Arguing that death is the central force shaping our social life and order, Michael Kearl draws on a wide variety of disciplines to provide a broad sociological perspective on the interrelationships of life and death. He shows how death contributes to social change, and how the meanings of death are generated to serve social functions. Working from a social as well as a psychological perspective, Kearl analyses traditional topics, including ageing, suicide, grief, and medical ethics. He also examines current issues such as the impact of the AIDS epidemic on social trust, governments' use of death in symbolism, the business of death and dying, the political economy of doomsday weaponry, and death in popular culture.
| ISBN: | 9780195045154 |
| Publication date: | 15th February 1990 |
| Author: | Michael C. (Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Trinit Kearl |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 540 pages |
| Genres: |
Religion: general Social, group or collective psychology Paediatric medicine Geriatric medicine |