Dying Responsibly: Deathcare as an Extension of Neoliberal Individuation in the Risk Society

• In Event: 3422 - Section on Aging and Life Course Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Healthcare

Abstract

Through a content analysis of death preparedness websites, this study extends Walter’s (1994) topology of death attitudes to consider the effects of neoliberal individuation on individuals in the deathcare market and their consumption of deathcare resources in preparation for their own deaths, conceived as both a final act of individuation and responsibility in the neoliberal risk society. This emphasis on risk is clear in the mission statements of many death preparedness web-companies through continual reminders of untimely death. The specter of illness, or accident, or even malicious violence defines the neoliberal deathcare consumer in the risk society as always-already dying, therefore always-already in need of preparedness resources. The neoliberal deathcare consumer, indefinitely at risk of untimely death, is told she or he has an obligation to make arrangements and maintain accounts in the event of her/his unavoidable death, decades or days down the road. Self-management of funerary and memorial arrangements are rearticulated as merciful and responsible, rather than selfish or egoistic. This study contends the increased emphasis on individuation and personal responsibility contribute to shifting understandings of death, memorial, and mourning in the contemporary United States.

Author

• Doug Valentine, University of Missouri