Death and Social Policy in Challenging Times

The study of death has the capacity to bring together a range of policy areas. Yet death is often overlooked within policy debates in the UK and beyond, and within gerontology. Bringing together a range of scholars engaged in policy associated with death, this collection provides a holistic account of how death factors in social policy. Within this, issues covered include inheritance, palliative care, euthanasia, funeral costs, bereavement support, marginalised deaths and disposal practices. At the heart of the book, the volume recognises that the issues identified are likely to intensify and expand over the next twenty years, as death rates continue to rise.

Liam Foster is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Sheffield, UK. His research interests focus on funeral provision, pensions and theories of ageing. He is a member of the UK Social Policy Association Executive Committee and forthcoming Managing Editor of Social Policy and Society.
Kate Woodthorpe is a Senior Lecturer in sociology in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath, UK. She is a member of the University's Centre for Death and Society and has undertaken research and published on funeral practice and cost, cemetery usage and mortuaries. She is an active member of the British Sociological Association Study Group for the Social Aspects of Death, Dying and Bereavement.

"This timely and comprehensive edited collection aims to re-embed death and dying in social policy debates in the UK and beyond. The individual chapters provide a wide-ranging approach to death, dying and disposal as a welfare issue covering End of Life Care through death and its aftermath. Contemporary social policy frameworks, their impact, both economic and emotional, and potential developments are critically examined in the context of a growing and increasingly diverse population in 21st century UK. It provides a cohesive and thoughtful volume for scholars and researchers within social policy, sociology, history and planning as well as death studies." - Julie Seymour, Hull York Medical School, UK
 
"This edited collection identifies and offers a careful and current exploration of a broad range of policy challenges and debates highly relevant to dying, death and bereavement. The collection of chapters covers a lot a ground to highlight the significance of the policy arena far beyond 'death-specific policy'. It provoke new ways of critical thinking about existing policy frameworks which to date have paid little attention to the universal yet diverse experiences of dying, death and bereavement. With an emphasis on UK policy it also highlights how these are international concerns too. An accessible 'must read' for practitioners, policy makers as well as scholars and researchers across a range of disciplines." - Kathryn Almack, University of Nottingham, UK
"This timely and comprehensive edited collection aims to re-embed death and dying in social policy debates in the UK and beyond. The individual chapters provide a wide-ranging approach to death, dying and disposal as a welfare issue covering End of Life Care through death and its aftermath. Contemporary social policy frameworks, their impact, both economic and emotional, and potential developments are critically examined in the context of a growing and increasingly diverse population in 21st century UK. It provides a cohesive and thoughtful volume for scholars and researchers within social policy, sociology, history and planning as well as death studies." - Julie Seymour, Hull York Medical School, UK

"This edited collection identifies and offers a careful and current exploration of a broad range of policy challenges and debates highly relevant to dying, death and bereavement. The collection of chapters covers a lot a ground to highlight the significance of the policy arena far beyond 'death-specific policy'. It provoke new ways of critical thinking about existing policy frameworks which to date have paid little attention to the universal yet diverse experiences of dying, death and bereavement. With an emphasis on UK policy it also highlights how these are international concerns too. An accessible 'must read' for practitioners, policy makers as well as scholars and researchers across a range of disciplines." - Kathryn Almack, University of Nottingham, UK