Death, Sociological Perspectives

Most sciences of the human condition—including history, social psychology, philosophy, anthropology, religion, political science, and sociology—address the problem of mortality. Many find it difficult to demarcate a sociology of death because the discipline's subject matter often overlaps that of others, as when studying the economic underpinnings of religious violence or the philosophical justifications of political pogroms. Further, often the practitioners do not perceive or frame their work explicitly in terms of a death and dying specialty. For instance, sociologists studying the epidemiology of cancer death rates of those living in proximity to military bases, sewage treatment centers, or coal energy plants may not identify their research in terms of a sociology of death and dying but rather classify their work as case studies in eco-racism. Finally, given the general absence of theoretically driven substantive research, some argue that there really isn't a sociology of death—or, if there is, it remains in some nascent state—and the field is defined more in terms of its subject matter rather than any overarching theoretical enterprise. Nevertheless, sociology provides distinctive perspectives to both broad- and smallscale death-related phenomena.

The Macroscopic Perspectives of Sociology

Among other things, the “sociological imagination” entails taking broad social perspectives in addition to those of individuals. From this vantage point, for instance, death can be seen as being socially functional as well as dysfunctional. In the Structures of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn argues that major paradigm shifts in the natural sciences occur not because proponents of new ones convince or persuade the supporters of old ones, but rather because supporters of the old paradigms die off. Analogously, consider white Americans' responses to the question “Do you think there should be laws against marriages between blacks and whites?” In 1972, 39#x0025; of whites favored such laws; 30 years later, only 10#x0025; did. Of those born before 1900, 65#x0025; thought there should be laws prohibiting miscegenation [Page 292]compared to only 7#x0025; of those born 1970 onward. Much of this change in attitude owes not to civil rights or affirmative action legislation but rather to the deaths of those holding antiquated racist views. Here detailed are several broad sociological perspectives of death's power to destroy, enhance, or otherwise alter the broad social fabric.