(Un)wanted and (Un)sought Services: Exploring the Funeral Industry Positivity and Rural Funeral Directors’ Destigmatization

ABSTRACT

This study explores the positive nature of the funeral industry in rural communities and examines how rural funeral directors perform community services to destigmatize their profession. Analysis of interviews (n = 27) with rural funeral directors revealed that the funeral industry, although it is associated with death and dying, was needed and accepted in the community – a phenomenon the article labels (un)wanted and (un)sought services. This construct challenges the denial of death thesis and supports the contingent and discursive nature of death and dying. Moreover, rural funeral directors offer life enrichment programs, support local businesses, work as partial civic servants, and participate in community governance. This study argues that these supportive performances reflect the communicative mechanism of destigmatization, reinforcing the needed and acceptable nature and diminishing the unwanted and unsought nature of the profession. Lastly, the study advocates that urban funeral homes learn from rural funeral homes regarding communal characteristics to make a more supportive and cohesive urban life.

KEYWORDS:

• Funeral industry
• destigmatization
• unwanted and unsought services
• funeral service
• stigma management
• rural community

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledges the valuable feedback from Dr. Ryan Bisel.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Da Bi

Da Bi (MA, University of Oklahoma) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma. His current research interest includes organizational communication and funeral director - client interactions.

Nicole A. Ploeger-Lyons

Nicole A. Ploeger-Lyons (PhD, University of Oklahoma) is an associate professor in the Department of Business Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. Her current areas of research include workplace relationships, organizational identification, and organizational ethics.