Death and Dying as a Taboo in Contemporary Society (SOC101)

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IS DEATH AND DYEING ARE CONSIDERED TO BE TABOO IN
CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY?
Contents
IS DEATH AND DYEING ARE CONSIDERED TO BE TABOO IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY?..............1
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1
Body........................................................................................................................................... 2
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................. 7
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Death biologically is referred to the cessation of all the vital processes of living body
permanently. Death is considered as an ultimate end of life where the living organism
undergoes the different process and the functioning of its body and vital organs are lost
simultaneously to shut all the process of the body down leading to death (Brown, 2012). Ageing
on other hand is seen as one of the modulators of death as it is defined as the process of
getting older, and the process is determined genetically and modulated environmentally. In
human beings, ageing may be defined as the slow process of getting older day by day that
incorporates minute and evident changes in their physical appearance, psychology as well as
social changes. Death or dying since ages are considered to be as taboo if it is not natural as
well as the act of dying is also considered as taboo in society. Various arguments over the years
are presented by different authors on this topic considering that the death and dying are
considered as a taboo and even the end of life care that is practised lies under this concept, but
in what sense is the death a taboo? It is said that the highly developed countries pay their
maximum services and resources to deal with new generative advancements in medicine for
different fields but the palliative care is still left overseen. The stigmatization in society related
to death and the dying person being the element of less interest and worth is the cause why
palliative care is still not given the major importance in the contemporary world (Zulaika and
Douglass, 2016). This assignment deals with analyzing different literature and providing
uncovered new dimensions in the field of death and palliative care. It will highlight the possible
concepts that run in the community regarding death and dying is a taboo and also provide
recommendations for producing the shift in the thought process of the people to promote
better services of dying people.
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Body
Death in the contemporary world has emerged as a subject of taboo as no one talks about
death and dying clearly. Anyone talking about death is not liked much in society rather the
concept of death is so misunderstood that people just talk about it subtly but never openly. We
see and examine death and dying everywhere in media, papers, neighbourhood etc. but when
it comes to our own life and loved one's majority of people would run away in-spite of
confronting and facing it courageously. It is said that death was not considered as taboo since
ever but in new and modern world human is so occupied with the life and life well-being
statuses that death is not thought of rather is believed as a process that hardly occurs (Nyakoe,
Matu, and Ongarora, 2012). Simultaneously human today is more concerned regarding
prolongation of their life, by eating healthy, exercising, maintaining well-being and reducing
illness etc. people today work hard to make death vanish from their life yet death is a fact that
is so firmly stuck to living being that it cannot become inevitable. One of the surveys by Dying
Matters showed that around eight of the ten people conversed with were found very
uncomfortable talking about death. The survey showed that people in the modern world do not
accept death as a natural process rather ageing simultaneously is considered natural but not
the ultimate end of life due to ageing is considered.
The major reason identified for death to be considered as taboo in the modern era is the
difference between the life expectancy in early age and today. In 19th century people were not
having such advanced modalities and sciences that helped them to live longer rather the
average life was considered to be 48 years and people accepted it wide fairly that death is to
come and even talked about it to each other and the mortality and the advancements they can
discover to reduce it (French et al, 2013). As technology developed and time changed now the
life expectancy of an average human is about 90 years and people have stopped talking about
death and dying, rather dying early now is considered a taboo. It is said that worldly changes
and events have made it much harder to accept death. Wars, destruction make several people
die in different parts of the world that have created the fear of acceptance for dying (Aradilla-
Herrero, Tomás-Sábado, and Gómez-Benito, 2013). The lack of awareness of death and even
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considering death and dying as taboo has led the human community to face challenges and die
without being planned. Death is said to be planned equally important as we plan our life.
A new concept emerged a few decades ago that allowed a person to plan his death and the way
one wants to die. This is known as assisted dying. Assisted dying is a process where on the
consent of an individual during the long terminal illness and end of life phase the healthcare
professionals help one to attain relief from the sufferings of disease and its symptom by
achieving death on his own. This concept is rather very human but the societal blocks managed
to portray the assisted dying phenomenon to be a highly inaccurate and inhuman act that leads
one to achieve death and end his life, it rather collaborates with the phenomenon of suicide.
