ability to kill ‘remotely’ 19,50
aboriginal rock art, fighting scenes 21
absurdities of life that must end in death (Bauman) 182–3
advanced directives 246
affluence, and heart disease 140,141,149
Africa
AIDS epidemic 204,206
farming in 69
tolerance for the elderly 222
afterlife journeys 16,33
and religions 64,198
indigenous Australians 30
Stone Age 23,24,27,30
see also otherworld journeys
afterlife stories, popular interest in 199
aged care policy, Cosmopolitan Age 245
ageing persons 4,199
and cancer deaths 141,207
and death through degenerative diseases 119,149
and the good death 99–100,119
awareness of dying 216
bitterness and helplessness 231
causes of death 207–8
dementia in 203–4,208,211,217
depression in 229
despair and hopelessness 229
dismay over physical appearance 221
dying in hospitals and nursing homes 207,213,217
finding the right time to die 233
frailty and poor health 208,236
increased illness and disability 202
increasing life expectancy 202
living in community 207
living too long 232
loneliness 223,231
‘old age’ as cause of death 222
organ failure 208
patterns of dying 208
preparations for death 216
refusing to have a ‘retirement’ period 242
resistance by attempting to ‘pass’ as normal 228
shameful death 210–11,241,242
stigmatisation 211,221–2,228,237,242
sudden death 208
suffering at death 208
suicide 33,202,208,228–9,230–1,233
timing of dying 237,240
wealthy countries 202
see also nursing home residents; nursing homes
agricultural revolution 193
agriculture, as reason to settle 71
AIDS see HIV/AIDS
Alzheimer’s disease 203,204
ambivalence towards the dead 107–9
group experience 109
personal 109,109–12
ambivalent farewell 41–2
analogical thinking 31–2
ancestor worship 114,115
ancestralisation 24
ancient Athens, citizens as farmers 73–4
ancient civilisations, farming communities as basis of 70,73
ancient Egypt
ancient Israelites, good death 93
animal sacrifice, origins 108
animals
and spread of disease to humans 76
awareness of death 12–15
cannibalism in 22
colony development 125–6
feigning death 14
not as death-denying 60
anticipating death 47–65
accepting responses 51–4
learning about death 51–2
planning for death 52–4
preparing for death 52
defensive responses
desire to predict the coming of death &kren;48–9
desire to ward death off 49
identifying the risks that bring death &kren;49–51
versus the denial of death 54–62
anticipation of dying, Stone Age 26–7,43–6
as impetus for culture building 53
understandable responses to fearsome otherworld journey 44–5
ants, social organisation 126
anxiety over individual fate, and need for religious counsel 120–1
archaeology, reliance on analogous thinking 31
Aries, Philippe 16,100,102,120
on tame death 171,172–7,178,181
anomalies 175–6
criticisms 173–5
Arunta, ghost-chasing ceremonies 39,40
attachment to the dead, and the development of identity by referral to past ancestors 72
Australopithecines 18,20
awareness of dying
as feature of ‘good death’ 87,88,216
nursing homes 216
well-managed death 216
Aztecs, political nature of good death 97–8
and preparation for death 106
and promotion of disorder in society 94,95
and slow dying, social implications 95–6
as challenging social order 104
Christian perspective 100
as ‘liminal states’ 243,244
Bauman, Zygmunt
denial of death 58–60
on tame death 177,181–4
beauty 182
Becker, Ernest 11,56–7,57,58
beehives, social organisation 125–6
biographical dying 240–4
age as indicator of economic and political value to others 241
early or late 241
technological interventions 241
biological death 2,16,64
and subsequent life, indigenous Australians 39–40
as beginning of new period of post-mortem life 39
coordination with social aspects of death 237
Black Death 139
boat graves 23,81
Bourgeois Death 151
Bowker, J. 62,63–4,64
brain death 241
bread wheat 72–3
Brown, Norman O. 55,56,57,58
bubonic plague 80,139,185
burial alive 234
burial grounds, links with permanent settlements 71–2
burial practices, Stone Age 22–3
cancer, causes of 142
cancer deaths 4,118,119,141,149,161,164,167,184,186,207
as painful 142,143,150,167
cancer epidemic, cities 141,142
cannibalism 22
capitalism 128
captured warriors, good death 97–8,98
Catholic Church, guardian angel, and the good death 101–2
Catholic clergy, responsibilities 134
causal memory 13
cave paintings 23–4,27,29
depicting the dead or spirits of the dead 51
depiction of shamanism 37,51
China
farming in 69
life-expectancy 77
peasant health 78,161
Chiriguano Indians, South America
killing of ageing relatives 34
