Abstract

SOUZA, Ana Carolina Besen de  and  PRETTO, Zuleica. The perception of morticians over death and life from their labor experience. Cad. psicol. soc. trab. [online]. 2021, vol.24, n.1, pp. 17-31. ISSN 1516-3717.  http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.1981-0490.v24i1p17-31.

This research aimed to analyze how work experience of morticians affects their daily relationships and perception of death. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with five funeral directors in southern Brazil. In a society where the theme of death is a taboo, when relating to the deceased body in funerary rituals, workers are awakened to questions about their own finitude. The collected data were subjected to content analysis and discussed from a Sartrian existentialist perspective, when concepts such as death and project-to-be were explored. Some factors that can make mortician's work difficult were identified, including: lack of preparation for the care of the mourning family, difficulty in facing the issue of death, the impacts of their work on personal relationships and the social vision about the characteristics of their work.

Keywords : Death; Mortician; Labor practice; Existentialism.

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