Sterben und Tod im gesellschaftlichen Wandel

Abstract

Dying and death in modern societies are subject to profound social, professional and cultural-religious changes. Secularization and a stronger differentiation of societies have led to a change in the way humans handle the dying process. Normatively ritualized collective behaviour has been replaced by an individual, subjectivized approach. In late modern societies there are many different views of what “successful” or “good” dying means. In the article this change is described by the following seven theses: 1. We live longer and we die longer. 2. We no longer die suddenly and unexpectedly but slowly and foreseeably. 3. Even though our biological life on earth has become longer, our life has been shortened by the loss of eternity. 4. We no longer die on the stage of ritualized relationships with our family and neighbours but behind the curtains of organizations. 5. We live and die in a society of organizations and have to get organized for the final phase of our life. 6. Living and dying are no large, state-owned enterprises but small, private enterprises. 7. The hospice movement as well as palliative medicine have created public awareness, made dying a matter of discussion and offered a new set of options. In late modernism end-of-life care requires new approaches based on individual and shared responsibility as well as cooperation between professional institutions and community-based voluntary care. A change towards community care is visible. Thus “dying” is a topic in the discussion about the future of public health and societal solidarity.