A Social History of Dying

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Introduction......Page 13
WHAT IS DYING?......Page 14
THE AIM OF THIS BOOK......Page 15
OVERVIEW......Page 18
PART I The Stone Age......Page 21
CHAPTER ONE The Dawn of Mortal Awareness......Page 23
ANIMAL AWARENESS OF DEATH......Page 24
THE MEANING OF DYING......Page 27
THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL CONTEXT OF OUR BEGINNINGS......Page 29
SOME EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CONTEXT......Page 32
STONE AGE DEATH WORLDS......Page 34
SUMMARY FEATURES OF STONE AGE DYING......Page 37
CHAPTER TWO Otherworld Journeys: Death as Dying......Page 40
THE PROBLEM OF ANALOGY......Page 42
A short awareness of dying......Page 45
Inheritance for the dying......Page 47
Dying as otherworld journey......Page 48
Community control of dying......Page 52
The ambivalent farewell......Page 53
RECURRENT THEMES OF DYING......Page 54
ANTICIPATION IN UNCERTAINTY......Page 55
CHAPTER THREE The First Challenge: Anticipating Death......Page 59
A desire to predict the coming of death......Page 60
Identifying the risks that bring death......Page 61
Learning about death......Page 63
Planning for death......Page 64
THE ANTICIPATION OF DEATH VERSUS THE DENIAL OF DEATH......Page 66
RELIGION AND ACCEPTING AND DEFENSIVE APPROACHES TO DEATH......Page 74
PART II The Pastoral Age......Page 79
CHAPTER FOUR The Emergence of Sedentism......Page 81
THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL CONTEXT OF PASTORALISM......Page 82
SOME EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CONTEXT......Page 86
PASTORALISM, PEASANTS AND DEATH......Page 92
SUMMARY FEATURES OF PASTORAL AGE DYING......Page 95
CHAPTER FIVE The Birth of the Good Death......Page 99
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GOOD DEATH?......Page 102
EXAMPLES OF THE GOOD DEATH......Page 104
BAD DEATHS......Page 106
THE POLITICAL NATURE OF THE GOOD DEATH......Page 108
THE IMPERATIVE TO PREPARE......Page 115
CHAPTER SIX The Second Challenge: Preparing for Death......Page 117
WHY PEOPLE MAKE PREPARATIONS AFTER DEATH – AND WHILE DYING......Page 118
PREPARING TO DIE AND THE AMBIVALENCE OF EVERYDAY LIFE......Page 121
Social control and threat containment......Page 124
Upholding continuity......Page 125
Hope......Page 126
Social and personal power......Page 127
Consolation and comfort......Page 128
Reinvention of self......Page 129
Prosperity and physical suffering......Page 130
Other effects of prosperity......Page 132
PART III The Age of the City......Page 135
CHAPTER SEVEN The Rise and Spread of Cities......Page 137
THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL CONTEXT OF URBANISM......Page 138
LIVING AND DYING IN CITIES......Page 141
THE URBANE MIDDLE CLASSES......Page 143
DEATH AND MIDDLE-CLASS VALUES......Page 146
SOME EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CONTEXT......Page 150
GENTRIFICATION OF THE GOOD DEATH......Page 155
SUMMARY FEATURES OF URBAN DYING......Page 157
CHAPTER EIGHT The Birth of the Well-Managed Death......Page 159
FROM GOOD DEATH TO MANAGED DEATH......Page 161
WHAT IS MEANT BY ‘MANAGED’ DEATH?......Page 164
MEDICAL POWER AND THE MANAGED DEATH......Page 168
EXAMPLES OF THE MANAGED DEATH......Page 171
MANAGED DEATHS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE MISUNDERSTOOD......Page 175
THE CHALLENGE OF TAMING DEATH......Page 178
CHAPTER NINE The Third Challenge: Taming Death......Page 181
THE TAME AND THE WILD......Page 182
PHILIPPE ARIES AND TAMED DEATH......Page 184
RELIGIOUS TAMING AND THE EMERGENCE OF MEDICAL TAMING......Page 188
TAMING THE NATURAL AND TAMING THE WILD......Page 191
ZYGMUNT BAUMAN AND THE TAME DEATH......Page 193
THREATS AND IRONIES TO TAMING DEATH......Page 196
PART IV The Cosmopolitan Age......Page 201
CHAPTER TEN The Exponential Rise of Modernity......Page 203
THE SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL CONTEXT OF MODERNITY......Page 205
SOME EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CONTEXT......Page 213
DYING IN A MODERN, COSMOPOLITAN WORLD......Page 218
SUMMARY FEATURES OF COSMOPOLITAN DYING......Page 222
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Birth of the Shameful Death......Page 225
THE DISINTEGRATION OF DYING......Page 227
WHAT IS THE SHAMEFUL DEATH?......Page 231
EXAMPLES OF A SHAMEFUL DEATH......Page 236
ANTI-HEROIC DYING: RESISTANCE AND DISSENT......Page 240
DYING AT THE ‘RIGHT’ TIME......Page 244
CHAPTER TWELVE The Final Challenge: Timing Death......Page 246
THE ‘RIGHT’ TIME TO DIE: TERMINAL CHALLENGES......Page 247
TIME AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS......Page 250
THE ‘RIGHT’ TIME TO DIE: BIOGRAPHICAL CHALLENGES......Page 252
THE POWER OF TIMING......Page 256
PERSONAL CONTROL AND IMPERSONAL DEATH......Page 258
THE FUTURE OF DYING: A TIME FOR CHANGE?......Page 260
Conclusion......Page 263
Bibliography......Page 269
Index......Page 293