ritual killings 33
Christian community
dying the good death as a moral contest 102
guardian angel in struggle with Satan at the time of dying 101–2
cities
and development of suburbia 136
anonymity as cultural feature 147,148
as places attracting the rural poor 129
as places of social freedoms 127,129
as seats of learning 127
as sites of affluence and culture 127,130
as urban nodules, late 20th century 186
based on absolute monarchs and rulers 128
cancer epidemic 141,142
death toll 139
heart disease and affluence 140–1
individual approach to death in 137
infectious diseases 138,139
international experiences of death in 186
landed gentry 128,129
living and dying in 129–31,138–46,215
living conditions linked to deaths 139
market development 128
mercantilism 128,130
middle classes 128,130,131–46,185
origins 126–9
professionalisation 128,131–4
rise and spread 125–46
skilled workmanship 128
slow deaths 139
social and physical context 126–9
social and political interest in things ‘rural’ 131
social relations 147–8
city life 147
city-states 121,127,128
clergy 134,145,150
clerics see clergy
impact on development of poverty 199–200
communications 50,193–4
community control of dying 29,40–1,43,151,159,166,217
community determination of death 252
community immortality 114
community rites to support the ‘dying person’ 25
concentration camps 243,253,254–5, 255
confession 132,155
consolation and comfort 116–17
control of dying see community control of dying; personal control of dying
coronary heart disease see heart disease
Cosmopolitan Age 7
aged care policy 245
and poverty 200–1
‘bare life’ states of dying 242–4
characteristics 194–5
dying in 8,206–10,214,216,219,245,246,250
Cosmopolitan Age (cont.)
‘old age’ as cause of death 222
summary 210
globalisation and disease 7–8
life-expectancy 7
privatisation of death 251
recognition of dying 252
sequestering of dying 254
shameful death 236,240–1,248–9
timing dying 235,237
Cosmopolitan period
health/nursing care to patients where prospect of death is unclear 217
ongoing status in social world of 215–16
cosmopolitan stance 195
countries 194
countryside migration 128
cretin skeletons 20
crisis management 153,154
crop growing 69
‘crowd-type’ diseases 76
culture, as transcendence 58
culture development, through anticipation of dying 53
culture/society trade off, psychoanalytic perspective 55
Darwin, Charles 108
dead
ambivalence towards the 107–9
‘hostility’ from, towards the living 106,107
ritual treatment of 106–9
death
and middle-class values 134–8
animal awareness of 12–15
as a life to be given for life 64
as a place 177
as a way of life 63,179
as a ‘wild’ thing 170
as continuation of life 59
as dying 28–33
as ‘nothing’ or ‘unknowable’ 58,61
as social journey of human spirit 27
as threat to legitimacy of society’s values, norms and relationships 112–13
association with renewal of fertility 115
competing emotions towards (Freud) 109
cross-cultural view of customs 107
dismissal of religious interpretation of 61
harbingers of 88
in agricultural communities 76
in nursing homes 186,204,207,210–11,213,236,252–3
instinctual response to 107
international experiences of 186
metaphorical basis as self-journey 63
of kin 109
preparation for see preparation for death
sudden see sudden death
ultimate meaning of (Freud) 116
useful economic and social functions 63
see also good death; well-managed death
death attitudes 57,58
death-denying people, humans not as 60
death instinct 55
death rites 89,114,116,116–17
deathbed visions 82,100,199
defensive approaches to death, and religion 62–3
degenerative diseases 119,149,184,206
dementia 250
as stigmatising 222
in ageing persons 203–4,208,211,217
in HIV/AIDS patients 203,209,211,218
dementia patients, loss of identity 225
democracy 128
denial of death
Bauman perspective 58–60
Becker perspective 56–7,57,58
Brown perspective 55,56,57,58
versus anticipation of death 54–62
ageing persons 229
HIV/AIDS 230
desire to die 226–7,230,230–1,246
desire to learn more about otherworld journey 45
desire to predict the coming of death 48–9
desire to ward death off 49
despair
in ageing persons 229
in nursing home residents 226–7
detention centres 243,252–3,254–5, 255
developing countries
hazardous working conditions 200
HIV/AIDS in 204,205,206,214
see also poor countries
disease
pastoral communities 76,77,80
prevention and treatment, peasant societies 78
spread through living with animals 76
Stone Age 20
see also epidemics; infectious disease
disputed inheritance 120
