Death and Dying in the UK: A Sociological Perspective

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Contents
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1
WHERE AND WHEN PEOPLE DIE IN THE UK.........................................................3
EXPERIENCE OF DYEING........................................................................................5
DENIAL OF DEATH THESIS......................................................................................7
CRITICISM OF DENIAL OF DEATH THESIS...........................................................10
BEREAVEMENT AND MOURNING..........................................................................12
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Human has debated regarding the phenomenon of life and death for about millennia
and the thin line between it. The advancing technology has brought about profound
changes by means of organ changes support, replacement, life support that has
changed the notions regarding death among the contemporary world. Death
according to the World Health Organization is defined as the cessation of organ
functions and loss of capacity of the human body to perform physiological functions
(Corr, Corr, and Doka., 2018). It is stated that the loss of capacity when the
permanent loss of consciousness and brainstem functions loss occurs results in
death. Ageing is defined as the process of simultaneous loss of organ function due
to the death of cells and the process of increasing age. Ageing is the phenomenon
that goes hand in hand with the concept of death (Hockey et al., 2010). In the
contemporary world, the concepts of death and the phenomenon of death is
mismanaged then before and in the contemporary world, it is a subject that is
considered as a taboo to talk about (Anderson., 2012). Death is inevitable but the
advancements have made perceptions regarding how human can control death and
so the modern population does not discuss death in today’s time. Societal
stigmatization has also portrayed death to a taboo. This assignment is focused on
discussing how the perceptions regarding death have changed over time and how
modern thinking has considered eliminating death as a concern in today’s world. The
assignment will discuss the concepts of death in the UK and critically evaluate the
denial of death thesis.

WHERE AND WHEN PEOPLE DIE IN THE UK
Different cultures and different religious beliefs have different perceptions regarding
death (Irish, Lundquist and Nelsen., 2014). These changes in perception have
created different beliefs regarding the death in society and community groups. In the
UK annual rate of mortality are around 598,694 that is around 9.4 people die per
1000 person every year (Office of National Statistics., 2018). This rate determines
how the natural balance between death and birth rate is managed and brought to
equilibrium to maintain the system in the world. In old age, death was a concept that
was well believed in and was perceived to be essential and must due to the fear of
death as a result of wars, incidents, violence, attacks and diseases (Glaser and
Strauss., 2017). After the end of the Victorian era and the modernization with the
advancement in technology, the life expectancy has increased as a result of less
violent environment, peace among the nations and control and treatment of various
threatening diseases. This has changed the concepts of death and perception
regarding death among the modern generation (Chapple, Ziebland and Hawton.,
2015). According to a famous survey it is seen that the previous perception of
individual to wait for death in old age was to achieve it among their family members
at home or care home but as the shift in human perception persist due to increased
hope of life expectancy and control over death the patients nowadays are more
willing to spend their end of life stage in hospitals, residential homes and service
centres where they can receive end of life care. The survey resulted in the shift of
perception as in 1960, 50% people died in hospitals whereas remaining 42.1%
achieved death in their home setting. The shift in paradigm was determined by how
tin 1991 these statistics changed to 64.7% death in hospitals and 25.7%dealths in
the home (Gilmore et al., 2013). One of the reasons for the patient to choose to die
at home is the religious beliefs regarding their spiritual need and the acceptance of
death. As seen in some Japanese culture communities it is believed that if a person
dies in hospital their soul cannot return from there and gets trapped, some Korean
culture believes that dying among family members makes death easy for the
individual and so they prefer to die in their home setting (Irish, Lundquist and
Nelsen., 2014).

