Here we'll explore the biological process of death and also clear up some basic questions about the science of it all. Find out how the mind reacts to death and how people try to cope with it. Death is treated very differently all around the world. Here we'll discuss the various religious and cultural differences. Discover the social implications of death and how death affects society. Discuss death related topics with other surfers.

Sociology How Do High Mortality Rates Affect Society If you live in North America or Europe, you're probably used to things being pretty good. Whether you disagree with your government on issues, feel that people around you are thinking the wrong ideas, or you don't care for the Italian restaurant down the street, the majority of your surroundings make for a decent life. But, as you well are aware, many people around the world live well below what you're used to. And possibly one of the largest differences is the amount of death and dying in the environment. As humans, we have a very complex brain, one that can be affected in an uncountable number of ways. Constantly there are things going on around you, things that you encounter and process unconsciously, which affect what you think, how you think, what you feel, how you feel, and how you behave in turn. Death is certainly counted among them. In societies where death is more prevalent, people are left with feeling lost and without control. To make up for this, such peoples often are found to have a higher degree of faith in religion. Humans need to have stability in their world, and because of this they look to sources beyond themselves for such stability. A god, a spirit, or even an ancestor may well have the divine knowledg to be able to understand why someone was taken from their world, providing a place of hope. Within the religion, the content of rituals are often subject to the mortality rate of the population. The more death in the culture, the more rituals exist that are centered around healing and prevention, as well as funeral rights and customs. Take the Congolese people as an example. Shamanism is characteristic of these native people in the Congo, where prayers and charms are placed for the birth of a healthy baby, a preventative measure to ensure good health in the future. Many things can also cause bad luck, another indication of an acute sensitivity to ill fate. Superstition leads back to ritual, where a shaman is often needed for cleansing, so something bad such as a disease won't overtake the one who provoked bad luck. A third important characteristic of societies with high mortality rates is the importance of children. High mortality rates usually include high infant mortality rates, making healthy births somewhat of a rarity. Thus is such places children are more cherished, for the simple reason that they are hard to come by. New human life in such a culture is quite precious indeed. This is again reflected in ritual, where health and vitality are not only attempted to be invoked at birth, but quite often attempted to be maintained, throughout childhood. Copyright 2001. Created by a Thinkquest team. Feel free to email us at C0122781@thinkquest.org.