Social Inequalities in Bereavement: From Demographic Rates to Lived Experience

Objective

Due to the rise in human longevity, many individuals in low-mortality countries can now expect to grow old, to be survived by their children, and to know their grandchildren. Yet, these prospects are not equally shared. Social inequalities in mortality persist and may lead to inequalities in family bereavement. How exposure to bereavement is internalized by individuals and shapes their lives is a key sociological question, with the potential to establish a new research program at the intersection of social stratification, mortality, and kinship demography. Few studies have examined the impact of mortality inequalities from the perspective of the bereaved. Thus, little is known about (1) how demographic factors shape exposure to family bereavement across the life course; (2) how the burden of bereavement varies across social groups; (3) whether inequalities in bereavement give rise to different modes of feeling, thinking, and acting. This study aims to fill this gap by developing a demographic framework of bereavement. First, drawing on life course theory, it conceptualizes the burden of bereavement with respect to intensity (repeated exposure to kin deaths), timing during the life course, and anticipation of the loss. Second, drawing on kinship demography, it recognizes that family bereavement is shaped by variation in kin structure, in addition to differences in kin mortality. Third, motivated by theories of macro-micro relations, it links demographic rates to subjective expectations, wellbeing, and behaviors. The framework will be applied to and compared across Sweden and Israel. Using complete population microdata to trace multi-generational kin networks, the study will estimate the burden of bereavement by age, across cohorts. It will estimate socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in bereavement and decompose them to differences in kin structure and kin mortality. Using survey data, it will explore the relationship between bereavement and individual outcomes.