distress of dying 169
do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders 247
doctor–patient relationship 157–8
doctors see medical professions
dogs 12,23
domestic animals, living with and spread of disease 76
domestication of plants and animals 69,72–3,171
dreams, and otherworld journeys 51
dying
and social expectations of society 110
anticipation of, Stone Age 26–7
as a dramatic and personal trial 82
as a sentient being capable of an awareness of death 15
as a trial or set of trials 211
as interpersonal journey 16
as otherworld journey 29,32,36–40,81,82,88,151,159,161,166,178,215,251
as post-death activity, Stone Age 24,25
as shameful see shameful deaths
as social matter of identity 163
as something one could see coming 82–6
as state-defined experience 253,254
as this-world experience 81,85,89,106,178,212,252
at the point of the death of one’s identity 16
at the ‘right’ time 232–3,234–50
community control see community control of dying
cyclical nature of 236
definitions 2,16,252
development of a social presence 89
disintegration of 215–19
game of 110,111
hospice patients' perspective 164
in modern, Cosmopolitan world 8,206–10
in recent hunter-gatherer and small-scale horticulturalist communities 42–3
literature on 4
meaning of 15–17
Pastoral age 80–3
personal awareness of 24,28
personal control see personal control of dying
preparations for see preparing for death
public recognition of 253
recognition of 251–3
sequestering of 252,253
serviced nature of 135,145
social requirements of 227
Stone Age 25–7
what is it? 2
dying behaviour 1,16,110
as rite of passage 83
dying conduct 1,16,173
dying experience 2,5,15,39
dying journeys 235–6
dying management, prosperous countries 245
‘dying people’ 15
dying periods 235
dying persons
ambivalence of everyday life 109–12
and kin’s role in good death 99–100
and life before death 164
and the doctor–patient relationship 157–8
as interacting with the otherworld 82
as kin 41
as social category for all human history 218
as social ghosts 41,159
desire to die 226–7,230,230–1, 246
dying in silence and incommunicado, medieval times 176
evading their customary obligations 162
hope for a new life 114–15
leaving goods to survivors 88
left to die alone 158,176
participating self in plans for funeral or interment 83,84
power-sharing arrangements 175,178
reclassification 252,253
religious requests 92
role in preparing for journey ahead 88
sharing tasks of support, continuity and control 114
silence of 253
dying rites 114
and reinvention of self 117–18
and sense of social and personal power 115
consolation and comfort 116,116–17
dying self 26
dying-soon experience 15
dying spirits, agency in 42
dying styles 5
dying trajectory 236
early humans 17
life and death 18
economic functions of death 63
economism 137
elderly see ageing persons
elephants 13–14
Elias, Norbert 11,223–24,239
elite see urban elite
Elizabeth I, Queen, encounter with smallpox 159–60
emmer wheat 72
emotions towards death 2,109
epidemics 74,201
and poverty 205
blamed on minority groups 79
development 196
HIV/AIDS 204
applied to cities 138–42
of modernity 201–6
of Pastoral Age 74–80
eschatological destinies 42
ethnoarchaeology 30
ethnographic analogy, interpretation 30–2
eu thanatos 90
euthanasia 33,90,166,186,230,230–1
HIV/AIDS patients 230
nursing home residents 227
experience of dying see dying experience
exponential rise in modernity 191–212
factories 130
family, provision of inheritance for 91,120
family structures, modern world 199
famine, pastoral societies 79,81,84,88
farewell rites
ambivalent, indigenous peoples 41–2
farming, development of 69–73
fear of annihilation 56,57
fear of death 55,56–7
Fijians
fish 14,18
fraternal organisations 136
Frazer, Sir James 33–4,36,37–41,106–7
Freud, Sigmund 107–9,116,117
funeral rites 116
consolation and comfort 116–7
game of dying 110,111
gardening, Stone Age 70
gender, and life expectancy 78
gentrification 128,130,137,215
affluence and heart disease 140
and development of specialist professionals 134
of the good death 143–5
process of 121,130
geography 194
Gesellschaft-type societies 147
dying persons becoming 29,41
Kwearriburra people’s burning of skulls to keep ghosts away 41
practices designed to bid a very final farewell 41
global community 194
globalisation 193
glory 182
god-kings, ritual killing 33,234
good death 4,216,251
ancient Israelites 93
and preparation for death 91–2,92,93,106,106–9,161–2
and religious requests 92
Aries’ conflation with well-managed death 173
good death (cont.)
