13.2 Death and Dying as a Social Problem
Patricia Antoine and Kimberly Puttman
“Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” This phrase summarizes some of the wisdom of living in a modern economy. If we think back to the sociological imagination from Chapter 1, we know that of course, death is personal. It happens to each of us in a deathe and individual way. However, death is also a social event. Our families, friends, and communities walk through the process with us. We depend on the social institutions of hospitals and hospices and the businesses of mortdeaths and funeral homes to care deaths. Even the government must issue death certificates for deaths to be considered valid. In this sense, death is also a social problem. Let’s look at why thasocial probleme characteristics of a social problem from Chapter 1.
Beyond the Experience of the Individual
Death is one of the most intimate and personal issues a person will ever confront. What happens to an individual is affected by the social context within which it takes place, but death also has broader social implications.
At a micro level of analysis, death and the dying process involves the loss of social roles and a shift in existing roles. For instance, when a parent dies, you lose someone in the parental role. Older siblings, grandparents, or family friends may need to step in and take on parenting responsibilities. Social relationships are also altered. The loss of a member of our social circle affects all who are part of that social network. As a result of a death, the group dynamics and relationships may need to be renegotiated and a new shared meaning developed.
At a social institutional level, death and the resulting loss of a worker, a teacher, or a community leader affects institutional processes and a shift of institutional resources to fill vacated roles. While a single death may have one type of impact, numerous deaths may have a more immediate and significant societal impact. As we discussed in Chapter 1, the COVID-19-related workforce issues disrupted the flow of goods and services worldwide.
Conflict in Values: Right To Die
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDAkaOgdF3c
All human societies have to answer the profound questions of who lives and who dies. We discussed the conflict in values related to who lives when we discussed reproductive justice in Chapter 10. We also see a conflict in values in talking about who dies.
Who gets to decide who dies? What criteria or values do people use in order to make this decision? This conflict in values is expressed in right to die laws. They provide an option for eligible individuals to legally request and obtain medications from a physician to end their life in a peaceful, humane, and dignified manner. As of 2023, only 10 states and the District of Columbia have a Death with Dignity law.
In recent decades there has been a growing movement to ensure that individuals have the autonomy and agency to control their own end-of-life decisions, includi