Agency in the context of social death: dying alone at home

Caswell, Glenys; O’Connor, M. Rebecca

doi:10.1080/21582041.2015.1114663

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Dying alone is a contested historical discourse in the media and culture at large ( Caswell & O'Connor, 2015 ). Accompanied deaths are seldom mentioned, but those who die alone garner attention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dying alone and lonely dying: Media discourse and pandemic conditions

Nelson-Becker

Chapot

2020

Journal of Aging Studies

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Background and objectives This paper explores current concerns and practice related to older people dying alone in Intensive Care Units, care homes, and at home through media discussions during the Covid-19 pandemic and before. It addresses the historically-situated concept of a good death and a bad death and suggests why dying alone, whether completely alone or without significant others physically present, may be considered a bad death. Methods As evidence for collective fears about dying alone, we explored the treatment of these deaths in media using headline examples from the US New York Times and the English Guardian newspaper from the 19th century through Sept. 2020. Results A search of the New York Times located 39 articles with either lonely dying or lonely death in the headline. The Guardian had 25 articles with use of the term, but unlike the New York Times, no obituaries were included. Although the deaths profiled were deemed unusual, deaths by suicide were only minimally classed as dying alone. The condition of dying alone is represented as a stigmatised death. Themes addressed: 1) dying alone is a nonnormative event; 2) this death matters; and 3) where people die alone, societies should honour the death and learn from it. Discussion and implications Contemporary dying involves conditions for which we are unprepared as a society. We seldom address our civic obligations to each other. Few people have discussed their wishes about their preferences in dying and whether and how they want to be accompanied at their death, if possible. This is an invisible constraint of modern healthcare. Because of limited discussions and preparation, these deaths may lead to disenfranchised grief for the mourners. Cultural and societal responses to lonely dying are important in easing the emotional burden of dying alone, helping individuals prepare for this possibility and better integrating death with the life course. Recommendations include inclusion of accompaniment/nonaccompaniment at death as part of advance care planning and mitigation if this condition occurs. It is essential for individuals to find their own still point of acceptance within competing societal narratives of privileging the self in dying alone and the value of social connection.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dying alone and lonely dying: Media discourse and pandemic conditions

Nelson-Becker

Chapot

2020

Journal of Aging Studies

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“…The coroner's office and the news media therefore both contribute to giving the deceased individual a form of revitalised social life, and the research also played a part in this. Through a process of reading about the person, exploring what happened to them and sharing information about them in the public domain people who have died lone deaths were given new social identities (Caswell and O'Connor, 2015). We endeavoured to be fair to all participants, both living and deceased and to take a balanced view throughout our process of decision making.…”

Section: The Ethics Of Researching the Recently Deadmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical challenges in researching and telling the stories of recently deceased people

Caswell

Turner

2020

Research Ethics

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This paper explores ethical challenges encountered when conducting research about, and telling, the stories of individuals who had died before the research began. Cases were explored where individuals who lived alone had died alone at home and where their bodies had been undiscovered for an extended period. The ethical review process had not had anything significant to say about the deceased ‘participants’. As social researchers we considered whether it was ethical to involve deceased people in research when they had no opportunity to decline, and we were concerned about how to report such research. The idea that the dead can be harmed did not help our decision-making processes, but the notion of the dead having limited human rights conferred upon them was useful and aided us in clarifying how to conduct our research and disseminate our findings.

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“…It is proposed that to meet the criteria for social death, most or all of a person’s social roles, identities, and connections need to cease to exist, or nearly cease to exist as a result of social exclusion, maltreatment, the withdrawal of legal protection, the withdrawal of community support, or the support of those who had close and continuous relationship with the person in question (Biehl, 2004; Králová, 2015). In this context, social death is a process or state in which an individual is gradually removed from mainstream society and ceases to be an active participant in the social worlds of others (Borgstrom, 2015; Caswell & O’Connor, 2015; Mulkay & Ernst, 1991).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It results from alienation, social exclusion, and disapproval that the person in question or any person does not want to experience at all. Such ostracism 3 makes the person consider himself or herself as dead or that “when I die, no one will cry” (Hecht, 1998, p. 145, cited in Králová, 2015, p. 238) or “no one [will] miss me” (Caswell & O’Connor, 2015, p. 255).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social death reflects elements of ostracism and stigma, and it occurs as a result of rejection, maltreatment, the withdrawal of community support, or the support of those who had close and continuous relationship with the individual in question (Biehl, 2004; Borgstrom, 2015; Caswell & O’Connor, 2015; Králová, 2015; Mulkay & Ernst, 1991; Williams, 2007). It is defined as a process or state in which an individual is gradually removed from mainstream society and ceases to be an active participant in the social worlds of others (Caswell & O’Connor, 2015; Mulkay & Ernst, 1991). This particular process of exclusion makes the person who has experienced this consider himself or herself as dead.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can Honor Killings Be Explained With the Concept of Social Death? Reinterpreting Social Psychological Evidence

Dogan

2019

Homicide Studies

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This article uses the concept of social death to explore the experiences and motivations of perpetrators of honor killings in light of social psychological evidence. This analysis then seeks an explanation for some honor killing cases where ostracism or extreme social exclusion of the perpetrator has preceded the murder. I argue that in some honor killing cases, extreme rejection and exclusion may lead the individual to feel that he or she has no choice but to seek validation or approval through killing to be re-included and recognized by the community and family.

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Agency in the context of social death: dying alone at home

Cited by 29 publications

References 23 publications

Dying alone and lonely dying: Media discourse and pandemic conditions

Dying alone and lonely dying: Media discourse and pandemic conditions

Ethical challenges in researching and telling the stories of recently deceased people

Can Honor Killings Be Explained With the Concept of Social Death? Reinterpreting Social Psychological Evidence

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