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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which looks at changing attitudes towards death and dying, and the way in which the concept of death is divorced from everyday life whilst it constitutes a primary focus of media entertainment. Bibliography lists 7 sources
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JL2death.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
medical science, societys perception of death, and the rituals associated with death, have altered considerably, not only because of the assimilation of different worldviews and cultural practices, but also as
a result of changing biological and sociological factors. There has been an increasing emphasis, for example, on secularisation: with the decline of organised religion in the majority culture, there is
an increasing tendency to view rites of passage as isolated from everyday life, and in terms of social formality rather than as an essential part of the development of the
individual within a social and cultural context. The Christian rituals of baptism, marriage and funeral rites, for instance, whilst still observed by many, are not necessarily perceived as having the
same level of significance as was the case in previous generations. Jupp and Gittings
(1999), make the point that movements such as the Enlightenment and Romanticism had a significant effect on the way in which society viewed bereavement, and the concept of the afterlife.
They comment that the increase in urban mortality in the nineteenth century, coupled with increasing social stratification, meant that not only were new ways required of coping with the dead,
but there was also a corresponding increase in the secularisation and commercialisation of the rituals surrounding death. In the 1920s, the infant mortality rate began to drop, and the focus
was instead on the likelihood of death in old age which, again, altered the social and cultural emphasis on the processes of bereavement and mourning.
Jupp and Gittings also note that the decline in religious beliefs which also commenced during this period contributed in the increasing
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