From ‘Forbidden Death’ to ‘Spectacular Death’ – on the transformation of death in the West (and maybe elsewhere)

Michael Hviid Jacobsen

doi:10.25167/sk.5606

##plugins.themes.libcom.datePublished##: 2024-06-23

No 12 (2023)

From ‘Forbidden Death’ to ‘Spectacular Death’ – on the transformation of death in the West (and maybe elsewhere)

Michael Hviid Jacobsen

Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies

Sekce: Varia

https://doi.org/10.25167/sk.5606

Abstrakt

This article aspires to capture the contemporary ‘death mentality’ in the Western world by proposing a transition from the time of ‘Forbidden Death’ to the age of ‘Spectacular Death’. Whereas ‘Forbidden Death’ – which according to the originator of the concept, French historian Philippe Ariès – was characterized by a modern tabooing, denial and seques- tration of death, towards the end of the 20th century we began to witness the contours of a postmodern ‘revival of death’ tendency. In the wake of this, it is suggested that we now no longer live in a time of ‘Forbidden Death’, but rather live and die in an era of ‘Spec- tacular Death’ in which death has become a spectacle – something mostly to be observed from afar, but with an intense force of attraction. ‘Spectacular Death’ indicates that our collective experience of, attitude towards, relationship with and management of death is increasingly characterized by the following five main features: mediation/mediatization, commercialization, re-ritualization and palliative care humanization of death and dying and finally also an academic specialization in the study of death. The article ends with a brief critical discussion of the range, scope and analytical applicability of the notion of ‘Spectacular Death’ also outside a Western context.

Nejaktuálnější články stejného autora (stejných autorů)

Julija Tuleikytė, Michael Hviid Jacobsen, Education as (de)humanization. A possibility for a creative dialogue between the social philosophies of Paulo Freire and Zygmunt Bauman , Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies: No 11 (2022)

##plugins.themes.libcom.download_files##

pdf (English)

##plugins.themes.libcom.cit_rules##

Jacobsen , M. H. (2024). From ‘Forbidden Death’ to ‘Spectacular Death’ – on the transformation of death in the West (and maybe elsewhere). Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies, (12), 31–63. https://doi.org/10.25167/sk.5606

##plugins.themes.libcom.share##

Reference

Aramesh, Kiaresh.2016. “History of Attitudes Toward Death: A Comparative Study between Persian and Western Cultures”. Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 9 (20):1-6.
Google Scholar

Ariès, Philippe.1974. Western Attitudes Toward Death from the Middle Ages to the Pre- sent. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Google Scholar

Ariès, Philippe.1981. The Hour of Our Death. London: Allen Lane.
Google Scholar

Bauman, Zygmunt.1992. Mortality, Immortality and Other Life Strategies. Cambridge:
Google Scholar

Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Beck, Ulrich and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim.2002. “Death of One’s Own, Life of One’s
Google Scholar

Own: Hopes from Transience”, in Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism
Google Scholar

and Its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage Publications, pp. 151-155. Becker, Ernest.1973/1997. The Denial of Death. New York: The Free Press.
Google Scholar

Berridge, Kate.2002. Vigor Mortis: The End of the Death Taboo. London: Profile Books. Bjerg, Svend.1975. Døden [Death]. Copenhagen: Berlingske Forlag.
Google Scholar

Black, Sue.2019. All That Remains: A Life in Death. New York: Doubleday.
Google Scholar

Boret, Sébastien P., Susan O. Long and Sergei Kan. edited. 2017. Death in the Early Twenty-First Century: Authority, Innovation and Mortuary Rites. London: Palgrave/
Google Scholar

Macmillan.
Google Scholar

Doig, Anthony. 2022. This Mortal Coil: A History of Death. London: Bloomsbury.
Google Scholar

Doka, Kenneth J. 2003. “The Death Awareness Movement: Description, History and Ana-
Google Scholar

lysis” In Handbook of Death and Dying, Volume One: The Presence of Death. edited
Google Scholar

by Clifton D. Bryant. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications, pp. 50-56.
Google Scholar

Donaldson, Peter J. 1973. “Denying Death: A Note Regarding Some Ambiguities in the
Google Scholar

Current Discussion”. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 3 (4):285-290.
Google Scholar

Dugdale, Lydia. edited.2015: Dying in the Twenty-First Century: Towards a New Ethical
Google Scholar

Framework for the Art of Dying Well. Cambridge: MA: The MIT Press.
Google Scholar

Elias, Norbert.1939/1994. The Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell.
Google Scholar

Elias, Norbert.1985/2001. The Loneliness of the Dying. London: Continuum. Eyetsemitan, Frank.2002. “Cultural Interpretation of Dying and Death in a Non-
Google Scholar

