TY - BOOK ID - 77892897 TI - Constructing death PY - 1998 SN - 0511583427 051100267X 9780511002670 0521594308 0521595096 9780511583421 PB - Cambridge, England New York Cambridge University Press DB - UniCat KW - Death. KW - Death KW - Dying KW - End of life KW - Life KW - Terminal care KW - Terminally ill KW - Thanatology KW - Philosophy KW - Social aspects. KW - Bereavement KW - Mort KW - Deuil KW - Social Sciences KW - Sociology UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77892897 AB - A basic motivation for social and cultural life is the problem of death. By analysing the experiences of dying and bereaved people, as well as institutional responses to death, Clive Seale shows its importance for understanding the place of embodiment in social life. He draws on a comprehensive review of sociological, anthropological and historical studies, including his own research, to demonstrate the great variability that exists in human social constructions for managing mortality. Far from living in a 'death denying' society, dying and bereaved people in contemporary culture are often able to assert membership of an imagined community, through the narrative reconstruction of personal biography, drawing on a variety of cultural scripts emanating from medicine, psychology, the media and other sources. These insights are used to argue that the maintenance of the human social bond in the face of death is a continual resurrective practice, permeating everyday life. ER -