‘We’re ok with death.’ Young people talk about the end-of-life by Sarah Coombs a presentation from the BSA Sociology of Death, Dying and Bereavement Study Group Symposium on 15 November 2013.
3. Argument
• Kastenbaum and Fox
(2007) suggest that as
adults we assume that
– Children do not think about
death. Children cannot
think about death. Children
should not think about
death.
• However, Isaac (aged 15)
contends that,
I don’t agree with that. I think that
was probably written by an
adult…I think children are
suppressed from talking about
death in order to protect them. To
say can’t, don’t and shouldn’t is
wrong because we can, we do
and I think we should
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4. Death … A problem … For adults [?]
• Elias: ‘Nothing is more characteristic of the
present day attitude to death than the
reluctance of adults to make children
acquainted with the facts of death’ (1985:
18).
• Bluebond-Langner & DeCicco: ‘death, like
sex, is a topic which adults find difficult to
discuss with children’ (2006: 85).
• Fearnley: ‘Despite advancements in many
aspects of our everyday lives during the last
decade, the positioning of children in
relation to dying and death appears to have
stagnated’ (2012: 11).
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6. • Bluebond-Langer 1978,
Silverman 2000,
McCarthy 2006, Fearnley
2012, have all sought to
ascertain young people’s
views of death
• McCarthy contending that
these have often been in
relation to ‘significant
biographical events’ and
therefore ‘the context of
deaths that do not
constitute a major
disruption to their lives’
(2006: 180), may have
been overlooked.
Finding out