EXPERIENCE OF DYEING
In simple terms, the experience of dying is the feelings and experience of the person
who is about to die. The cycle of death since the person is diagnosed with a life
ending health condition until he actually achieves death is known as the experience
of dying (Bailey and Yates., 2013). Kubler Ross explained these experiences as per
five stages of death including denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
These five sages of the person’s life who is experiencing death are crucial which
explains how the individual at first denies the diagnosis and till he is directed towards
end accepts his fate and death (Kastenbaum., 2015). This theory or model states
how death is perceived to be a failure by an individual and he goes through various
stages to come to terms with the fact of death and life.
Denial is the first stage of this cycle where the person is not ready to accept and
denies his fate. This stage is characterized by the hard to accept or come to term
with the diagnosis of the disease (Kübler-Ross., 2009).
Anger is the next stage where after confirmation of the diagnosis the person starts to
show anger and raise questions regarding his ate and “why he is the one to die?” In
this stage, the person usually keeps on pounding on the fact of life and totally
disagree that death is for everyone. A person becomes frustrated as death is not in
his control (Kübler-Ross., 2009).
Bargaining is the third stage where the person starts to accept his fate and starts to
bargain with his fate. Individual usually bargains with the help of their religious
pathways for being able to live to a certain extent and achieve something in life
(Kübler-Ross., 2009).
The next stage is the depression, here the person totally accepts his fate and is
preparing to die but simultaneously gets flushed with emotions and sense of failure
that makes him depressed. The person can become restless, disinterested, and
weak and have a sensory impairment that causes depression (Kübler-Ross., 2009).
Acceptance is the last stage of this cycle where the person accepts his fate and is
just waiting to die and his life as per nature’s course. The bodily functions of the
person declines and the individual have no will to live (Kübler-Ross., 2009).

DENIAL OF DEATH THESIS
As death is perceived in today’s world it is seen that modern generation and people
are not willing to talk about death rather has perceived death to be a subject of taboo
(Chapple, Ziebland and Hawton., 2015). Denial of death thesis is a concept and
explanation to how the perceptions of the modern population have denied death to a
severe extent and this is becoming an issue in the modern world. As birth is a natural
process similar is the death and both are not the subject to be controlled by any
human powers but death is considered as the subject of stigmatization and people
who are associated with death conversation and discussion are considered to be
negative ad taboo. Handling death is not in power of every individual and the easiest
way out of handling death in surroundings is to run from it and deny it and this is
exactly what today population focuses is at. Previously the commonness of death
surrounding people and sort of natural and unnatural forms of death were commonly
viewed that made people have perception regarding the inevitability of death
(Zimmermann and Rodin., 2004). The violence, attacks, diseases etc. in previous
times were the source of death that made people realize that death can come
anytime and is fixed for every individual. Today’s world comprises of modern
technology and systems that portray death in media and posters to be either violent
or dreadful that made people fear it and find new resorts to avoid it. This way the
population today started denying the whole concept of death and tagged it as a
taboo (Zimmermann and Rodin., 2004). People having images of their family
members dying have severe implication on their mental health and avoids talking
about it. This thesis focuses on stating that death is usually confined to hospitals and
care homes and the true sense and meaning of death is not well understood by the
people today, eventually, the mourning for one who died has decreased that gives
rise to loneliness and bereavement in this generation (Becker., 2007).
Denial of death thesis is evaluated and modified by the contribution of a variety of
authors but the main concept was introduced by the Aries who used the concept of
“tamed death” from old times and correlated it to the concepts of “forbidden death” in
modern times (Becker., 2007). He explained how in old age people were used to
experience death and was well aware of the phenomenon of death and so they
usually used to prepare for death and accept it openly. The concept of forbidden

death arrived in a modern age where the crucial role of health care and technology
was identified. Aries explained how the life expectancy from 45 years in the Victorian
era is changed to double in the modern era this is the reason that made people avoid
death and rather forbid it to severe level (Friedman and James., 2008). He also
blamed health care professionals and doctors to be the one responsible for this
change in perception as they were the ones to replace priest in old times during
death and gave human hope and way to expand the lives that created an image
among them that death can be controlled (Becker., 2007). Even it is seen that death
is not well discussed with the dying person by the healthcare professionals as means
to avoid mental issues for them and this has segregated death from the system
(Zimmermann and Rodin., 2004).
Further illustration on this thesis was provided by Norbert Elias the second writer,
who holds responsibility for the palliative care and end of life care for the major
reason for the shift in perceptions. He stated that death was considered as taboo in
modern society but palliative and hospice care made it evident that clinicians and
patients started to imagine that death can be controlled (Becker., 2007). Gorer,
another expander of the thesis stated that the reason for denial in modern times is
the loss of mourning rituals that were present in early times. He explained his
phenomenon by how in earlier times death was well perceived and people knew how
to mourn for dead but in the modern era, people deny death and run from it and do
not know even how to mourn for the dead (Becker., 2007). These writers well
explained how modern society has successfully denied the whole concept of death
and rather believe death to be a taboo.

