ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on changes in grief standards and patterns in Western history. An introductory section deals with grief issues in premodern society, juxtaposed with high death rates. A distinctive Victorian approach to grief in the 19th century emphasized elaborate ritual and emotional displays, reflecting a new emphasis on family affection and a growing sense that certain kinds of death should be preventable, thus occasioning more active guilt. Considerable rebellion against the Victorian approach in the 20th century reduced the ritual apparatus and urged individual control of grief, with help from psychological therapy as necessary. A final section deals with modifications during the past half-century, including the emergence of new forms of public grief.