as a quiet death without fuss 164
as an act of community 114,161
as lasting personal portrayal of good life 90
as reproducing social order 104
as rite of passage 89–90
as well-managed death 145,146,147–68
Aztecs 97–8
birth of 87–104
change to well-managed death 149–52
Christian communities views 101–2
commencement 150,151
community’s values 92
conforming to prescriptions of peasant or farming life 89
cooperative and persuasive relationships 162
development in pastoral societies 85
etymological origins 90
examples 92–4
for ideological purposes 98
for suffering patient 167
gentrification of 143–5
imperative to prepare 103
kin’s intervention to assure inheritance 99–100
Lusi-Kailai horticulturalists, West New Britain 93–4
Mayan peasants 93
medical/nursing view 90,165
middle classes 136,144,145,146,155
moral view 90
pastoral societies 180
peasants and farmers 89,92,93,183
political nature of 96–103
Portuguese peasants 92
power-sharing arrangements 178
professionals involvement 131,133–4,134,161,216
self-awareness of encroaching death 87,88,90
social matter of inheritance 88,91–2,98–9
undermining developments 118–22
what is it? 90–2
good life, end of 85
Goody, Jack 106,109
gradual nature of dying, Pastoral Age 80,83,84
‘grandmother’ hypothesis 19
grave goods
ancient Egypt 81
as wasteful economic loss 36
Homo sapiens 35
hunter-gatherers 36,40
indigenous Australians 36,40
interment of significant grave goods 36
role in otherworld journey 36
Stone Age 23,35,36
to keep ghosts away 40,41
graves, provision of food and shelter on, Aboriginal nations 40
Greek cities 127
grief 13,42,111
groups, ambivalence towards the dead 109
guardian angel, and the good death 101–2
health care services
middle class use of 153
provision for patients where prospect of death is unclear 217
health determinants 136
health insurance 154
health services staff, management of terminal stage, dying patients 165
heart disease 118,119,184,208
and affluence 140,141,149
slow deaths from 141
unreliable statistics 140–1
urban obsession with 186
helping behaviour 255–6
high-ranking people, people’s reactions to death of 113
historical sociologies 5–6
histories of dying 4
HIV/AIDS 4,78,186,202,250
and dementia 203,209,211,218
and poverty 205,206,236,253
and suicide 209,230
countries affected by the disease 205,206,214
depression 230
desire for euthanasia 230
dying from 205,209,210–11,216,217,236
effect of antiviral drugs on survival time 206
fears about ‘ability to function properly’ 210
incidence 204
personal control of dying 160
HIV/AIDS (cont.)
premature death 223
resistance by attempting to ‘pass’ as normal 228
shameful death 210–11,217,223,240–1,242
social isolation amongst patients 223
sources of infection 204,223
stigma associated with 209,211,214,222–3,228,242–3
timing of dying 237,240–1
hominids 17
Homo erectus 18,33
Homo neanderthalensis 18
Homo sapiens 18,35
horses 12–13
horticulturalist communities 56
characteristics of dying 42–3
good death 93–4
ritual killing 33
hospices
care philosophy 236
idea of living until you die 163, 165
sedation of patients 164
hospitals
aged deaths in 207
timing of dying in 236
hostility from the dead 106,107
household, provision of inheritance for 91,120
human ancestors 17
human beginnings
epidemiological context 20–2
social and physical context 17–19
human beings
human history, problems in interpreting 17–18
human sacrifice 79,80,81,83,90,118
Aztecs 97–8
human values, shrinkage of 255
humans
species survival 19
technological development 18,19
hunter-gatherer societies
belief in immortality 29
dying in 152
shaman’s role 131
hunter-gatherers 7,70
characteristics of dying 42–3
death as a way of life 63
death as part of the natural and social order 171
death brought about by evil influences 217
experience of otherworld journeys through dreams 51
fear of ‘being alone in the dark’ 55, 56
grave goods 36,40
hard life for 20
infanticide 20
life-expectancy of 19
mercy-killing 34
perceive caves as entrances to another world 23
recognition of dying 252
risks of scavenging 21
ritual killing 33,34
short duration of dying 35
sudden deaths 89
time role 239
transition to pastoralism 70–2
Ice Age, end of, impact on settlement 71
identity
death of 16
killing off of old identity for renewal 111
loss of, dementia patients 225
immortality 52–4,58
as defiance and denial of death 59
belief in, hunter-gatherer societies 29
community 114
indigenous Australians
afterlife concepts or journeys 30,33
Central Australian, belief in reincarnation 39,40
grave goods 36
reasons for provision 40
otherworld journeys 40–1
placement of spears and tools in graves 36,40
provision of food and shelter on graves 40
Industrial Revolution 130,133,147,193
industrialisation 130
infant behaviour 255
effect on doctors and priests 185 impact on different social classes of cities 138 spread amongst pastoral peoples 76–7,80,83 spread in cities 139 information management 154 information sharing 191–2,193–4 inheritance for the dying Stone Age 28,35–6 see also social act of inheritance insects 14,125–6 institutional dying 173,175,253 intellectualism 137 ‘invisible death’ 173
Kennedy, John F., assassination of 113
killing at a distance, as human survival strategy 19,50
kin
intervention to assure themselves of inheritance 99–100
labelled people 220
landed gentry 128,129
life-expectancy 138
Lasch, Christopher 55,138
law and ethics 133
lawyers 131,132,133,134,145,150
learning about death 51–2
life
absurdity of 183
monotony of 182
life expectancy
ageing persons 202
and socio-economic status 119,138
and urban living 210
wealthy countries 202
living–dead ambivalence 4">literatureimaryIE>
living death 247
living wills 246
living–dying relations, ambiguity 112
loneliness
ageing persons 223,231
in nursing home residents 223,225–6,229
Lusi-Kailai horticulturalists
bad deaths 94
good deaths 93–4,94
magic rites, development 49
malaria 201
Malinowski, B. 107
malnutrition
amongst pastoral peoples 79,81, 118
Stone Age 20
mammals 18,22
managed deaths see well-managed deaths
Mangaians of the South Pacific, ritual killing 33
Marais, Eugene 12
markets 128
mass migration 148
Mayan peasants, good death 93
Mead, George Herbert 110
Mead, Margaret 109
measles 77
medical power, sociological view 157
medical professions 131,132,134,145,150
and the well-managed death 156–8,161,185
management of death 144
medical professions (cont.)
