Death, Society, and
Human Experience
9th Edition
Robert Kastenbaum
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Chapter Three:
The Death System
This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
•Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
•Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, or any images;
•Any rental, lease, or lending of the program.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
A World Without Death:
A Thought Experiment
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Suppose death is no longer inevitable
Disease and aging have been conquered
Air and water pollution have been reduced
Make a list of predicted changes which
would occur
• In society in general
• In your life specifically
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A World Without Death:
General Consequences
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Overcrowding would lead to infringements
on privacy, mobility, and individual liberties
• Space would be precious
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Stringent and/or selective birth control
• Who would be allowed to reproduce?
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New laws would be needed
• Inheritance and estates
• Dealing with infants with birth defects
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A World Without Death:
General Consequences
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Society would be conservative
• Slow to change old ways
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Major economic changes
• Insurance and funeral industries would change
• Medical industry changes
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Moral beliefs and priorities
• Changes in views of marriage and divorce
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What is life without death?
• No ending, no Heaven or Hell, no Nirvana
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A World Without Death:
Personal Consequences
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We would plan and organize our lives differently
• How can one plan ahead for so many years?
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Free of the fear of death
• Increased risk-taking
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Personal relationships would extend indefinitely
• Grow old right along with your parents and grandparents
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Purpose and meaning of life would change
• How to fill all that time?
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Components of the Death System
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People
• Directly connected, such as funeral directors,
florists, health care professionals, clergy
• Indirectly, such as the clerk who sells butchered
meats or the scientist creating military weapons
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Places
• Hospitals, funeral homes, cemeteries
• Historical battlefields, assassination sites
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Components of the Death System
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Times
• 9-11-01 and Memorial Day (U.S.), Days of the
Dead (Mexico)
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Objects
• Obviously associated, such as a hearse, death
certificate, coffin, noose, gallows, electric chair
• Unintended to be, but has come to be
associated, such as automobiles, cigarettes,
over-the-counter drugs
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Components of the Death System
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Symbols
• Wearing black (U.S. culture)
• Special music, usually slow, solemn organ
music
• Euphemisms: passed on, expired, went to their
reward
• Dysphemisms: OD’d, croaked, bit the dust
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Functions of the Death System
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Warnings and Predictions
• Alerts to global, societal, and personal threats
• So many warnings it is hard to choose which
ones to pay attention to
• Preventing Death
• Such as medically, militarily, against natural
disasters
• Often selective, following society’s general
patterns of discrimination and unequal
opportunity
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Functions of the Death System
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Caring for the Dying
• In some cases working for cure, and in others
for comfort
• Much debate over when to move from treatment
orientation to care orientation
• Disposing of the Dead
• From home or hospital to ritual (funeral) to
grave
• Preferences change with generations and
cultures
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Functions of the Death System
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Social Consolidation After Death
• Meet the challenges faced by individuals and
society due to the loss of a member
• May be strong right after the loss but then
dissipate over time
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Making Sense of Death
• Offering comforting words or a way to reason or
understand death
• Often superficial, limited to clichés
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Functions of the Death System
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Killing
• Example: Capital punishment
• Banned in some states
• Other states still allow hanging or firing squad
• Example: Killing animals
• Food industries, including pet foods
• Fashion industries
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Functions of the Death System
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Kastenbaum highlights two forms of killing
• War as a function of society
• Natural and expected or preventable?
• Deadly species
• Examples: militaries, toxic waste dumps
• Sacrifice
• Most common: sacrificing children
• Common theme: Give the gods vibrant lives
and they will award continued life to society
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Challenge to Death System:
Tsunami of 2004
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200,000 to 300,000 killed; more than 1
million survivors
No general warning system was in place
The tsunami could not have been prevented
Very few people were dying or injured;
energies focused on disposing of the dead
Little social consolidation
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Challenge to Death System:
Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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“Most predicted natural disaster in history”
• Weather forecasters concerned a month before
it hit
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More than 1,000 deaths
80% of New Orleans under water
Situation in Superdome was intolerable
Much debate over the breakdown of the
prevention and help systems
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Challenge to Death System:
Hurricane Katrina, 2005
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Issues:
• Frame of reference – everyday or emergency?
• Turf issues – Who is in charge here?
• Community and place can make the critical difference in
emergency situations
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Warnings were clear; Prevention lacking
• Delay in care for dying and disposing of dead
• Little social consolidation; Intense criticism and
debate followed
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How Our Death System is Changing
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Three key issues highlighted the need for a
change in attitude toward death
• World Wars I & II highlighted violent death
• Many survivors were suffering mentally over the
inability to grieve openly
• Medical breakthroughs helped keep more
people alive but under extreme suffering,
despair, and isolation
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How Our Death System is Changing
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Death Education, Research, and Counseling
• Promoted by anthropologists, clergy, nurses,
physicians, psychologists, sociologists, and
social workers
• Mission: to bring concern for the human
encounter with mortality into the awareness of
caregivers, educators, and researchers within
existing disciplines
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How Our Death System is Changing:
Life Expectancy
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Region with Life Expectancy at Birth
Africa, 54 years old
Asia, 67 years old
Europe, 74 years old
Latin America, 71 years old
North America, 77 years old
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Leading Causes of Death
In the U.S. in Order
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1) Heart disease
2) Cancer
3) Cerebrovascular
Accidents (strokes)
4) Chronic
Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease
(COPD)
5) Accidents
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6) Diabetes Mellitus
7) Pneumonia, Flu
8) Alzheimer’s Disease
9) Kidney Disease
10) Septicemia (blood
poisoning)
11) Suicide
12) Liver Disease
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Causes of Death in the Future?
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Quick-spreading infectious diseases and
viruses
• Examples: AIDS, Ebola virus, West Nile virus,
SARS
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Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness
• Microorganisms are developing resistance
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Bioterrorism
• Particularly Anthrax and Smallpox
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Glossary: New Terms (1)
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Age-Standardized
Death Rate
Capital Punishment
Cardiovascular
Resuscitation (CPR)
Cerebrovascular
Accident (CVA)
Cohort
Disease (COPD)
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Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease
(COPD)
Crude Death Rate
(CDR)
Death System
Excessive Death Rate
Life Expectancy
Longevity
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Glossary: New Terms (2)
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Microbial Agents
Morbidity
Mortality
Mortality rate
Pathologists
Radioactive Iodide
Thanatology
Tsunami
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