People fail to understand that the person who has been in the illness is the one who is suffering
and every individual on this planet has equal rights to plan the way he wants to die. Death is an
essential entity that has to have its relevance in a world without death the world would not be
the place as it is today and life would not be as it is perceived today (Brown, 2012).
Death is perceived as a process that may bring together several bereavement and other issues
that will ruin the life of individual close to dying person and so the denial of death and not
accepting the facts about death gives a person sense of protection so population today usually
follows the path of unacceptance and denial rather than considering death as an important
aspect. The survey done by “Awareness of dying” showed that people are usually more
comfortable and aware of death in generalized context but while talking they prefer to talk for
individual death rather than talking about generalized dying process (Gilliland, 2015). It is also
seen that people are not told that they are about to die and this phenomenon runs in every
community that the dying person is usually not revealed of his condition and life expectancy.
Usually, the moral that is among the people is that life is the only concept and one should not
think, talk or look forward to anything beyond it, that is death or dying. The reason that even
professionals deny disclosure to the patient is to avoid acute psychological issues that arise due
to perceiving of death and terminal illness. To avoid social and psychological issues that the
person may face after knowing their reduced life expectancy the patient is usually kept
unaware of their conditions. But modern ethics argue with this approach as they say that dying
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should be a person’s right and knowing own condition and life expectancy is crucial for a person
so that he can settle his affairs and also make choice of the way he wants to die.
Another study showed that 1 in every 5 people are only comfortable talking about death others
usually avoid the subject to be conversed of and women are seen to be much more
comfortable talking about discussing death and rather accepting death in general than men. In
Britain, 24% of people who consider death to be taboo resides mainly in London, whereas
people in northeastern countries are more acceptable to the situation of death and dying. The
western culture mostly produces some sort of resistance towards communications regarding
death (Kim, 2016). People are more likely to avoid death and discussion of factors that lead to a
conversation of dying. Other study showed that about one in three people in the UK has lost
some of their loved or close ones in past three years; forty-eight per cent of them reported that
others treated them differently after the death of their closed ones and also suggested
bereavement programmes.
Even cultural plays an essential role in portraying death to be a subject of taboo. In some
culture, death is considered as bad and taboo where the deceased body is not to be touched or
cremated with some abrupt thoughts and beliefs. These beliefs make it evident that death is
something negative and an individual should not talk about it. It adds up to the main idea of
death and dying is a taboo in society. Western society has mainly evolved through four stages
of perception towards death. That includes “Tamed death”, “One Own’s Death”, “Thy Death”
and “Forbidden Death” (Jacobsen, 2016). It is also believed that the main essence of religion
and philosophy lies among answering the questions about death. The Persian history enlightens
how death was considered differently through the different time period. Tamed death is
considered as the period of the belief that death is an integral part of life. Whereas forbidden
death is the era in which talking about death is the taboo and forbidden thing that is current
and contemporary period.
A study by Chapple, Ziebland, and Hawton, (2015) analysed the perception of people regarding
communication of death and dying. Different countries were analyzed and the results showed
varied perceptions towards death and dying. Total of 950 professionals was asked and three
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themes were identified that are reluctant to take part at the end of life discussion, the role of
family members, home death and circumstances surrounding the death. The professionals
reported that about 50% of family members are very reluctant to discuss end of life issues and
death, when analyzed the reason for not discussing end of life issues were majorly two that the
people believed were, they think bad things happen if they are spoken out loud, and that a bad
life is much better than a good death. The research showed that the people and their family
members often wanted to return home to have a home death as they believed the soul will not
be able to return from home. Cultural differences are important to be understood for providing
better care and in health and social care professionals reported that end of life and death is
perceived differently in a different culture and knowing about it is important while dealing with
different communities. In different community’s different concepts run for death and end of life
decisions, like in eastern countries family-centred decision making is very prominent whereas in
Korean cultural it is said that parents respect and devotion is necessary and is crucial in making
an end of life decisions. Whereas it is seen that dying is taken more maturely in Japan and
people there do not follow much religious custom while the end of life.