-Western Society: The Case of Nigeria”. Online Readings in Psychology and Cul- ture, 3 (2). Available online at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi? article=1090&context=orpc.
Google Scholar

Farberow, Norman L. edited. 1963. Taboo Topics. New York: Atherton Press.
Google Scholar

Feifel, Herman.1963. “The Taboo on Death”. American Behavioral Scientist, 6 (9):66-67. Foucault, Michel.1978. History of Sexuality, Volume 1: The Will to Knowledge. London:
Google Scholar

Penguin Books.
Google Scholar

Freud, Anna.1936. ‘The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense’, in The Writings of Anna
Google Scholar

Freud (Volume 2). New York: International Universities Press, pp. 3-191. Freud, Sigmund.1913/1998. Totem and Taboo. London: Dover Publications.
Google Scholar

Freud, Sigmund.1915/1957. ‘Thoughts for the Times on War and Death’, in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. edited by James Strachey. (Volume 14). London: Hogarth Press, pp. 275-300.
Google Scholar

Giddens, Anthony.1991. Modernity and Self-Identity – Self and Society in the Late Mo- dern Age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Google Scholar

Glaser, Barney G. and Anselm L. Strauss.1965. Awareness of Dying. Chicago: Aldine. Goodwin, Sarah W. and Elisabeth Bronfen.1993. In Death and Representation. “In- troduction”, edited by Sarah W. Goodwin and Elisabeth Bronfen. Baltimore: Johns
Google Scholar

Hopkins University Press, pp. 3-25.
Google Scholar

Gorer, Geoffrey.1955. ‘The Pornography of Death’. Encounter, October, pp. 49-52. Gorer, Geoffrey.1965. Death, Grief and Mourning. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Hagger, Lynn and Simon Woods edited. 2020. A Good Death? Law and Ethics in Practice.
Google Scholar

London: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Hall, G. Stanley.1915. “Thanatophobia and Immortality”. American Journal of Psycho-
Google Scholar

logy, 26 (4):550-613.
Google Scholar

Han, Sam.2020. (Inter)Facing Death: Life in Global Uncertainty. London: Routledge. Heidegger, Martin.1927/2008. Being and Time. New York: Harper.
Google Scholar

Huntington, Richard and Peter Metcalf.1979. Celebrations of Death: The Anthropology
Google Scholar

of Mortuary Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Illich, Ivan.1977. Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health. New York: Pantheon
Google Scholar

Books.
Google Scholar

Inglehart, Ronald and Christian Welzel.2022. World Values Survey. Available online at:
Google Scholar

https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp.
Google Scholar

Jacobs, Joseph.1900. The Dying of Death. New York: Tucker Publishing Company. Jacobsen, Michael Hviid. edited. 2013. Deconstructing Death: Changing Cultures of De-
Google Scholar

ath, Dying, Bereavement and Care in the Nordic Countries. Odense: University Press
Google Scholar

of Southern Denmark.
Google Scholar

Jacobsen, Michael Hviid.2016. “»Spectacular Death« – Proposing a New Fifth Phase to
Google Scholar

Philippe Ariès’s Admirable History of Death’. Humanities, 5 (19):1-20.
Google Scholar

Jacobsen, Michael Hviid. edited. 2020. The Age of Spectacular Death. London: Routledge. Jacobsen, Michael Hviid. 2021a. ‘The Transformation of Death Discourse: From “Taboo”
Google Scholar

to “Revival” at the Threshold of the New Millennium’, In The Routledge History of
Google Scholar

Death Since 1800. edited by Peter N. Stearns. London: Routledge, pp. 152-174. Jacobsen, Michael Hviid.2021b. “Contemplating a Career in Death and Dying – An
Google Scholar

Interview with Tony Walter”. Mortality, 27 (2):228-258.
Google Scholar

Jacobsen, Michael Hviid.2022. “The Whole World Will Die – Trivial Reflections on the
Google Scholar

Normality and Deviance of Death and Dying”. Eastern and North European Journal
Google Scholar

of Death Studies, 1 (1):78-109.
Google Scholar

Jacobsen, Michael Hviid and Nicklas Runge (2023): ‘Death as a Social Construct – Zyg-
Google Scholar

munt Bauman and the Changing Meanings of Mortality’, in Michael Hviid Jacob- sen (ed.): The Anthem Companion to Zygmunt Bauman. New York: Anthem Press, pp. 109-131.
Google Scholar

Kastenbaum, Robert J. 1977/2012. Death, Society and Human Experience. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Google Scholar

Kearl, Michael C. 2010. ‘The Proliferation of Postselves in American Civic and Popular Cultures’. Mortality, 15 (1): 47-63
Google Scholar

