Smith-Greenaway Emily, Verdery Ashton M, Carr Deborah
Dean's Professor of Sociology & Professor of Sociology & Spatial Sciences, Department of Sociology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Social Data Analytics, Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA.
Annu Rev Sociol. 2025 Jul;51:357-375. doi: 10.1146/annurev-soc-090324-035534. Epub 2025 Apr 9.
Bereavement-the loss of a loved one through death-is a common and consequential life course experience. Although bereavement, and matters of death and dying more generally, have long remained on the margins of sociology, in the wake of contemporary mortality crises, sociological research on bereavement has flourished. This review synthesizes the new sociology of bereavement. To contextualize contemporary advancements, we first describe the earlier dominance of psychopathology perspectives on the topic. We then review recent sociological contributions, describing recognition of the structural systems that underpin bereavement and shape its wide-ranging and long-lasting consequences for individuals, families, and communities. We emphasize how bereavement experiences provide a microcosm for understanding social inequalities, and that a life course perspective can provide an integrative framework for a comprehensive sociology of bereavement. We conclude by identifying promising areas for future advancements in this emerging field.
丧亲之痛——因亲人离世而失去所爱之人——是一种常见且影响重大的人生经历。尽管丧亲之痛以及更广泛意义上的死亡和临终问题长期以来一直处于社会学的边缘，但在当代死亡率危机之后，关于丧亲之痛的社会学研究蓬勃发展。本综述综合了丧亲之痛的新社会学。为了将当代的进展置于背景之中，我们首先描述了早期心理病理学视角在该主题上的主导地位。然后我们回顾了近期的社会学贡献，描述了对支撑丧亲之痛并塑造其对个人、家庭和社区产生广泛而持久影响的结构系统的认识。我们强调丧亲之痛的经历如何为理解社会不平等提供一个缩影，以及生命历程视角如何能为全面的丧亲之痛社会学提供一个综合框架。我们通过确定这一新兴领域未来进展的有前景的领域来得出结论。