as disempowering 175
criticisms 157,158
prevention of dying 236
relationships with patients 157,157–8
taboo/silence about discussing death 157,175
view of good death 90,165
medical sociology 156–8
medical specialists 154
medical symptoms of approaching death 48
medical taming 178,179
medieval times see Middle Ages
mercantilism 128,130
merchants 128,132,140
metalworking skills 128
Middle Ages
Aries’ descriptions of dying amongst elite 174,178
dying incommunicado 176
dying people holding power 175
good death behaviours as methods to keep death tame 174
middle-class values, and death 134–8
middle-class workers 130
middle classes 128,130
affluence and heart disease 140
anxieties underlying 135,138
as active troubleshooters 138
as major users of health care services 153
bad deaths, Victorian England 95–6
clergy arranging peace with God 145
death requiring attention of specialists to settle financial affairs 150
desire for avoidance of death 143
financial and legal planning 153
forward planning 144
good death 136,144,145,146,155
health determinants 136
individualism 137
lawyers role 145
life-expectancy 138
lifestyle and longer life 140
management of death 152
management of personal crises 153
ministrations by doctors, lawyers and priests 144–5,150,153
pain relief for diseases 150
paying for services 155–6
preparations for death 151,154
psychology of 137
recognition of dying 252
religious salvation 155–6
service provision to 135,145
social matter of inheritance 149
social reforms 136
urbane 131–4
well-managed death 149–52,185
wills 154–5
modern world
rate of social change 195–7
scope of social change 197–9
modernity
beginning of 192
decline in the way we relate to religion 198
epidemiological context 201–6
exponential rise in 191–212
personal and social impact 196
social and physical context 193–201
summary features 210
monasteries 132
moral disapproval of labelled people 220
mortal awareness, dawn of 11–27
mortuary practices, Stone Age 22–3
mortuary rites 24,99,106,109
Mumford, Lewis 125
nation-states 194,198
nationalism 194
‘naturalness’ of death 179
near-death experiences 44,199 Near East early cities 127
network society 192
New Hebrides people
otherworld journeys 37–8,52
nuncupative wills 154 nursing home residents classified as chronically ill or disabled 252 desire to die 226–7,230,230–1 despair 226–7 finding the right time to die 233 loneliness 223,225–6,229 powerlessness and uselessness of 221–2 sexual needs 222 see also ageing persons nursing homes 249 awareness of dying 216 awkwardness and embarrassment in addressing early dying concerns 227 criticisms 214 deaths in 186,204,207,213,236,252–3 medical causes 207 dying in 252–3 erosion of awareness of dying 210 erosion of support for dying 211 level of disability and dementia among residents 202 preparation for death 217 problem of stigma 211 shameful deaths 224–7,246 staff attitude to dying dementia patient 225 staff treatment of dying patient 224–5 ‘uneasy deaths’ in 213 occupational diversification 148 occupational specialisation 135 old age see ageing persons old identity, killing off for renewal 111,117
organ harvesting 241
otherworld journeys 32–3
ambivalent farewell 41–2
and shamanism 45,51
dying in, leading to immortality 52–4
dying process 216
fearsome responses to, Stone Age 44–5
Fijians 38–9,40,52ve goods role
indigenous Australians 33,39–41,41
other cultures 37
people’s belief in 60
preparation for 45
psychoanalytic perspective 55
Scandinavia 23,81
Stone Age 29,32,36,43,44
Torres Strait Islanders 42
tricksters and deception in 52
uncertainty and anxiety over 44–5
overview 6–8
palliative care 4,154,169
Paraguay Indians, ritual killing 34
pareschatology 42,64
partible inheritance 91
Pastoral Age 67,69–86,104
epidemiology 74–80
peasants as mainstream population 76
population growth 78
predictable deaths from infectious disease 76–7,80,83
