Student Scholarship
Document Type
Research Paper
Abstract
This document explores the sociological and psychological dimensions of death in modern society, specifically examining how contemporary American culture handles mortality. It begins by highlighting death as a taboo subject, noting that technocratic advancements have increasingly isolated the dying individual and complicated the definition of death through life-prolonging machinery and organ transplantation. The author references various philosophers and psychologists, such as Freud and Heidegger, to argue that individuals often maintain an intellectual acceptance of mortality while emotionally denying their own personal demise.
A significant portion of the text is dedicated to the American funeral industry and the economic costs of bereavement. The author criticizes the high expenses associated with embalming, metal caskets, and burial plots, suggesting that these elaborate rituals are defense mechanisms used by the living to avoid facing the reality of death. The document also analyzes the grief process, identifying specific stages such as shock, suffering, and recovery, and emphasizes the importance of allowing both adults and children to express their emotions authentically to ensure healthy psychological resolution.
The final section focuses on the terminal patient and the clinical findings of Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. It outlines the five stages of dying: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The author argues that medical professionals and families often utilize "closed awareness" to hide prognosis from patients, which ultimately prevents meaningful communication and preparation. By understanding these stages and the persistent element of hope, the author suggests that society can move toward a more compassionate and realistic confrontation with the inevitable end of life.
Research Highlights
The Problem: The technocratic shift in modern society has led to the dehumanization and evasion of death, turning a universal biological reality into a taboo subject managed by machines and commercial interests.
The Method: The author synthesizes psychological theories from Freud, Tillich, and Heidegger alongside 1960s sociological data, funeral industry expenditures, and Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's clinical interviews with terminally ill patients.
Quantitative Finding: 89% of surveyed individuals view death as a blessing; 82% believe death is tragic only for survivors; 54% equate death to a long sleep; Americans spent $1.6 billion on funerals in 1960 compared to $1.9 billion for all higher education personal expenditures; life expectancy increased from 40 to 70 years over a half-century; 60.9% of deaths occurred in hospitals by 1958.
Qualitative Finding: Individuals utilize defense mechanisms like denial, "distraction," and euphemisms to maintain a sense of immortality; the grief process consists of three primary stages—shock, suffering, and slow recovery; terminally ill patients navigate five psychological stages including denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance; modern "symbols of transcendence" (biological, natural, and creative) are currently threatened by nuclear anxiety and ecological vulnerability.
Publication Date
5-1971
Recommended Citation
Hammel, Susan, "Man and Mortality" (1971). Student Scholarship. 172.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/student-research-papers/172
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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