My Memories of the Time We Had Together Are More Important
Direct Cremation and the Privatisation of UK Funerals
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2323282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kate Woodthorpe (0000-0002-0642-2832, University of Bath, corresponding author), Hannah Rumble (0000-0002-5410-8194, University of Bath), Anne Corden (University of York), John Birrell (University of Bath), J H W Birrell (University of Bath), Henk Schut (0000-0001-8744-4322, Utrecht University, the Netherlands), Margaret Stroebe, Margaret S Stroebe (0000-0002-8468-3317, Utrecht University, the Netherlands), Cate Newsom (University of Bath), Yvette Smith (Dignity Funerals, UK) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 556-573 |
| Publication date | 2022-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00380385211036350 |
| OpenAlex | W3195787965 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 28 |
Funerals have long been of interest to social scientists. Previous sociological work has examined the relationship between individuality, belief and tradition within funeral services, founded on the assumption that public rituals have psycho-social benefit for organisers and attendees. With the introduction of direct cremation to the UK, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on funeral service attendance in 2020 and 2021, critique of this assumption is now needed. Drawing on interviews with recently bereaved people who organised a direct cremation in late 2017, this article illustrates how compromise, control and consistency are key drivers for not having a funeral service. The article argues that a declining importance in the fate of the body and a move towards 'invite-only' commemorative events represents a waning need for social support offered by a public, communal funeral service. In turn, this indicates a sequestration, or privatisation, of the contemporary funeral
Attendance · Compromise · Economy · Political science · Public service · Service (business) · Social science · Sociology · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Law · Migration, Health and Trauma · Social Work
Between commerce and care
Performing Grief in Pandemic Theatres
Faith’ in Funerals? Robust attenuation or terminal decline? Religious and spiritual presences in a post-pandemic funeral landscape
Why does funeral attendance matter? Revisiting ‘configurational eulogies’ in light of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK
Caring for the dead at home
Cremated Bone in Archaeology
Constructing Death
How do Funeral Practices Impact Bereaved Relatives' Mental Health, Grief and Bereavement? A Mixed Methods Review with Implications for Covid-19
Death, grief, and mourning
Bodies and ceremonies
Encyclopaedia of cremation
Three ways to arrange a funeral
Funerals against death
The social agency of dead bodies
The pervasive dead
Post-mortem personalization
A Relative Absence
Cremation and Grief
Facilitating grief
The Good Funeral
Family and funerals
The State of the UK funeral industry
"Funerals aren't nice but it couldn't have been nicer". The makings of a good funeral
Funerals and families
The routinization of hospice
Wedding paradoxes
Death as a Fateful Moment? The Reflexive Individual and Scottish Funeral Practices
Modernity, Self-Identity and the Sequestration of Death
The Domestication of Death
Blowing in the wind? Identity, materiality, and the destinations of human ashes
Contemporary Hospice Care
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |