Post-mortem social death – exploring the absence of the deceased

Abstract

The concept of social death is commonly used to describe how individuals or groups are condemned to existential homelessness at the outskirts of ordinary, human society. This article, however, explores social death as post-mortem phenomenon in contemporary Sweden. It is well known that lives may be extended beyond the grave through the practices and beliefs of the living, but not all the dead gain a social existence. For various reasons the living may not wish or be able to construe continuing bonds with their deceased, and as a consequence the deceased disappear from social life. Depending on the circumstances, this could be painful to or a relief for the living. It may also go unnoticed. Based on both individual and group interviews, this article investigates why some face post-mortem social death and others do not, and what shades of post-mortem social death there might be.

Keywords:

• social death
• continuing bonds
• liminality
• absence–presence
• bereavement
• Sweden

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Jana Kralova for sharing her knowledge about social death with me. I would also like to thank Tony Walter for support and words of wisdom. Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments.

Notes on contributor

Annika Jonsson is assistant professor at the Department for Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, Sweden. In 2014 she was awarded an international postdoc and has since been a visiting scholar at Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, and Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include personal, interactional and cultural dimensions of continuing bonds.