Dying and death as a sociological problem

This thesis aims to trace the thematisation of death and dying in Sociology, which in the 1990' evolves into constituion of independent sociological subdiscipline: "sociology of dying and death". The main intention then is to go beyond the commonly held beliefthat the death is still a taboo. The Thesis consists of four thematic parts: first part summarizes the occurence of problems of dying and death in sociology, reflecting recent developments not only in social sciences, but also in the society as such. Theretofore the death is interpreted by religion but has been medicalized so that nowadays medicine represents the determinative paradigm of death. This development is in accordance with the most important framework in the intensely individualized society centered around the notion of "self', closely connected with the concept of body and embodiment. Second part represents - on the background of medicine - three stages of death, where each of them allows to develop its own sociological reflection. Third part is concerned with the revival concept of death in the work of British sociologist Tony Walter. On the basis of the comparison of traditional, modern and neo-modern model of death we comment on social phenomena associated with other relevant conceptions. Fourth part is focused on the problems os..