Social Sciences

Social Science is the study of the people and their place in the world around us. Death is an obvious component of this range of studies. Here we provide a few examples as a starting point for further study.

Why do we laugh at death?

Students will readily find examples to add to the collection presented here. Far from being morbid, this can be a healthy way to deal with this difficult topic. Consider cartoons, short stories and limericks as well as jokes.

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Death in the mass media -

This essay offers one view of this topic, but others can also be found be following the links at the end of the page. Have students check a newspaper, a night's TV viewing or a news broadcast. Analyze the deaths that are presented. Why have they been included? What is their impact on the audience? What messages are being presented to the audience?

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Death in the movies -

This list could be cut and pasted into a Word file (or other word processing software) and added to be the class. Each student could add a comment on another movie. What other categories are needed?

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Grief Counselor interview -

How do people deal psychologically with the death of loved ones? Sensitive treatment is clearly needed for dealing with this issue, yet it is an important area to many students. Have your school counselor address students, or have a group interview a grief counselor outside the school. Making students aware of the many sources of assistance that are available is a useful approach.

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Linguistics -

The study of the origins of words and the development of their meanings tells us a great deal about the society itself. Students from non-English speaking backgrounds can provide valuable material for comparison and discussion.

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