No One Here Gets Out Alive: Burying Dead the American Way

Disposition of the Dead

While traditional burial has long been the cornerstone of the funeral industry, cremation has changed the way American’s dispose of their dead. As with most topics in the funeral industry, various theories attempt to explain the increase in cremation as a form of burial. Sociologist Richard Hogan would argue that the big picture planning model taking place in San Diego during the mid-seventies failed to meet the demands of growth, leaving many without a geographical option for cemetery burial.[1] Others have argued that the increase is likely due to improved marketing tactics by funeral directors. Although both of these options contain some truth as Laderman suggests, the increase is far more complicated than economics.[2] Instead, the political, institutional, cultural, and religious changes of the sixties and seventies preceded the acceptance of cremation. Collectively, these changes forced the industry to innovate and meet public demands to provide an alternative method for final disposition. Even though cremation was viewed in poor taste and perceived as sacrilegious by many in the United States, the practice continued to increase throughout the twentieth-century.
 
[1] Richard Hogan, The Failure of Planning: Permitting Sprawl in San Diego Suburbs, 1970-1999 (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2003).
 
[2] Laderman, Rest in Peace, 197.

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