DEATH AND DYINGLittle Theoretical Work. Interest in death and dying was varied and diverse during the 1970s and 1980s, and no widely accepted conceptual framework for its study emerged, except that Kathy Charmaz published a seminal book titled The Social Reality of Death in 1980. Sociologists had been critical both of the title and content of KublerRoss widely read book On Death and Dying (1969) but they recognized the appeal of the subject matter (Riley 1968, 1983). In earlier decades death had been typically viewed as a social transition, as a �rite de passage,� but new threads running through the literature were emerging. Formal �arrangements� were being negotiated prior to death, dying persons were generally more concerned about their survivors than they were about themselves, dying individuals were able to exercise a signiant degree of control over the timing of their deaths, tensions typically existed between the requirements of formal care and the wishes of dying patients, and similar tensions almost always existed between formal and informal caregiversetween hospital bureaucracies and those signiant others who were soon to be bereaved (Kalish 1985a, 1985b; Riley 1970, 1983). Little systematic attention from sociologists, however, had emerged. The Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1968) contained but two entries, both on the social meanings of death. Similarly, there are only two indexed references in the 1988 Handbook of Sociology (Smelser 1988): one to poverty resulting from the death of breadwinners, the other to the role of death in popular religion. Sociologists had failed to generate any overarching theory. There have been, however, many attempts. Several kernels illustrate the broad range of these theoretical efforts. Parsons (1963) related the changing meanings of death to basic social values; Mannheim (1928, 1952) used mortality to explain social change; Renee Fox (1980, 1981) found that �life and death were coming to be viewed less as absolute . . . entities. . . and more as different points on a meta-spectrum..a new theodicity�; Dorothy and David Counts (1985) specid the role of death in the various social transformations from preliterate to modern societies; Paul Baker (1990), following Lloyd Warner (1959) and others (e.g. Kearl and Rinaldi 1983) elaborated the long-recognized theory that images of the dead exert profound inences on the living, and Michael Kearl wrote a more general statement in 1989. Andmore recently, Fulton has published an essay on �Society and the Imperative of Death� (1994) in which he discusses the role of such customs and rituals as the Mardi Gras, the bullht, the �Dani� of primitive societies, and other symbolic events in which either societal survival or individual salvation is at stake. One exception to these various theoretical efforts is found in the sustained work of Marshall and collaborators. Starting in 1975 with a seminal article in The American Journal of Sociology, followed by his book Last Chapters (1980), he collaborated with Judith Levy in a review titled �Aging and Dying� (Marshall and Levy 1990). Marshall began his work with an empirical ld study of socialization for impending death in a retirement village, followed by a compelling theoretical essay on age and awareness of itude in developmental gerontology, and has been consistently engaged in such theoretical efforts. His basic postulate is that �awareness of itude� operates as a trigger that permits socialization to death. Empirical Research Largely Topical. In contrast to theoretical work, the empirical literature shows that sociological research on death and dying has been, and largely continues to be, essentially topical. Studies range widely, from the taboo on death to funerals and the social �causes� of death (Riley 1983; Marshall and Levy 1990). They include the following examples: Planning for Death. A national survey conducted in the late 1960s showed that the great majority of Americans (85 percent) are quite realistic and consider it important to �try to make some plans about death,� and to talk about it with those closest to them (Riley 1970). In addition, bereavement practices, once highly structured, are becoming increasingly varied and individually therapeutic; dying is feared primarily because it eliminates opportunities for self-fullment; and active adaptations to death tend to increase as one approaches the end of the life course (i.e. the making of wills, leaving instructions, negotiating concts). Death and Dying in a Hospital. Among such studies, a detailed account of the �social organization� of death in a public hospital describes rules for dealing with the corpse (the body must be washed, catalogued, and ticketed). Dignity and583
