the family’s home. A catholic priest comes to the family’s home and leads a mass in honor of the recently departed. The coffin in placed on a table along with candles on the side. After the funeral the family members get together and pray for nine days to guide the deceased into haven and ask forgiveness for their sins.On the other hand Egyptians were buried in pyramids directly in the ground. Often bodies were
Death is inevitable part of human experience, which is often associated with fear of unknown, separation, and spiritual connection. Death is an individual experience, which is based on unique perceptions and beliefs. Fear of death and dying seems to be a universal phenomenon, which is closely associated with apprehension and uneasiness. Death is allied with permanent loss, thus personal experiences of grief are similar in many different cultures. There are different mourning ceremonies, traditions, and behaviors to express grief, but the concept of permanent loss remains unchanged in cross cultural setting. With this paper I will identify cross-cultural perspectives on death and dying, and will analyze
Every individual experiences the act of death, and most persons experience the death of someone they know of. Whether family, kin, or someone infamous, the living deal with the process of dying. Anthropology seeks to understand the universal process of death ritual and how different cultures deal with death differently. An anthropologist can extract social values of a given culture, past or present, from how death ceremony is practiced. Such values could be regarding political hierarchy or an individual’s status in a society, and about a culture’s spiritual or religious faith. By exploring death ceremony in ancient Egypt, contemporary Hindu death practice in India, and current North American funerary rites, it can be illustrated that
Illnesses, epidemics, and pandemics derive from the living conditions and the social stratification of a society. Poverty tends to increase an individual’s possibility of getting sick due to deficient housing conditions, malnutrition, pressure, etc. Research supports that impoverished individuals experience higher death rates due to the insufficient medical care and nutritious food available to them. “An estimated 25 million Americans do not have enough money to feed themselves adequately and, as a result, suffer from serious nutritional deficiencies that can lead to illness and death” (Tischler 383). In effect, this contributes to the overall high mortality rates among groups of social classes. Those that live in poverty experience high levels
Death has always been and will be a topic that just a few want to talk, but since time immemorial man has worshiped their dead, and this is reflected in the various rituals and forms of burial. The anguish of death has been considered the deepest anguish of man. Death is the inevitable companion of life, is the final stage. It can occur at any age, suddenly or after a long illness. Despite knowing that someday we will have to die the death of a loved one is a terrible fact, very difficult to accept, that affects everyone around the deceased person. When the link with the deceased breaks, the suffering is so great, that they put into question the fundamentals of being, of human existence and our deepest beliefs, affecting significantly the basic family and social relationships.
This research explores the literature across cultures on death and dying in order to highlight the impact of culture on reactions to death and the dying process. A theoretical framework is established, using Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s five stages of dying, followed by a succinct discussion of the reactions and attitudes toward death and the dying process of four cultures (Buddhist, Hindu, Native American and American). By illustrating the different reactions and attitudes toward death of these cultures, it is revealed that through increased cultural understanding health care workers can provide more personalized care to the dying.
Keeping a person alive by excessive treatment might devastate the family and make the dying suffer tremendously in the end. “Advance medical technology that seems to one person a godsend, extending life, may seem to another a curse that only prolong dying. Dignity can be devalued amid technology focused solely on the biological organism.”
When an individual dies, their death can greatly impact the loved ones they leave behind. Each mourner may feel and perceive the death differently from one another, but one common factor that can influence the mourner’s beliefs, values, and views about a person’s death is their culture. Their culture can regulate the way the mourner copes with the death of a loved one, what they do with the physical deceased body, and how they may honor the dead afterwards (Cartaret, 2011). For me, my culture is relatively related to the Catholic, Hispanic American culture, which is a broad and subjective category, but it is what I believe that guides my views towards life and death. I have additionally chosen to learn about the cultural practices of Hinduism of Indians on death
People die everyday all over the world. In United States, people use hundreds of different words to describe death. Generally, people that grow up in the United States tend to view death as a taboo subject and are seen as a topic that should be kept behind closed doors and contracted with an individual or family. A belief system that so many individuals hold to be true has been shaped over the past century. In this culture, death has become something that is enormously feared and as a result, some people stop living their lives to his or her highest potential because of their fear of dying. The effect that death has pertains to individuals of all ages, gender and ethnicities. But unfortunately, how death is viewed it has become more and
Although the author and I agree that the life expectancy has greatly increased in the past 1000 years and medicine has changed, our old ways of viewing death have not. The author discusses how death is perceived, in which she concludes, “Therefore death in itself is associated with a bad act, a frightening happening, something that in itself calls for retribution and punishment”(220). Kubler-Ross analyzed how people viewed death and determined that it is never depicted positively in most circumstances. She felt people never found peace with death itself, typically finding something to blame to make death seem
I have read pages nine through twenty of our assigned book, Death and Dying in America. These few pages cover a variety of topics, mainly the history of how Western societies have handled death in the past.
With millions of people expiring because of widespread disease, poor living conditions, or the brutality of the legal system, death was a common and inescapable enemy in Elizabethan times. Because death was so much a part of living, religious beliefs, rituals, and traditions that payed homage to death and honored the deceased became important. These traditions, however, were not the same for everyone. In fact, the attitude, treatment and approach to death and burial in the Elizabethan age was not so much guided by spiritual and religious belief, but moreso by the social status of the deceased. Such after death beliefs in Elizabethan times tended to be heavily religious based.
When one compares the current traditions and ideas surrounding death, especially in comparison to the historical way of life, they find themselves to be rather lucky to have come this far. The Elizabethan Era was obstructed by its large death counts with plague and death penalties as prime contributions. However, many traditions acquired within this era have carried on throughout time and into this century still today. Many traditions and practices widely used in regards to death have lasted and continue to last from wearing black to the distinct way of handling the deceased. Such traditions have contributed to the current culture and society as a whole. Fortunately, there are much less discriminatory influences in affect than the ones present in the Elizabethan Era. The circumstances to which a person was judged was based highly on their monetary worth and their class. Wealthy and poor were treated to different standards and the poor were not given the same chances as the wealthy. Even their burial is much less important than the burial of a wealthy citizen. This carries on somewhat to this day, but to a much less extent. Yet there is still much discrimination that must be addressed before society can fully move forward. Overall, customs surrounding death have stuck to tradition with some variation as time passes, but is
Over the course of many centuries, medical technology has developed to a great extent. Studies show that recent equipment has evolved more in the last ten to twenty years than in the past thousand years. Before human time, people learned to treat themselves by just using natural substances. Now-a-days, our hi-tech systems in the medical field have been created for the most effective tools for a high level of patient care. While they advance the tools, it will then allow for quicker diagnosis, less pain, and fewer costs, which in the end will help save more lives. Some people are accepting that modern technology can buy them more time to live while others might find it quite alarming because they fear