Death and Dying: Funerals Abstract

Death and Dying: Funerals

Abstract for Funerals-R-Us: From Funeral Home to Mega-Industry

Writer Thomas Lynch gives an "insider's perspective" on the funeral industry by pointing out that trying to describe death, the look of death, and what to do with dead bodies has a history and that history is, first and foremost, "an existential experience." And Lynch goes on to describe the rather grim work that a mortician (funeral operator) has to go through. Embalming, being called in the middle of the night to come and retrieve a body, dealing with grieving families, sponsoring little league uniforms - these things are all part of the "insider's perspective" of being in the funeral business.

Lynch also says that funeral parlors are "generally abhorred for their proximity to the dead" and for their "trade in grief and mourning," somebody has to do this job, and it should be done with dignity and without seeming to be money grabbing about it.

Annotation for Funerals-R-Us: From Funeral Home to Mega-Industry

Lynch makes the point that no matter who conducts funerals, they will always have "sacred, secular, spiritual, emotional, social and practical duties" in making sure the job is done correctly and diplomatically. And Lynch adds that even though big corporations are buying up small family funeral businesses, about 85% of the 22,000 funeral homes in America are still family-owned enterprises, and those family-owned funeral parlors have spent an average of 54 years in their respective communities.

Abstract for Three ways to arrange a funeral: Mortuary variation in the modern West

Tony Walker writes about the ways in which funeral practices are different in various Western nations; he also alludes to the specific institutional differences in those practices. In his article, Walker uses a number of published accounts and published research on how funerals are conducted in different nations. For example, Americans, Walker writes, have culturally accepted and practiced a sentimental approach to burying their dead, while in England there is "...a pragmatic acceptance of cremation."

Walker also points out that when industrialized nations' populations began to explode - and hence, more and more dead bodies were in need of disposal - "large out-of-town cemeteries became common in the U.S. And in England, and also "religious concerns were eroded in the face of public health requirements." The Western nations began turning to pathologists, funeral directors, and managers of cemeteries to handle the many deaths that were occurring. But still, Walker makes mention of the fact that control of the "various stages of disposing of a human corpse" has been (and is in some respects today) a tug-of-war between businessmen, clergy, and local health officials.

Annotation for Three Ways to Arrange a Funeral

Walker uses nearly 200 references (books, journal articles) in his bibliography, and so his is an article that spans centuries in its research on death and the way societies have responded to death. He also points out that as time has gone by, the usefulness of the Church as a place where the dead are consecrated has been usurped in many instances by the modern funeral parlor.

Abstract for Cremation: Desecration, Purification, or Convenience?

Michael C. Kearl points out that Americans "are increasingly likely" to turn to cremation as time goes on; and in fact, "more than 27%" of all the people who passed away in 2001 were cremated. That fact stands out as dramatic when one considers that only 6.2% of Americans were cremated in 1974.

Kearl also mentions that there is a growing repugnance among American at having funeral parlors "pump the remains of loved ones with formaldehyde-like preservatives," and hence, cremation is an increasingly attractive alternative to the "open casket."