The study by French et al, (2013) suggests that end of life discussions are usually perceived as
taboo and uncertain as death is considered as subject to avoid conversation on. End of life
discussion usually brings patient as well as professional in terminally ill case towards an
uncertain and weird scenario. But failure to discuss end of life leaves the patient under
confusion, unpreparedness and uncertainty while the patient experience dying or gets close to
death. It is found that it is a crucial step to discuss the end of life and the modalities and care
required by the patient at the end but different ethnic groups prefer the discussion in a
different manner. It was found by this study that African-American people moreover prefers
aggressive and elaborated discussion on end of life and care provided whereas the Caucasian
sample avoids conversation regarding death. It was seen that individuals who do not undergo
end of life discussions were more prone to die at home with 70% of them and with ambiguity
and uncertainty whereas the patients who involve in end of life discussions with their care
providers led better quality life in their terminal stages and also reported to have less cost of
care.
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Studying various different views on death and how it is considered as a taboo in the
contemporary world it is mainly seen that death is the ultimate end of every life and so people
fear to talk about it. Even the development in today's era has given such boons to medicine and
technology that has increased the life expectancy to such a level that people have stopped
realizing that death is yet to be the fact of this world and will come to them sooner or later. But
the question is that is death really a taboo? Or just a notion has been there that talking about
death is not convenient. According to the critical evaluation of this report about death and
dying it can be seen that death is a subject to be discussed properly and planned for as life is
planned. Unplanned death will leave a person into misery and uncertainty (Kim, 2016). It is also
seen that people in different cultures perceive death differently and so their perception while
discussing death is different. Dying is a natural process and is going on since life has its
existence in this world. It is not the unknown subject but it is just unaware subject. Rather in a
survey by it was seen that 36% of people questioned reported that they think about death
about once every week and only 3% of them reported that they never think about death. This
shows that the concept of death being taboo is not presented well rather it is just a factor that
allows people to believe that death is prohibited subject.
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CONCLUSION
The whole discussion mainly focuses on the death and dying perceived as taboo in the
contemporary world. It is true that life expectancy of a human is increased that has led people
to believe that death is a taboo subject and should be prohibited for discussion. Religious
beliefs make it worse as it indicates talking about death or any negative issues bring them to
life. These factors show that death is usually in a modern world perceived as a subject not to be
discussed but for the end of life care and properly planned death, a person and his family
should always have proper discussion and planning for the way they want to die. Even the
concepts of assisted dying are holding grounds in the new world it should be encouraged more
to have a properly planned dying rather than to be left in uncertainty. Hence, it can be
concluded that palliative care and end of life discussions should be encouraged by encouraging
the awareness regarding the acceptance of death and changing the views of the modern
population.
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REFERENCES
 Aradilla-Herrero, A., Tomás-Sábado, J. and Gómez-Benito, J., 2013. Death attitudes and
emotional intelligence in nursing students. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 66(1),
pp.39-55.
 Brown, N.O., 2012. Life against death: The psychoanalytical meaning of history.
Wesleyan University Press.
 Chapple, A., Ziebland, S. and Hawton, K., 2015. Taboo and the different death?
Perceptions of those bereaved by suicide or other traumatic death. Sociology of health
& illness, 37(4), pp.610-625.
 French, R., Zhang, W., Parks, K., Ashton, S., Dumas, M., Haider, A. and Leung, L., 2013.
End of life discussion in an academic family health team in Kingston, Ontario,
Canada. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 2(3), p.263.
 Gilliland, I., 2015. Effects of a community-based hospice experience on attitudes and
self-perceived competencies of baccalaureate senior nursing students. Journal of
Nursing Education, 54(6), pp.335-338.
 Jacobsen, M.H., 2016. “Spectacular Death”—Proposing a New Fifth Phase to Philippe
Ariès’s Admirable History of Death. Humanities, 5(2), p.19.
 Kim, E.K., 2016. “A Word can become a Seed”: A Lesson Learned about Cultural
Humility. Journal of Cancer Education, 31(4), pp.813-815.
 Nyakoe, D.G., Matu, P.M. and Ongarora, D.O., 2012. Conceptualization of'Death is a
journey and death as Rest'in EkeGusii Euphemism. Theory & Practice in Language
Studies, 2(7).
 Zulaika, J. and Douglass, W., 2016. Terror and taboo: The follies, fables, and faces of
terrorism. Routledge.
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