Older people's attitudes towards death in England

Abstract

The Mass-Observation Archive at the University of Sussex seeks to involve members of the British public in the recording of everyday life. A panel of several hundred correspondents responds regularly to open-ended 'directives' asking them to write about topics of contemporary interest. The April 1994 directive asked panel members to report their personal experiences of death and bereavement and to respond to questions about 'death and society'. A sample of 54 correspondents in the 65-80 age range (28 men and 26 women) was selected for detailed analysis of their personal experiences of death and bereavement and their views of changing societal attitudes towards death. Experiences of the Second World War appeared to have been of particular importance in shaping personal responses and attitudes towards death and dying. Religion also played a part, for both the religious and non-believers. While all correspondents acknowledged societal changes in behaviours and attitudes towards death in contemporary society as compared to their childhood, they varied in their assessment of these changes. Some welcomed new attitudes and behaviours, others saw them as generally bad and yet others liked some changes but disliked others. Correspondents did not generally describe any great personal fear of death, although there were concerns about the nature of their dying. However, neither were these older people ready to die; even those who accepted their nearness to death expressed the desire to continue living for as long as possible. The persistence of memory and loss is strikingly revealed by vivid accounts of deaths, bereavements and emotions that occurred in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.