BMS FREE BMS Sociology Death and Dying Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sociologist introduced the concept of 'awareness contexts' to describe how dying patients and their caregivers manage knowledge of impending death?
- Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (Correct answer)
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
- Robert Kastenbaum
- Talcott Parsons
Correct answer: Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss
Glaser and Strauss identified four awareness contexts—closed, suspected, mutual pretense, and open—in their 1965 study of dying in hospitals.
Question 2: In the context of death and dying, what does the term 'social death' refer to?
- The point at which a person is treated as if they are already dead by others (Correct answer)
- The legal declaration of death by a physician
- The cessation of all brain activity
- The moment funeral rites are completed
Correct answer: The point at which a person is treated as if they are already dead by others
Social death occurs when a person is perceived and treated as nonexistent by the community, often before biological death.
Question 3: Which theoretical perspective views death-related rituals primarily as mechanisms that reinforce group solidarity and shared values?
- Functionalism (Correct answer)
- Symbolic interactionism
- Conflict theory
- Feminist theory
Correct answer: Functionalism
Functionalism, rooted in Durkheim's work, sees funeral rituals as collective activities that strengthen social bonds and reaffirm group norms.
Question 4: What is 'disenfranchised grief' as defined by Kenneth Doka?
- Grief that is not openly acknowledged or socially supported (Correct answer)
- Grief experienced only by children
- Grief that resolves within two weeks
- Grief caused exclusively by sudden death
Correct answer: Grief that is not openly acknowledged or socially supported
Doka defined disenfranchised grief as mourning that occurs when a loss is not recognized, validated, or publicly supported by society.
Question 5: How has the medicalization of death most significantly changed the dying process in the United States?
- Death increasingly occurs in institutional settings under medical supervision (Correct answer)
- Families are now legally required to be present at the time of death
- Hospice care has replaced all hospital-based end-of-life care
- Religious leaders have assumed primary control over the dying process
Correct answer: Death increasingly occurs in institutional settings under medical supervision
Medicalization shifted dying from a home-based family event to one managed by healthcare professionals in hospitals and care facilities.
Question 6: Which concept describes the cultural tendency in modern Western societies to avoid discussing or confronting death?
- Death denial (Correct answer)
- Death acceptance
- Anticipatory grief
- Bereavement overload
Correct answer: Death denial
Death denial refers to the widespread cultural pattern of minimizing, avoiding, or sanitizing discussions and visible reminders of mortality.
BMS FREE BMS Sociology Death and Dying Questions and Answers 2
Which sociologist introduced the concept of 'awareness contexts' to describe how dying patients and their caregivers manage knowledge of impending death?