Kellehear A
Soc Sci Med. 1984;18(9):713-23. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(84)90094-7.
There exists in much social science literature on death and dying the traditionally held view that modern societies are 'death-denying'. In some cases this has been a 'throw away' line of minimal importance. Other times, the thesis that we are a death-denying society has taken on the appearance of serious sociological argument. In still other cases, there exists another body of literature which supports this thesis by offering examples of death denial rather than cogent argument. This has amounted to a significant, albeit fragmented, sociological theory of the background of our principle death related behaviours. This paper gives that quasi-theory a systematic review by examining the central terms of reference, argument and examples of 'death denial' in the literature. The main arguments and examples of this thesis, that we are a 'death-denying' society, are evaluated according to their sociological content. Subsequently, the ability of the thesis to explain the principle areas of our death related behaviour as discussed by it, has been assessed. This paper argues that Western societies are not 'death-denying' by any of the major criteria posed in the literature on the subject. To say that our contemporary societies are 'death-denying' has no theoretical or practical explanatory value.
在许多关于死亡与濒死的社会科学文献中，存在着一种传统观点，即现代社会“否认死亡”。在某些情况下，这只是一条不太重要的“附带观点”。而在其他时候，我们是一个否认死亡的社会这一论点，呈现出严肃社会学论证的表象。在另外一些情况下，还有一批文献通过列举否认死亡的例子而非有力论证来支持这一论点。这已形成了一种虽零散但重要的社会学理论，用于解释我们主要的与死亡相关行为的背景。本文通过审视文献中“否认死亡”的核心参考依据、论证及例子，对这一准理论进行系统回顾。关于我们是一个“否认死亡”社会这一论点的主要论证及例子，依据其社会学内容进行评估。随后，评估了该论点对其所讨论的我们与死亡相关行为的主要领域的解释能力。本文认为，根据该主题文献中提出的任何主要标准，西方社会都并非“否认死亡”。称我们当代社会“否认死亡”没有理论或实际的解释价值。