CRITICISM OF DENIAL OF DEATH THESIS
Denial of death thesis successfully explained their perception of the shift in the belief
of death among the modern population but this thesis still has various aspects that
can be criticized and reformed as per changing times (Steptoe, Deaton and Stone.,
2015). Very first aspect identified is the portrayal of society as a statutory aspect by
the writers of denial of death thesis. The changing mentality and thinking changes it
influences the believes and social values in society this makes the denial of death
thesis completely irrelevant to changed societal terms (Ross., 2015). This can be
explained by how since ages this is seen that modernization has brought changes in
perception and level of thinking for different people and different ethnicity that will
also change their acceptance towards things and thoughts for these phenomenons
making denial of death completely irreparable (Rajan and Sarkar., 2018).
Another issue identified is the blame of denial and change in perception on health
and social care professionals and sector including palliative care (Steptoe, Deaton
and Stone., 2015). Contradicting this explanation health care services and care is
aimed at increasing the life expectancy of the individual but never guarantee or is
successful in achieving control over death. In a normal sense, the health and social
care organizations and services are never responsible for the death of any individual
in spite of the case of negligence or mis care. Newer technology also has not
replaced old versions just modified them as per new ease, example the presence of
a priest in earlier times during death of a person was to record the death similarly
those duties are now carried on by the nurses and health care staff (Murray, Toth
and Clinkinbeard., 2010). Rather new certified legislation to record death has made it
easier to document and prove death and this shows how the modern society is not
completely denying death at all levels.
The awareness of death that was done before was much lower to how modern
technology, media and mass media spread the word regarding death, and again this
contradicts the whole idea of denial of death thesis (Hanusch., 2010). Walter’s three
forms of death theory described how the modern era is not denying death rather
reinforcing similar phenomenon of death as in older ages. He stated three concepts

that were traditional, modern and the third newest form was revivalist that described
revealing old ideas regarding death.

BEREAVEMENT AND MOURNING
Bereavement is the concept of modern society that is defined as a phase of
mourning and sadness characterized by the loss of someone or something
(Marshall., 2018). It is visional that people suffering from bereavement and loss of
someone do not accept death openly and avoids it to large extent in order to avoid
the suffering and pain related to it (Jacobs., 2016). Mourning and bereavement
including grief are explained by different theorists as Parker explained grief as a
three-stage process including shock, despair and recovery (Barbosa., 2017.) Rando
similarly gave six staged models of grief including the stage of loss, stage to react,
stage to recollect, stage to relinquish, stage to readjust and stage to reinvent
(Buglass., 2010). All these theories are very well describing the concepts of grief and
bereavement but fail to explain the phenomenon of death. The most acceptable
model of grief, therefore, is one discussed by Kubler Ross where she defined the
experience of death as the phases of grief and successfully discussed death with
grief and bereavement. The stages included five levels that are denial, anger,
bargain, depression and acceptance (Carpentier and Van Brussel., 2012).

CONCLUSION
Death is a fact of life and cannot be controlled by any measures. No services,
technology or power can control death but can only help to modify it or expand the
life of a person. Denial of death by modern society is well discussed in the thesis but
the thesis itself has many sects to be modified to present a better explanation of the
concepts. The previous era was characterized by well-accepted death age where
people knew death and accepted it openly but modern society is afraid of this
concept and fears the closeness of death. Ageing, grief, bereavement are all related
to the concept of death and these entire phenomena are well discussed but death is
being tabooed. The modern society has to shift the paradigm and revitalize the
concepts of death and accept is as it was before. This will help in better reparation of
the individual for their end of life care and allows the individual to suffer less during
their end of life phases with a well-managed plan for achievement of death. Hence
this assignment concludes that no matter how well the advancements work or death
is denied it is still a subject that is inevitable and every being that is born has to die at
a certain age.

REFERENCES
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