Though death is universal, how we respond to it depends on when and where we live. Dying and grieving continually evolve: new preparations for dying, new kinds of funerals, new ways of handling grief and new ways to memorialise are developing all the time.
Bringing 25 years of research and teaching in the sociology of death and dying to this important book, Tony Walter engages critically with key questions such as: should we talk about death more and plan in advance? How effective is this as more people suffer frailty and dementia? How do physical migration and digital connection affect place-bound deathbeds, funerals and graves? Is the traditional funeral still relevant? Can burial and cremation be ecological? And how should we grieve: quietly, openly, or online?
Table of Content
Introduction;
What’s the problem?;
Good to talk?;
A better way to die?;
What are professionals good at?;
Why hold a funeral?;
How to dispose of bodies?;
How to mourn?;
Distance & the digital: how to connect?;
Pervasive death.
About the author
Tony Walter is a sociologist who writes, lectures and consults on death and society. He is Honorary Professor of Death Studies at the University of Bath’s Centre for Death & Society of which he was the director from 2011-2015. His books include The Mourning for Diana (1999) and Social Death (2016).
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