(H) (249-264) Thompson, Handling the Stigma of Handling the dead

An individual’s occupation or career is seen as their social identity because their ‘sense of self’ is strongly linked to their occupations. So, initially, I didn’t understand why I read about death and the process of embalming , etc. After thoroughly reading it, I understood the purpose of this reading. The initial judgment of your career by others is based on preconceived notions. For example, I want to join the military but everyone around me thinks of them as crazy and stupid. People tend to hear the ‘bad’ things about your career and judge it or just judge because everyone does. There are often careers that are stigmatized or looked down upon. For example, the job of a mortician or funeral director. They are known for handling the bodies of the dead which historically were assigned to those of the lower class. Or an unwanted job because who would want to work with a dead corpse. Individuals with these occupations have a lot of stigma surrounding them and this study shows how they handle it. They knew what the public thought of the profession and how they considered death in general. Each of the interviewees decided to bear the losses and go into the occupation for their own reasons. Personally, I have never deeply thought about the funeral industry and the people in it, other than the dead, of course. I just learned in sociology class is the fact that people back in the late eighteen hundred and early nineteen hundred would prepare the bodies for burial for the people that passed in their family. People that died usually passed in their own homes and that’s where their body would be prepared. It’s really intriguing how before you would die in your home surrounded and being cared for by your own family, however, nowadays people die in hospitals surrounded and being cared for by strangers. It seems kind of sad that it is this way, but I, and I’m sure many other individuals, would rather be cared for by health professionals like doctors and nurses rather than my inexperienced family member. Unless it is a small cold, I would not mind being cared for by my mom. But if I am on the edge of dying and only a doctor can help. Thompson classifies and analyzes the symbolic and dramaturgical techniques applied by funeral directors and morticians to neutralize the stigma associated with their work. Morticians and funeral directors make specific efforts to change people’s thoughts about them handling the dead into giving important services for the living. Of the interviewees, some sugar coat their occupations whilst others hide it. But in the end, the study shows that they made the choice to deal with this stigma before they started their occupation. Morticians and funeral directors are somewhat aware of the stigma associated with their work, most of which comes from handling the dead and being viewed as profiting from death and grief.