Death and the search for meaning: canonical, utilitarian and expressive thanatological cultural niches.
The bafflement, suffering and moral paradox that often surround death fuel the human search for meaning. Whereas traditionally religions provided meaning in the face of death, due to secularisation and rationalisation this search for meaning has increasingly become an individual project. We argue th...
| Publicado en: | Mortality Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 339 - 356 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Nov2017
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=125436300&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 125436300 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13576275 MIY jtl: Mortality issn: 13576275 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Nov2017 vid: 22 iid: 4 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 125436300 10.1080/13576275.2016.1259213 ppf: 339 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 125436300 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 125436300 tig: atl: Death and the search for meaning: canonical, utilitarian and expressive thanatological cultural niches. aug: au: Fortuin, Nienke Pauline Margriet Schilderman, Johannes Bernardus Antonius Maria Venbrux, Eric affil: Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands su: Netherlands Interviewing Newspapers Qualitative research Cultural values Attitudes toward death Psychology & religion Statistical sampling Data analysis software Descriptive statistics sug: subj: Interviewing Newspapers Qualitative research Cultural values Attitudes toward death Netherlands Newspaper Publishers Book stores and news dealers News Dealers and Newsstands Book, periodical and newspaper merchant wholesalers Book, Periodical, and Newspaper Merchant Wholesalers Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling Psychology & religion Statistical sampling Data analysis software Descriptive statistics keyword: cultural affordance cultural niche death dying religion Search for meaning cultural affordance cultural niche death dying religion Search for meaning ab: The bafflement, suffering and moral paradox that often surround death fuel the human search for meaning. Whereas traditionally religions provided meaning in the face of death, due to secularisation and rationalisation this search for meaning has increasingly become an individual project. We argue that in this process, people derive meaning from death-related cultural affordances. We define these as the opportunities for perception and action that are offered by culturally embedded meanings concerning death and dying that are embodied by observable carriers of meaning. They are grouped together in thanatological cultural niches: more or less consistent sets of mutually supporting death-related cultural affordances. We distinguish three thanatological cultural niches, based on differences both in mechanisms for selecting meaning and in content of meaning: a canonical niche (consisting of affordances grounded in religious authority and established tradition), utilitarian niche (consisting of affordances grounded in rational and utilitarian reasoning) and expressive niche (consisting of affordances grounded in authentic self-expression). Qualitative analysis of Dutch newspaper articles portraying people confronted with approaching death shows that they applied death-related cultural affordances from different cultural niches. Application of death-related cultural affordances stemming from different cultural niches may lead to personal conceptions of death that are mutually inconsistent. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|