Grief: The Social Context of Private Feelings

Abstract

Although the psychology of grief focuses on individuals, grief occurs in the context of social relationships and culture. The dynamic effects of the social and cultural context on individual grief are discussed from the perspective of symbolic interaction theory and family systems theory. Implications of these theories presented here include problems for the bereaved due to loss of a person who was an important part of the social context, the role of material objects in bereavement, problems when bereavement occurs in ethnically mixed close relationships, the effects of family dynamics in reaction to a loss, ambivalence of bereaved people toward social interactions, the value of casual social support in bereavement, the occurrence of misinformed professional prescriptions for the bereaved, and limits on our knowledge of what another may be feeling. The theoretical analysis leads to discussion of difficulties in providing social support and social services for the bereaved.

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