Pastoral Age dying 80–3
summary features 83–6
pastoral societies
awareness of one’s impending death 87
bad deaths and promotion of disorder 95
development of good death 85
fatalistic approach to death 85
good death 180
preparation for death 83,84,89,104
‘round’ of time 85
social act of inheritance 88
time role 239
pastoralism
advent of 69–70
and development of bread wheat 72–3
and population pressures 71
and species-transfer of bacteria and viruses 77
development at end of Ice Age 71
epidemiological context 74–80
impact of climate change 71
peasants and death 80–3
social and physical context 70–4
transition from huntering and gathering to 70–2
arts and craft activities 128
attitudes to death and dying 57,58
effect of famine on 81,84
good death 89,92,93,183
pastoralism and death 80–3
practical tasks of dying 183
preparation for death 7,92,93,183
prosperity and physical suffering 118–19
recognition of dying 252
used as military and civic conscripts 76,79
used for human sacrifice 79,80
wills 93,154
perinatal mortality
Pastoral Age 77,83
Stone Age 19,20
link with burial grounds 71–2
social and physical context 70–4
personal ambivalence towards the dead 109,109–12
personal and social benefits of preparing to die 112–18
consolation and comfort 116–17
hope 114–15
reinvention of self 117–18
social and personal power 115–16
social control and threat containment 112–13
support 114
upholding continuity 113–14
personal awareness of dying, Stone Age 24,28
personal control of dying 160,246–8
physical suffering, and prosperity 118–19
plague 80,139,185
planning for death 52–4
political nature of good death 96–103
Church view of battle between good and evil 101–2
for captured warriors 97–8,98
lack of public health measures 244
shameful deaths 246
strategies to avoid shameful death 247
poor people 200–1,247
short-term management strategies 247–8
population explosion 197
post-death dying process 24,25
postmodernity 192
poverty 129,185,244,247,247–8
and colonialism 199–200
and epidemics 205
and HIV/AIDS 205,206,236
developing countries 200
impact on Cosmopolitan world 200
see also poor countries; poor people
prehistoric behaviour
and problems of analogical thinking 30–2
reasons for 106–9
preparing for death 16,52,90,103,105–22,163,216,249
affirmation of new life 114
and ambivalence of everyday life 109–12
and good death 91–2,92,93,106,106–9,161–2
as matter of personal and social identity 163
Cosmopolitan world 207,216
elderly dying 216
individualistic, middle classes 151
information management strategy 154
inheritance component 98–9,216
motives for 110
pastoral societies 83,84,89,91,104
peasants and farmers 7,92,93,183
personal and social benefits 112–18
urban societies 184
see also planning for death
prevention of dying 236
priests 131,131–2,134,145,185
see also clergy
primal horde 108
primates
privatisation of death 251
‘Professional’ Revolution 133
professions
converging with business 133
development of 131–4
lifestyle and longer life 140
ministrations to middle classes 144–5
perils and uncertainties 135
power of 133
role in management of good death 131,133–4,134,216
role in well-managed death 149–52, 216
service provision 135,145
specialist 134,135
see also lawyers; medical professions; priests
prosperity
and disputed inheritance 120
and physical suffering 118–19
and religious uncertainty 120–1
prosperous countries
dying management 245
public health measures 244
prostitution 200,206
protest suicides 185,186
in interpretation of denial of death 54–62
psychological–religious approach to death 62–3
public health, urban obsession with 186
public health measures
and life expectancy 119,186,201
to potentially delay death 244
purpose of life, role of religion/society in providing 54
randomness of death 183
rate of social change, modern world 195–7
reincarnation 42
and Arunta ghost-chasing ceremonies 39,40
reincarnation (cont.)