Kellehear, Allan. 2007. A Social History of Dying. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Khapaeva, Dina. 2017. The Celebration of Death in Contemporary Culture. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Google Scholar

Laqueur, Thomas W. 2015. The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Google Scholar

Lee, Rebekah and Megan Vaughan. 2008. “Death and Dying in the History of Africa since 1800”. Journal of African History, 49 (3):341-359.
Google Scholar

Leget, Carlo. 2017. Art of Living, Art of Dying – Spiritual Care for a Good Death. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Google Scholar

Mellor, Philip A. and Chris Shilling. 1993. “Modernity, Self-Identity and the Sequestra- tion of Death”. Sociology, 27 (3):411-431.
Google Scholar

Mitchell, Allan. 1978. “Philipe Ariès and the French Way of Death”. French Historical Studies,10 (4):684-695.
Google Scholar

Mitford, Jessica. 1963. The American Way of Death. New York: Simon and Schuster. Morgan, John D. and Pittu Laungani. edited. 2003-2009. Death and Bereavement Around
Google Scholar

the World, Volume 1-5. Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing.
Google Scholar

Noys, Benjamin. 2005. The Culture of Death. Oxford: Berg.
Google Scholar

O’Mahony, Seamus. 2016. The Way We Die Now: The View from Medicine’s Front Line.
Google Scholar

London: Thomas Dunne Books.
Google Scholar

Pearson, Mike Parker. 2003. The Archaeology of Death and Burial. Cheltenham: The
Google Scholar

History Press.
Google Scholar

Robert, Martin and Laura Tradii. 2019. ‘Do We Deny Death? I. A Genealogy of Death
Google Scholar

Denial’. Mortality, 24 (3):247-260.
Google Scholar

Rostow, Walt. 1960. The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto.
Google Scholar

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Seebach, Sophie and Rane Willerslev. edited..2018. Mirrors of Passing: Unlocking the
Google Scholar

Mysteries of Death, Materiality and Time. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Google Scholar

Selin, Helaine and Robert M. Rakoff. edited. 2019. Death Across Cultures: Death and
Google Scholar

Dying in Non-Western Cultures. New York: Springer.
Google Scholar

Simpson, Michael A. 1979. Dying, Death & Grief: A Critical Bibliography. Philadelphia:
Google Scholar

University of Philadelphia Press.
Google Scholar

Solomon, Sheldon, Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszcynski. 2016. The Worm at the Core: On
Google Scholar

the Role of Death in Life. New York: Penguin Books.
Google Scholar

Sudnow, David. 1967. Passing On: The Social Organization of Dying. Englewood Cliffs,
Google Scholar

NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Google Scholar

Sumiala, Johanna. 2022. Mediating Death. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Tradii, Laura and Martin Robert. 2019. “Do We Deny Death? II. Critiques of the Death-
Google Scholar

-Denial Thesis”. Mortality, 24 (4):377-388.
Google Scholar

Vovelle, Michel. 1980. “Rediscovery of Death Since 1960”. The Annals of the American
Google Scholar

Academy of Political and Social Science, 447:89-99.
Google Scholar

Vovelle, Michel. 1983. La mort et l’Occident de 1300 à nos jours. Paris: Gallimard. Walter, Tony. 1991. “Modern Death: Taboo or Not Taboo?”. Sociology, 25 (2):293-310. Walter, Tony. 1994. The Revival of Death. London: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Walter, Tony. 1996. “Facing Death Without Tradition”, in Contemporary Issues in the
Google Scholar

Sociology of Death, Dying and Disposal. Edited by Glennys Howarth and Peter C.
Google Scholar

Jupp. Basingstoke: Macmillan, pp. 193-204.
Google Scholar

Walter, Tony. 2004. “Plastination for Display: A New Way to Dispose of the Dead”.
Google Scholar

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 10 (3):603-627.
Google Scholar

Walter, Tony. 2012. “Why Different Countries Manage Death Differently: A Comparative
Google Scholar

Analysis of Modern Urban Societies”. British Journal of Sociology, 63 (1):123-145. Walter, Tony (2017): What Death Means Now: Thinking Critically about Dying and
Google Scholar

Grieving. Bristol: Policy Press.
Google Scholar

Walter, Tony. 2021. Death in the Modern World. London: Sage Publications.
Google Scholar

Webb, Marilyn. 1999. The Good Death: The New American Search to Reshape the End
Google Scholar

of Life. New York: Bantam Books.
Google Scholar

Weeks, Jeffrey. 2003. Sexuality (2nd Edition). London: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Whaley, Joachim. 1981. ‘”ntroduction”, in Mirrors of Mortality – Studies in the Social
Google Scholar

History of Death edited by Joachim Whaley. London: Europa Publications, pp. 1-14.
Google Scholar