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Dealing with the Dead: Life as a Third Generation Independent Funeral Director
journal contribution
posted on 2018-08-07, 11:59 authored by Peter Jordan, Jenna Ward, Robert McMurrayThis ‘On the Front Line’ article explores the necessary and yet undesirable work undertaken by a third
generation, independent funeral director. Peter’s narrative account of the realities of funeral directing
and his journey into the family business offers a poignant insight into the dirty work of death work.
Reflecting on his own exposure, experiences and practices Peter offers us an opportunity to see behind
the scenes, to hear how he has learnt to cope with death work undertaken by his family. Consequently,
we reflect on how performances of emotional neutrality afford funeral directors the capacity to offer
comfort to the bereaved in the face of such extreme dirty work. Yet, as Peter shares, this neutrality,
masks the dirt and hides the pain of ‘dealing with the dead’.
History
Citation
Work, Employment and Society, 2018Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, ARTS AND HUMANITIES/School of BusinessVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Published in
WorkPublisher
SAGE Publications for British Sociological Associationissn
0950-0170eissn
1469-8722Acceptance date
2018-07-02Copyright date
2018Available date
2018-10-30Publisher DOI
Publisher version
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0950017018799621Language
enAdministrator link
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