A Social History of Dying

by Allan Kellehear

Our experiences of dying have been shaped by ancient ideas about death and social responsibility at the end of life. From Stone Age ideas about dying as otherworld journey to the contemporary Cosmopolitan Age of dying in nursing homes, Allan Kellehear takes the reader on a 2 million year journey of discovery that covers the major challenges we will all eventually anticipating, preparing, taming and timing for our eventual deaths. This book, first published in 2007, is a major review of the human and clinical sciences literature about human dying conduct. The historical approach of this book places our recent images of cancer dying and medical care in broader historical, epidemiological and global context. Professor Kellehear argues that we are witnessing a rise in shameful forms of dying. It is not cancer, heart disease or medical science that presents modern dying conduct with its greatest moral tests, but rather poverty, ageing and social exclusion.

Genres: Death, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Sociology

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 2003

Reviews

[Sadra Kharrazi · Rating 1 out of 5]

این اثر هیچ حرفی برای گفتن نداره
فقط بدیهیاتی از تاریخ بیان میکنه که تو کتابای تاریخ راهنمایی و دبستانم گفته میشه
در کل 400 صفحه بود ولی به اندازه 4 صفحه هم به معلوماتم اضافه نکرد

[Jocelyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

[I'd been struggling with this book for four days. Chimp had repeatedly suggested treating it like a frisbee, but I have this fixed idea that abandoning a book says something about my character.]
Me: This is the world's largest collection of generalizations.
Chimp: This is why sociology has a bad reputation. Three pieces of data, a *world* of conclusions.

[Emma Gerts · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. It looked at the way in which our ways of looking at death and the process of dying has changed as human civilisation has changed, starting from Hunter Gatherer societies in which Death was seen as the beginning of an "otherworld journey" right through to contemporary society's "shameful death" in which the sick and elderly are hidden away and spoken of as 'critically ill' rather than 'dying'. An interesting look at human relationships with death and recommended for anyone who has an interest in the sociology of death and death practices.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Offers some ideas that are good to think, but holy heck the generalizations and self-important aggrandizement. You can't say that 80-90% of all humans have been peasants in one sentence and then say that academics haven't studied said peasants much because we only want to study people "like us." Or you can, but it makes all your other arguments suspect.

[Toki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Social History of Dying is an informational, useful book that's impact is diminished by its lack of organization and structure. It serves more as a compilation, or a catalogue, of sociological information (most of it having to do with death and dying) rather than a straightforward book about the history of dying. This, if the book was organized better, would have worked better in its favor.

First, the positives: The information Kellehear puts out and the opinions he posits are both very intriguing, especially the progression of the 'kinds' of deaths that are conceptualized. Furthermore, I appreciate the inclusion of different perspectives, cultures, and traditions in his analyses of society. A common criticism I've seen is that he makes sweeping generalizations of humanity and this critique, to me, seems unfounded. The inability to make specifications is an inherent problem seen with topics like sociology and philosophy, which is why the effort Kellehear made to include all kinds of cultures is appreciated. It's difficult to write on the humanities without making generalizations, especially with a topic so universal yet divisive as death.

His general message in his conclusion about care and compassion being a human instinct is a good one. Too often do people think that humanity is inherently selfish or skewed towards unstable power dynamics.

This is also good in addressing how things like capitalism and colonization affects certain aspects of death and dying. The former is especially stressed in relevant chapters.

Now, the negatives: Again, I don't believe that Kellehear adding a wider context to this book is necessarily bad. The problem herein lies with the fact that his lack of structure causes the background information to be less supplemental and more distracting. His tangents don't seem to be contained, and are sprinkled in here and there. I would have found several chapters on background information and then several chapters on the main point to be much easier to read. The organization — or lack thereof — made reading hard to sludge through sometimes, especially with chapters filled with background information such as Part II and III. This one flaw made it drastically harder to read and, as seen with other reviews, made others quit entirely within the first few chapters. I would have definitely finished this a lot quicker had it not been for this.

Overall, it's a good read, but I would only really recommend it to people who are really interested in death studies and aren't too bothered by extra details. A summary of all his ideas — which I would say are still thought-provoking — are listed in the conclusion, so if you're unsure about reading all of it, it might be good to read just the conclusion.

