ABSTRACT

George Herbert Mead was an American sociologist who is considered to be the 'father of interactionist theory'. He offered a decidedly sociological approach to explaining human behavior that can be applied to dying and death behaviors. He would view the development of rituals, even those involving the deceased, as part of the recreation of social life. Although Mead did not specifically write about death, dying, and bereavement, his ideas have formed a major part of the analysis of current thanatology. While grief and bereavement are not biologically caused, they are socially induced. His influence on sociology and the dying and death fields has been immense. For Mead, people were able to attach meanings to the gestures and symbols that lead to social acts. Symbols of death would include caskets, funeral coaches, cemeteries, funeral rituals, and dead bodies, to name a few.