belief in, Central Australian Aboriginal nations 39
transition to, through ‘intermediate state’ 39
reinvention of self 111,117–18
religion/society
providing understanding of the purpose of life 54
psychoanalytic perspective 54–5
religions
and accepting and defensive approaches to death 62–5
and the afterlife 64,198
as part of the ‘denial of death’ 62
creating rites for the dead 107
modern world alteration in the way we relate to 198
provision of consolation and comfort 116,117
psychological approach to death 62–3
role in preparing adherents for the journey at death 64
sociological approach to death 62
view death as perennially important 64
religious beliefs about death, diversity of 64
religious interpretation of death, dismissal of 61
religious preparation for death, middle classes 145,150,155–6
religious taming 176–9,179
religious uncertainty, and prosperity 120–1
‘right’ time to die 232–3,234–50
biographical challenges 240–4
coordination of biological and social aspects of death 237
Cosmopolitan Age 235,236
power of timing 244–6
spouses/non-spouses views 237
terminal challenges 235
when is it? 236
risk management to avoid death 50
rites of passage 24,25,89
through good death 89–90
ritual killing
common peoples 33–4,43
god-kings 33,234
ritual treatment of the dead
cross-cultural view of customs 107
Freud’s view 107–9
religious approaches 107
Roman cities 127
‘round’ of time, pastoral societies 85
royalty
and priestcraft 131
keeping of wild animals 171,172–6
rural poor, attracted to cities 129
rural settlements 69–70
social relations 148
sacrificial rites 109
Scandinavia, boat graves 23,81
scavenging, by Stone Age ancestors 21
scope of social change, modern world 197–9
Seale, Clive 60,230
second life 42
sedentism
and development of ‘crowd-type’ disease 76
emergence of 69–86
self
and self-control over dying process, Stone Age 26,28
former, creation as another self, Arunta Aboriginal people 39
participating in preparation for interment, Pastoral Age 83,84
reinvention of 111,117–18
self-awareness of encroaching death, as feature of ‘good death’ 87,88,90
self-preparation for death see preparing for death
service provision 135,144–5,145
settlement cultures 7
impact of end of Ice Age 71
reasons for development 70–2
settler societies
death as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ 217
dying in 152
‘naturalness’ of death 179
well-managed deaths 180
sexual needs, nursing home residents 222
shamanism 37,51
and otherworld journeys 45
shamanistic art 23,24,29
shamans 131
shameful deaths 8,212,214,218,243,254
as moral and social failure to provide social care for dying people 248–9
bare life 241,242–4
birth of 213–33
characteristics
erosion of awareness of dying 210
erosion of support for dying 211
problem of stigma 211
Cosmopolitan Age 236,240–1,248–9
detention centres 254–5
developing countries 246
early or late as condition for 241
examples 224–7
in elderly 210–11,241,242
origins 219
people with HIV/AIDS 210–11,217,223,240–1,242
personal strategies to avoid 246–7
what is it? 219–23
see also ageing persons; HIV/AIDS; nursing homes
‘sin eating’, among peasants 81
single heir inheritance 91
sins, preoccupation with 132
skilled workmanship 128
slavery 200
slow dying 232
and bad death 95–6
associated with longer life-expectancy 215
from heart disease 141
through degenerative diseases 119
through malnutrition or infections 118
smallpox 87,139,159–60
snakes 14
social act of inheritance 29,35–6,91–2,216
and good death 88,91–2,100
as crucial rite for survivors 99
disputed inheritance 120
kin intervention 99–100
middle classes 149
partible inheritance 91
pastoral societies 88
precarious nature of inheritance 99–100
single-heir inheritance 91
through provision for family and household 91
transitional inheritance 92
social and personal power 115–16
social benefits of preparing to die see personal and social benefits of preparing to die
social change
rate of, modern world 195–7
scope of, modern world 197–9
social consciousness 194
social death 62,237
social development in humans 18
social expectations of society towards the dying 110
of high-ranking people 113
threats to society’s values, norms and relationships 112–13
social insects 125–6
social obligations of the dying 111
social organisation
and time 238
surrounding killing of animals 50
social relations
cities 147–8
rural settlements 148
social relationships, and time 238–40
social requirements of dying 227
social theory books on dying 4
socio-economic status, and life expectancy 119,138
sociological–religious approach to death 62
South America, farming in 69
Southeast Asia, farming in 69
specialist professionals 134,135
spiritual view of dying 2
spouses, views on timing of dying 237
stigma, origins 220
stigmatised people 219–23
stigmatising disease, dying from 209,211,214
stigmatision
ageing persons 211,221–2,228,237,242
dementia patients 222
HIV/AIDS patients 209,211,214,222–3,228,242–3
process stages 228
Stone Age 16,17–22
Stone Age dying 33–42
as a post-death experience 24,25
