Abstract
Funerals have long been of interest to social scientists. Previous sociological work has examined the relationship between individuality, belief and tradition within funeral services, founded on the assumption that public rituals have psycho-social benefit for organisers and attendees. With the introduction of direct cremation to the UK, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on funeral service attendance in 2020 and 2021, critique of this assumption is now needed. Drawing on interviews with recently bereaved people who organised a direct cremation in late 2017, this article illustrates how compromise, control and consistency are key drivers for not having a funeral service. The article argues that a declining importance in the fate of the body and a move towards ‘invite-only’ commemorative events represents a waning need for social support offered by a public, communal funeral service. In turn, this indicates a sequestration, or privatisation, of the contemporary funeral.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 556–573 |
Journal | Sociology |
Volume | 56 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 6 Sept 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Dignity Funerals, UK, a national provider of funeral arrangements. We are grateful to Dignity Funerals for funding this project and especially to Simon Cox, Head of Insight and External Affairs of Dignity Funerals, for facilitating this research project.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Dignity Funerals, UK, a national provider of funeral arrangements. We are grateful to Dignity Funerals for funding this project and especially to Simon Cox, Head of Insight and External Affairs of Dignity Funerals, for facilitating this research project.
Keywords
- commemoration
- cremation
- funerals
- privatisation
- public
- ritual
- sequestration