The social basis of loss and grief : age, disability and sexuality

D. Bevan, N. Thompson

Summary: A review of the neglected area of the relationship between loss and grief and the less well-documented areas of discrimination in relation to age, disability and sexuality.Findings: There is an extensive and long-standing literature base relating to loss and grief. However, the major focus of such work is predominantly psychological and individualistic in its focus. Only recently a solid body of work relating to the sociological dimensions of loss and grief has begun to build up. This new literature has largely followed the pattern of the development of anti-discriminatory practice in social work, with a major emphasis on class, race and gender, and little attention paid to the less well-established forms of discrimination such as ageism, disablism and heterosexism.Applications: This article explores the relationship between these three forms of discrimination and loss and grief, with a view to establishing the importance of developing a broad-based anti-discriminatory practice in this important area of social work.