Social Class and the Right to Die Movement: existing evidence by Marion Judd

Social Class and the Right to Die Movement: existing evidence
Who joins the right to die movement?
Earlier studies
Current study

Hemlock Society (US) membership UK VES membership study 1982 >42% >56% <40% >60% >60% >90% >60% Religion NO Religion YES Male Female Age>65 Ethnicity white Caucasian Social class 1 <50% >50% 40% 60% 33 % Religion NO Religion YES Males Females Age >60

Current Study of Friends at the End (FATE) 43% 57% 41% 59% 74% 84% Religious NO Religious YES Males Females Age >60 Social class 1

What factors are likely to influence engagement or non-engagement with the right to die movement?
Religion/moral/ethical values
Race, culture and traditions
Gender differences
Social factors

What is Culture? “ A constellation of shared meanings, values, rituals and modes of interrelating with others that determines how people view and make sense of the world” (Krackauer et al, 2002) UK white majority culture: individualism, autonomy, choice and human rights mediated by life experience, relative affluence and reflexivity as a self-shaping process. Social status is one known determinant of the extent of conformity with this cultural model.

Ageing, dying and death in lower socio-economic groups
Earlier biological ageing/ shorter life expectancy
Higher incidence of disability
Higher morbidity and mortality rates
Variance in cultural and religious beliefs in lived suffering and dying

Barriers imposed by culture on individuals in lower socio-economic categories
Socio-political barriers imposed through social disempowerment
How might the relative absence of lower socio-economic groups in RTD membership be explained?

Conclusion
Engagement with autonomy, choice and rights culture likely to be less accessible
Absence may be cultural and/or symptomatic of disempowerment through cultural incompetence and social exclusion
Previous studies have not examined in depth the complex variables that surround the relative absence of working class membership
The relative absence of the working class in right to die society studies (US & UK) to date suggests:

Conclusion contd.
The current study is limited by the absence of data on participant ethnicity and the relative absence of working class members
The current study will shed some light on religious, moral and ethical beliefs of a cohort of social class one FATE members

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Social Class and the Right to Die Movement: existing evidence by Marion Judd

by British Sociological Association on Dec 04, 2009

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Social Class and the Right to Die Movement: existing evidence by Marion Judd — Presentation Transcript