Handbook of Death and Dying - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0761925147 ISBN 13: 9780761925149

Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2003

Synopsis

Dying is a social as well as physiological phenomenon. Each society characterizes and, consequently, treats death and dying in its own individual ways―ways that differ markedly. These particular patterns of death and dying engender modal cultural responses, and such institutionalized behavior has familiar, economical, educational, religious, and political implications.

The Handbook of Death and Dying takes stock of the vast literature in the field of thanatology, arranging and synthesizing what has been an unwieldy body of knowledge into a concise, yet comprehensive reference work. This two-volume handbook will provide direction and momentum to the study of death-related behavior for many years to come.

Key Features

• More than 100 contributors representing authoritative expertise in a diverse array of disciplines
  • Anthropology
  • Family Studies
  • History
  • Law
  • Medicine
  • Mortuary Science
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology
  • Social work
  • Sociology
  • Theology
• A distinguished editorial board of leading scholars and researchers in the field
• More than 100 definitive essays covering almost every dimension of death-related behavior
• Comprehensive and inclusive, exploring concepts and social patterns within the larger topical concern
• Journal article length essays that address topics with appropriate detail
• Multidisciplinary and cross-cultural coverage

 

About this title

About the Author

Clifton D. Bryant is Professor of Sociology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. He has been a faculty member there since 1972 and served as Department Chair from 1972 to 1982. Prior to coming to Virginia Tech, he held full-time faculty teaching appointments at Western Kentucky University (Department Head 1967–1972), Millsaps College (Department Head 1963–1967), and the University of Georgia (1960–1963). He was Visiting Professor at Mississippi State University (Summer 1985) and at the Pennsylvania State University (Summer 1958). His  research appointments include Visiting Scientist at the U.S. Army Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (Summer 1993), Visiting Research Scholar with the Mississippi Alcohol Safety Education  Program Mississippi State University; Summer 1985), and Visiting Research Scholar with Training and  Technology Project operated by the Resource Development Office of Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc. (Summer 1987). His foreign teaching appointments include Visiting Fulbright Professor, Department and Graduate Institute of Sociology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China (1987–1988), and Visiting Professor in the Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Xavier University, The  Ateneo, Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines (1984–1985). He was a participant in the U.S.  Department of Education’s 1998 Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program in the People’s Republic of China (Summer 1998) and was also a participant in the U.S. Department of Education’s 1993 Fulbright- Hays Seminars Abroad Program in Hungary (Summer, 1993). Dr. Bryant served as President of the Southern Sociological Society (1978–1979) and as President of the Mid-South Sociological Association (1981–1982). He was the recipient of the Mid-South Sociological Association’s Distinguished Career Award in 1991 and the Distinguished Book Award in 2001. He is also the recipient of the Southern Sociological Society’s 2003 Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award.  He has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 1984 and in Who’s Who in the World since 1991. He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Delta, Alpha Kappa Delta, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Alpha Phi Omega. Dr. Bryant was founder and Chairman of the Editorial Board of Sociological Symposium (1968–1980). He was also the founder of Deviant Behavior and served as Editor-in-Chief of that journal from 1978 to 1991.  He continues to serve as Chair of the Editorial Policy Board for the journal. He was editor of the Southern Sociologist (1970–1974). He has served as a member of the editorial board of Criminology (1978–1981),  Associate Editor of Sociological Forum (1979–1980), Associate Editor of Sociological Spectrum (1981– 1985), member of the Board of Advisory Editors of Sociological Inquiry (1981–1985) and also Associate  Editor of that journal (1997–2000). He was a member of the Board of Editors of Society and Animals (1997–1999) and was Associate Editor for a special issue of Marriage and Family Relations (Fall 1982). He is the author of Sexual Deviancy and Social Proscription; Khaki-Collar Crime: Deviant Behavior in Military Context; and Deviant Behavior: Occupational and Organizational Bases; editor of The  Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior (four volumes); Deviant Behavior: Readings in the Sociology of Norm Violations; The Rural Work Force: Nonagricultural Occupations in America; Sexual Deviance in Sexual Context; The Social Dimensions of Work; and coeditor of Social Problems Today:  Dilemmas and Dimensions; Deviance and the Family; and Introductory Sociology: Selected Readings for the College Scene. He has published articles in a number of professional journals, including Social Forces, Society, Sociological Inquiry, Sociology and Social Research, Rural Sociology, Sociological Forum, American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Sex Research, Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, Journal of Leisure Sciences, Sociological Spectrum, The Rural Sociologist, Psychological Reports, Free  Inquiry in Creative Sociology, World Leisure and Recreation, Hort Technology, Anthrozoos, Applied  Behavioral Science Review, Man and Environmental Systems, The Southern Sociologist, and Deviant  Behavior. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Mississippi, did advanced graduate work at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), and received his Ph.D. degree from Louisiana State University.

From Booklist

Although the U.S. is considered a death-denying society, a focus on understanding the social and cultural issues around death has been gathering momentum since the 1960s and 1970s, a result of demographic changes, medical advancements and resulting ethical issues, and other factors.

Topics in the Handbook of Death and Dying are presented as a collection of 103 comprehensive essays clustered in 10 general areas. The field of death studies is multidisciplinary; the more than 100 contributors are academics in sociology, psychology, social work, theology, history, medicine, law, and other areas of inquiry as well as practitioners in medicine, law, public policy, and mortuary sciences. Essays are gathered under general rubrics: in the first volume the section "Death in the Cultural Context" treats issues in confronting death, with essays on fear of death, death in popular culture, spiritualism, and more. The 12 essays that make up "Death in the Social Context" consider topics such as trends in mortality, accidental death, and terrorism. Suicide, capital punishment, euthanasia, and the hospice movement are among other topics in the first volume. The second volume deals with the response to death--the social ceremonies, the different ways of disposing of bodies, and the experiences of bereavement and survivorship. Ten essays on various aspects of the legalities of death are followed by a section on the response to death in literature, music, and art. The substantive essays are generally between 9 to 15 pages, with extensive bibliographies. A very deep and detailed index, close to 50 pages, easily leads the reader to more specific information.

The single-volume Encyclopedia of Death and Dying (Routledge, 2000) is much less comprehensive. Death and the Afterlife: A Cultural Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2000) deals with the funeral and afterlife beliefs of various cultures. In breadth and heft, the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying (2003) is most similar to the Handbook of Death and Dying. It is in a more traditional encyclopedic format with a mix of brief and longer entries. One can find similar information in both, and the two works share many of the same contributors, but the Handbook is perhaps more scholarly overall in tone. Both works are excellent and highly recommended. Although each has it strengths and slight differences in coverage (including the quirky--Elvis sightings in Macmillan, taxidermy as art in the Handbook), smaller libraries may be satisfied with the Macmillan work if it is already in the reference collection. RBB
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Edition details

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0761925147
• ISBN 13: 9780761925149
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1144
• Editor: Bryant Clifton D.