ABSTRACT
Existentialism draws its explanatory power from two areas of intellectual inquiry: phenomenology and ontology. Both of these are relevant to sociology, and both have implications for death, grief, and bereavement. To many people existentialism is a philosophy of individualism, and therefore far removed from sociology with its wider social focus. A key aspect of existentialist thought is the recognition that each individual is located in the wider social context of "being-in-the-world". Existentialism portrays identity in the form of a journey – that is, people's identity is a process of becoming, constantly evolving throughout their lives. An important sociological aspect of existentialism is Jean-Paul Sartre's work on emotion. A link with existentialist thought is through the dialectic of subjectivity and objectivity. A major element of the subjective experience of loss is the sense of helplessness and powerlessness that arises at a time of major loss.
