Thanatology 2200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Headache, Myalgia, Clan Home
2 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Chapter 1 part 2: the experience of death in america. Example of encounters with death: car accident, recovering from illness. 5 principal features define contemporary encounters with death: death rates, average life expectancy, causes of death, dying trajectories, locations of death. Encounters with death in 21st century american society: # of people who die within a specific time period (day, month, year, 10 years, 100 years) Within a specific group (age, race, gender, social class) Overall: important changes: dramatic reduction in overall death rates since 1900. Significant implications: americans personally encounter death much less frequently than in previous generations, death often seems strange & alien. The gender gap remains: males continue to have higher death rates than females, especially so when those rates are adjusted for aging in the 2 groups. The social class gap remains: members of upper & middle social class tend to have lower death rates than those in lower social classes.