[Neda Razavi]

برای کسانی که به جامعه شناسی تاریخی و تاریخ علاقه مندند کتابی بسیار خواندنی است. همچنین برای کسانی که معمای مرگ آن ها را مسحور کرده است!
این کتاب به ما خودآگاهی خوبی می دهد درباره معنایی که امروز برای مردن و شیوه مردن و شیوه مدیریت مردن خودمان و اطرافیان مان در ذهن داریم و معمولا درک خودآگاهانه ای از آن نداریم. داشتن خودآگاهی در این باره به ما کمک میکند که تصمیم های بهتری درباره مدیریت مردن مان بگیریم. زیرا این تنها چیزی است که در زندگی ما قطعی است! مدیریت مردن در زمانه ما که امکان مدیریت پزشکی بیماری های صعب العلاج و طولانی کردن عمر افراد فراهم شده، و افراد به رغم ناتوانی جسمی و ذهنی تا سنین بالا زنده می مانند، بسیار حائز اهمیت است.
هنر و نوآوری نویسنده در این است که تاریخ مردن (نه مرگ) را با تاریخ بشر مقابله کرده و نشان داده چگونه همپای تحول مادی تمدن بشری از عصر حجر تا امروز، نگاه به مردن هم متحول شده. این تحول مردن به شیوه های مدیریت فردی و اجتماعی فرایند مردن مربوط می شود که به طور کلی تابعی بوده است از درجه تسلط انسان بر طبیعت و نظام های معنایی موجود مثل ادیان. انسان با تحولاتی که در تکنولوژی پدید آورده توانسته هم سبک زندگیش را دگرگون کند (مثلا زندگیش از گروه های کوچک گرداورنده-شکارچی به زندگی یکجانشین کشاورز و سپس به زندگی شهری و شهر مدرن تغییر کرده)، هم نظام های اجتماعی پیشرفته تر را شکل بدهد (پادشاهی ها، حکومت ها، روستاها و شهرها، ارتش، طبقه روحانیان و نظامیان، متخصص ها). این تحولات به تحول در مردن و مدیریت مردن انجامیده است مثلا با به تاخیر انداختن مردن با مراقبت های پزشکی پیشرفته توسط پزشکان، مدیریت اموال توسط متخصصان و وکلا و ... . به موازات این تحولات، معنای خوب مردن هم در هر یک از دوره های تاریخی بشر از عصر حجر تا کنون تغییر کرده است.

نویسنده کوشیده است بسیاری از رویکردهای رایج در فهم امروزین جوامع غربی (و به تدریج سایر جوامع معاصر) از مرگ را به چالش بکشد، از جمله تلاش کرده رویکرد سکولار و ماتریالیستی صرف به مرگ را با بررسی های تاریخی، باستان شناسانه و اتنوگرافیک زیر سوال ببرد و نشان بدهد مرگ همواره چهره‌ای امروزین نداشته است. علاوه بر این کوشیده نگاه گزینشی،‌ غرب‌محور،‌ خطی و ساده‌کننده آکادمیکِ پیشین را، که تنوع جوامع بشری را ندیده یا دست کم گرفته، به چالش بکشد. حتی در جایی زیاده‌بهادادن به متغیرها و بینش روانکاوانه را در دیدگاه‌های امروزین درباره مرگ را نقد می‌کند. به نظر من، چنین تالیفی مستلزم خلاقیت انتقادی، جسارت علمی و اخلاقی درخور توجهی است.

نویسنده کتاب، استاد جامعه شناسی پزشکی و سلامت عمومی در استرالیا است و تحقیقات و تالیفات متعددی در زمینه مرگ و سلامتی داشته است. او همچنین از نویسندگان گزارش کمیسیون لنست درباره ارزش مرگ (2022) بوده است. این گزارش چشم انداز جدیدی را برای مرگ و مردن با مشارکت بیشتر جامعه در کنار خدمات بهداشتی و مراقبت اجتماعی و افزایش حمایت از سوگ پیشنهاد کرده است.

[Richard Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough read. It's an academic book written for a broader audience but still dry. Still it has something important to say--about the progression to what the author calls "shameful death." I will collect many quotes from the book and try to summarise what I learnt in a blog. But I must confess that I'm glad I've finished the book. I didn't quite have to force myself to read it, but the fact that it has taken me so long to read--perhaps six weeks--tells the story.

[Mohsen Hasanpour · Rating 3 out of 5]

اين کتاب تلاش مي‌کند تا نسبت به مرگ انسان‌ها زاويه گسترده‌تري را نشان دهد و باعث مي‌شود الگوهاي عمده مردن را در سراسر تاريخ خود بشناسيم و توصيف کنيم
در کل بیشتر یه کتاب منبع بود که مرگ ها رو به خوب و بد و .. تقسیم میکرد .

[Wiktoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has been a struggle! I’ve been coming back to it multiple times. I liked the idea but in reality it was nowhere near as interesting as I expected it to be.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting subject with some very thought provoking insights. I didn’t feel like the writing was very engaging though, and I thought there were a lot of tangents that didn’t really add to the author’s central ideas. I think I would have probably gotten as much out of a more condensed article, but the book was still overall worth reading.

[Denny ATG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting.

[Octa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful in condensing ideas about how we die today and how we came to this.

[Grayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read the first three chapters and put it down. It's not written very well, being unclear in places as to what is meant. Sad, because the premise is interesting.