as otherworld journeys 29,32,36–40,43,44
fearsome responses 44–5
second life as ‘real’ life of the dying person 42
self dispersed in a broader identity 26
summary features 25–7
Stone Age people
ability to kill ‘remotely’ 50
afterlife journey 23,24,27,30
ambivalent farewell 41–2
anticipation of dying 26–7,43–6,53
as hunter-gatherers 21,70
average age 19
burial practices 22–3
cannibalism amongst 22
causes of death 19,21
cave art 23–4
communications 50
community control of dying 29,40–1,43
death worlds 22–5
deliberate killing 34
development of magic and superstitious rites 49
farewell rites 29
gardening 70
grave goods 23,35,36
identifying risks that bring death, Stone Age 49–51
inheritance for the dying 28,35–6
interest in keeping the dead where they lay 62
personal awareness of dying 24,28
problem of predation 20,49
scavenging by 21
short awareness of dying 33–5
social act of dying 29
sudden death 22,25,44,49
trauma injuries through hunting 21,49
violence amongst 21–2,49,50
weaponry 21,50
see also Australopithecines; Neanderthals
structuration 238
suburbia, development of 136
succession planning 53,83
sudden death 167
ageing persons 208
as ‘good death’ for suffering patient 167
without warning as ‘bad’ deaths 92,94
suicide 186,246
amongst elderly 33,202,208,228–9,230–1,233
amongst people with HIV/AIDS 209,230
as ‘anti-heroic’ end 231
as ‘bad’ deaths 92,94
as civil disobedience 232
incidence 228
protest 185,186
social price for 231
see also euthanasia
supernatural beliefs, Stone Age 24
superstitious rites, development 49
support for dying person 114
tame, definition 170
tame death 170
Aries' views 171,172–7,178,181
criticisms 173–6
as a type of place 177
Bauman’s views 177,181–4
criticisms 183–4
medieval Europe examples 173–6, 177
tame enemies 177
taming death 169–87
challenge of 166–8
medical taming 178
‘naturalness’ of death 179
origins 170,171,172
religious taming 176–9
the tame and the wild 170–2
taming the wild 180
threats and ironies 184–7
urban elite 184
technological development, in humans 18,19
technological innovation 193,197,197
technological intervention
in biographical dying 241
in well-managed life 248
terminal illness, living with 230
terminal phase of dying 164,164,165
‘early’ and ‘late’ 240
prevention of 242
thanatosis 14
Third Revolution 133
time
and social relationships 238–40
in small-scale societies 239
organised to suit humans own purposes 238,239
‘right’-time and ‘right’-place social experiences 239
social nature of 239
timing death 232–3,234–50
personal control 246–8
tools 18
Torres Strait Islanders, funeral ceremonies 42
totemic animals, ritual killing 108
totemism, origins 108
transitional inheritance 92
transnational businesses 198–201
transnational policy bodies 198–201
tree burial 39
tribal ambivalence towards the dead (Freud) 107–9
tuberculosis 77,150
uncertainty and anxiety over otherworld journey 44–5
undermining developments against the good death 118–22
disputed inheritance 120
prosperity and physical suffering 118–19
urban dying 7">urban dwellers, preparation for death11;46
crisis management of 153
summary features 145–6
good death 150
political and social power 180
recognition of dying 252
settlement of affairs 150
taming death 184
well-managed death 183
see also landed gentry; royalty
urban poor, good death 149
urban professionals 149
urban societies 147–8
preparing for death 184
urbane middle classes 131–4
urbanism, social and physical context 126–9
vervet monkeys, understanding of death threats 12
Victorian England
bad deaths, middle classes 95–6
public health measures 201
village development 74
violence amongst Stone Age people 21–2
vitamin A deficiency, Stone Age 20
voluntary death 33
voluntary euthanasia movements 166,230,230–1,236
volunteer human sacrifice 90,97–8,98
warfare, amongst Stone Age peoples 21
wars
as reason for existence of cities 126
deaths through 80,81,83
weapons and weapon development, Stone Age 21,50
well-managed deaths 145,146,147–68,249,251
and medical power 156–8,161
as individualist model 152
as part of well-managed life 249
as privatised and sequestered 151, 252
as ‘team’ death 146
break from broader community 151
commencement of 150–1
examples 159–62
following on from good death 149–52
good, bad and misunderstood 163–6
idiosyncratic nature of 161
management by carers 166
middle classes 149–52,185
personal and social identity issues 163
personal control in 160
professional services in 149–52,216,217
Queen Elizabeth I’s encounter with smallpox 159–60
settler societies 180
terminal stage, hospice patients 164,164
transference to health services staff 165
what is it? 152–6
well-managed life 248,249
Western Europe, farming in 69,70
wheat hybridisation 72–3
wild, definition 170
wild animals 171,172–6
wild beasts 171
wild enemies 177
‘wild’ thing called death 170,177,181
urban desire to tame 172,180
wills 92,93,154–5,169
see also living wills
working classes
denial of vulnerability 154
heart disease among 140
life-expectancy 138
yaws, Stone Age 20
zoos 171–2