ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the social processes related to death and funerals and the social roles of those who are involved in the indirect act of dying and managing of the body. The socialization and internalization of the idea of death, the funerals, the mourning, as well as specific rituals and customs are studied, based on the assumption that they are socially and culturally mediated. Using case studies of rural and urban areas in Romania, we compare two different relations with death and the events related to death: a personal, rural, highly ritualized event and a depersonalized, internalized urban experience.
