Introduction — Why Death Matters to Policy

  • Liam Foster
  • Kate Woodthorpe
Chapter

Abstract

The study of death has the capacity to bring together a considerable range of policy areas. How we handle dying, death and bereavement, as individuals, groups, organisations and even society, reflects values about our worth and contribution. It mirrors how we see ourselves and our own fragility (Kellehear, 2007). What is more, death shines a light on how we live our lives. Individuals’ experiences of death and the situation of those ‘left behind’ are the product of decisions made across a life course, not merely as one approaches death. While in some respects, given that death is a universal human experience, it may be seen as a great leveller. However, in other respects it is linked to individual characteristics and experiences. For instance, the age of death is linked to wider social policies which affect health, employment, income, participation and individuals’ overall quality of life. It is linked to social class (Howarth, 2007; Marmot, 2010), gender (Austad, 2006) and ethnicity (Holloway, 2007), all of which shape and contextualise people’s lives. History also plays a role in shaping communities and policies, which in turn impact on the resources and quality of services available to dying individuals and those close to them (Monroe et al., 2011). This is related to the prevailing political ideology and party in power, which has implications for rights and responsibilities, the extent to which support is provided by the state or the market, or indeed whether it is provided at all (Dwyer, 2010). Policy affects not only the way people near the end of life are supported but also the financial circumstances of those left behind (Grenier, 2012). As such, social policy has considerable implications for how death is experienced and our understanding of death in the modern world.

Keywords

Social Policy Policy Agenda National Audit Statistical Bulletin Voluntary Euthanasia 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Austad, S. (2006) ‘Why women live longer than men: Sex differences in longevity,’ Gender Medicine, 3(2), 79–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Barr, N. and Diamond, P. (2008) Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Croxall, J. and Hillcoat-Nalletamby, S. (2007) ‘Living on after death: Bereavement and social welfare needs,’ Mortality, 12, Supplement S27, 1–98.Google Scholar
  4. DoH. (2008) End of Life Care Strategy: Promoting High Quality Care for All Adults at the End of Life (London, England: The Stationery Office).Google Scholar
  5. Dwyer, P. (2010) Understanding Social Citizenship: Issues for Policy and Practice, 2nd edn (Bristol: Policy Press).Google Scholar
  6. Eurostat (2014) ‘Population Statistics at Regional Level,’ Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Population_statistics_at_regional_level.Google Scholar
  7. Foster, L. (2010) ‘Towards a new political economy of pensions? The implications for women,’ Critical Social Policy, 30(1), 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Gomes, B., Cohen, J., Deliens, L. and Higginson, I. (2011) ‘International trends in circumstances of death and dying amongst older people,’ in M. Gott and C. Ingleton (eds) Living with Ageing and Dying (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 3–18.Google Scholar
  9. Gott, M. and Ingleton, C. (2011) ‘Introduction,’ in M. Gott and C. Ingleton (eds) Living with Ageing and Dying (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 1–2.Google Scholar
  10. Grenier, A. (2012) Transitions and the Life Course: Challenging the Constructions of Growing Old (Bristol: Policy Press).Google Scholar
  11. Holloway, M. (2007) Negotiating Death in Contemporary Health and Social Care (Bristol: Policy Press).Google Scholar
  12. Howarth, G. (2007) ‘Whatever happened to social class? An examination of the neglect of working class cultures in the sociology of death,’ Sociology Health Review, 16(5): 425–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Kellehear, A. (2007) A Social History of Dying (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Lanzieri, G. (2011) The Greying of the Baby Boomers. A Century-Long View of Ageing in European Populations. Statistics in Focus (Luxembourg: Eurostat).Google Scholar
  15. Marmot, M. (2010) Pair Society, Healthy Society. The Marmot Review. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview.Google Scholar
  16. Monroe, B., Oliviere, D. and Payne, S. (2011) ‘Introduction: Social differences — the challenges for palliative care,’ in D. Oliviere, B. Monroe and S. Payne (eds) Death, Dying, and Social Differences (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 3–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. National Audit Office (2008) The Potential Cost Savings of Greater Use of Home — and Hospice-Based End of Life Care in England (Cambridge: RAND).Google Scholar
  18. ONS (2013) ‘Historic and Projected Mortality Data from the Period and Cohort Life Tables, 2012-based, UK, 1981–2062,’ Statistical Bulletin, Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_345078.pdf.Google Scholar
  19. ONS (2014a) ‘Deaths Registered in England and Wales, 2013,’ Statistical Bulletin, Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcpl71778_370815.pdf.Google Scholar
  20. ONS (2014b) ‘National Life Tables, United Kingdom, 2011–2013,’ Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcpl71778_377972.pdf.Google Scholar
  21. ONS (2014c) ‘Estimates of the Very Old (including Centenarians) for the United Kingdom, 2002–2012,’ Statistical Bulletin, Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcpl71778_357100.pdf.Google Scholar
  22. ONS (2014d) ‘2014 Annual Mid-Year Population Estimates, 2013,’ Statistical Bulletin, Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcpl71778_367167.pdf.Google Scholar
  23. Reith, M. and Payne, M. (2009) Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care (Bristol: Policy Press).Google Scholar
  24. Rowlingson, K. and Connor, S. (2011) ‘The “deserving” rich? Inequality, morality and social policy,’ Journal of Social Policy, 40(3), 437–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Samsi, K. and Manthorpe, J. (2011) ‘“I live for today”: A qualitative study investigating older people’s attitudes to advance planning,’ Health and Social Care in the Community, 19(1), 52–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Townsend, P. (2007) ‘Using human rights to defeat ageism: Dealing with policy induced “structured dependency”,’ in M. Bernard and T. Scharf (eds) Critical Perspectives on Ageing Societies (Cambridge: Polity Press).Google Scholar
  27. Victor, C. (2010) Ageing, Health and Care (Bristol: Policy Press).Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Liam Foster and Kate Woodthorpe 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Liam Foster
  • Kate Woodthorpe

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations