'Insightful and refreshing.' - Professor Dennis
Klass, Webster University Religion Department, St.
Louis, USA 'A tour de force.' - Dr Colin Murray Parkes,
OBE, MD, FRCPsych, President of CRUSE Some societies and
some individuals find a place for their dead, others
leave them behind. In recent years, researchers,
professionals and bereaved people themselves have
struggled with this. Should the bond with the dead be
continued or broken? What is clear is that the grieving
individual is not left in a social vacuum but has to
struggle with expectations from self, family, friends,
professionals and academic theorists. This
ground-breaking book looks at the social position of the
bereaved. They find themselves caught between the living
and the dead, sometimes searching for guidelines in a
de-ritualized society that has few to offer, sometimes
finding their grief inappropriately pathologised and
policed. At its best, bereavement care offers
reassurance, validation, and freedom to talk where the
client has previously encountered judgmentalism. In this
unique book, Tony Walter applies sociological insights
to one of the most personal of human situations.On
Bereavement is aimed at students on medical, nursing,
counselling and social work courses that include
bereavement as a topic. It will also appeal to sociology
students with an interest in death, dying and
mortality. |
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