How useful is ‘structural functionalism’ or ‘society as an organism’ as theoretical frameworks in considering the problem of ‘death’ as a sociological

The essay will critically analyse theoretical accounts of society, in particular how useful they are in understanding how death is viewed socially in the West. It will be argued that all different theoretical models of society can be useful, but that the model ‘society as an organism’, which emphasises symbolic interactionism, is often more useful than structural functionalism on its own. My analysis will start with a look a critique of structural functionalism, using Durkheim’s analysis of suicide (1953) as an example. I then look at ‘society as an organism’ in the thought of Rousseau (1913), before turning to consider these models specifically in relation to the problem of death. I discuss our Western fear of death, and suggest, drawing on Eagleton (2003), that any solution must involve facing this fear on a social level.

There are sociological theories in which society is conceived of as a total structure made of functioning parts: this is structural functionalism. Rigney (2001: 17) describes structural functionalism as follows: “society is a system of independent parts working together to produce a vital functioning whole”. For example, as there are many roles played in society, good and bad, it can be likened to a theatre, in which our life is one big stage with many different parts being and acted out (Goffman, 1969). Yet it could be argued that this approach is too simplistic because it does not take into account when people and events go outside the norms and values of society, for example in crime and disorder. In short, we might say structural functionalism cannot explain where structure is ‘dysfunctional’. It may highlight dysfunction and disorder, but it does not easily account for them. To make an example of this, ...

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Works Cited

Curl, J. S. (1993) A Celebration of Death, London : Batsford.

Durkheim, E., ‘Introduction’, (1952) Suicide: A Study in Sociology. London: Routledge and Kegan

Eagleton, T, ‘Death, Evil and Non-Being’, After Theory (2003), London: Penguin, pp.208-222

Goffman, E. (1996). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. London: Allen lane.

Honneth, A, Disrespect: the normative foundations of critical theory (2007), Polity Press (Trans.), London: Malden MA: Polity Press.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 'Discourses on the Arts and Sciences' [1750], in The Social Contract and Discourses (1993), Trans. G.D.H. Cole, London: Everyman.

Miller, A, The Theatre Essays of Authur Miller (1978), Martin, Robert A (Ed.), London: NY: Viking Press.

Romanoff B. D.; Terenzio M (1998). Death Studies, Volume 22, Number 8, , pp. 697-711(15) RITUALS AND THE GRIEVING PROCESS