Abstract

Extant research on the topic of death and dying in modern society frequently includes the observation that death is now rendered invisible, and dying individuals are stigmatized and socially avoided. The current research speculated that lack of contact with a dying individual may promote negative perceptions of the dying, and this may in turn lead to further avoidance of them. Three studies were conducted: The first study examined how frequently the current U.S. participants had social contact with a dying individual; the second study investigated what perceptions they have of the dying, and the third study tested for potential causal links between negative perceptions of the dying and social avoidance of them. The results indicated: Only a small number of the U.S. participants ever had frequent social contact with a dying individual outside their family; they, nevertheless, shared several common negative perceptions of the dying; and those negative perceptions exerted different effects on one’s avoidant attitude toward a dying individual―only making males more avoidant, especially in a physically close social relationship. Two concepts, medicalization and masculinism, were suggested as possible explanations for why dying individuals are stigmatized and avoided in modern society.

摘要

现代社会中关于死亡和垂死主题的现有研究经常包括观察到死亡现在变得不可见，垂死的个人被污名化并被社会回避。目前的研究推测，与垂死者缺乏接触可能会促进对垂死者的负面看法，而这反过来又可能导致进一步避免这种看法。进行了三项研究：第一项研究检查了当前美国参与者与垂死者进行社交接触的频率；第二项研究调查了他们对垂死的看法，第三项研究测试了对垂死的负面看法与社会回避他们之间的潜在因果关系。结果表明：只有少数美国 参与者曾与家人以外的垂死者有频繁的社交接触；尽管如此，他们对临终者有几个共同的负面看法；这些负面看法对一个人对垂死个体的回避态度产生了不同的影响——只会使邪恶更加回避，尤其是在身体亲密的社会关系中。人们提出了两个概念，医学化和男性主义，作为解释为什么垂死的人在现代社会中受到污名化和回避的可能解释。