DEATH AND TRADITION
Annotation
The article is devoted to the issue of the tradition of death in three epistemological
dimensions: soterialogical, religious studies, sociological. The goal is to study the tradition
in relation to the specific phenomenon of death, and to establish what death is and what its tradition is. Before proceeding to the analysis of epistemes about death, the work provides
an analysis of what modern science, in particular sociology, understands as tradition, what
types of tradition are distinguished in it, what are the main properties of tradition, what place
does tradition occupy in modern society. Based on the analysis of soterialogical, religious and
sociological ideas about death, a conclusion is made about their dynamics and transformation
from the Christian to the pre- Christian tradition (Fr. A. Schmeman), about the secularization
of the soterialogical tradition itself, which subsequently only strengthens and consolidates the
religious and sociological epistemes about death, viewing death and religion in a functionalinstrumentalist manner. As a result, an overview is given of how “death inverted” (F. riès)
becomes not only an object of interest for special medical institutions and various commercial
structures, but also for politics and the mass media.
Keywords
tradition and innovation, religious tradition, transformation of tradition,
death
Literature
1. Aries F. (1992) Chelovek pered litsom smerti [Man in the face of death]. Trans. from
French. General ed. Obolenskaya St.; Preface Gurevich A. Ya. Moscow: Publishing group
“Progress — Progress Academy”. (In Russian).
2. Baudrillard J (2000) Simvolicheskii obmen i smert’ [Symbolic exchange and death].
Moscow: Dobrosvet. (In Russian).
3. Weber A. B. (2017) Vzaimosviaz’ traditsii i innovatsii v svete problem sovremennosti
[The relationship between traditions and innovations in the light of modern problems].
Sociological science and social practice. 2: 47–62. (In Russian).
4. Giddens E. (1999) Sotsiologiia [Sociology]. Trans. from English; scientific ed.
V. A. Yadov; total ed. L. S. Guryeva. Moscow: URSS. (In Russian).
5. Goffman A. B. (2015) Traditsiia, solidarnost’ i sotsiologicheskaia teoriia [Tradition,
solidarity and sociological theory]. Selected texts. Moscow: New Chronograph. (In Russian).
6. Zelizer V. (2010) Chelovecheskie tsennosti i rynok: Strakhovanie zhizni v Amerike XIX
veka [Human Values and the Market: The Case of Life Insurance and Death in 19th- Century
America]. Ekonomicheskaia sotsiologiia. 2: 54–72. (In Russian).
7. Il’ina I. V. (2012) Ponimanie smerti v zapadnoi i russkoi sotsiologii [Understanding
death in Western and Russian sociology]. In: IV Regular All- Russian Sociological Congress.
Sociology and society: global challenges and regional development. (In Russian).
8. Ilyasov F. N. (2010) Fenomen strakha smerti v sovremennom obshchestve [The
phenomenon of fear of death in modern society]. Sociological studies. 9: 80–86. (In Russian).
9. Mead M. (1983) Kul’tura i mir detstva [Culture and the world of childhood]. Moscow:
Nauka. (In Russian).
10. Podlesnaya M. A. (2019) Religioznaia pravoslavnaia traditsiia i rossiiskaia
modernizatsiia: evoliutsionnoe razvitie ili radikal’nye peremeny? [Religious Orthodox Tradition
and Russian Modernization: an Evolutionary Development or Radical Changes?] Humanities
of the South of Russia. 8 (5): 198–213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23683/2227-8656.2019.5.17.
(In Russian).
11. Podlesnaya M. A. (2019) Religioznaia traditsiia v sotsiologicheskoi teorii [Religious
tradition in sociological theory]. In: Digitalization of society and the future of Christianity:
Proceedings of the V International Scientific Conference 01.24.2019 [Res. ed. I. P. Ryazantsev,
ed. R. M. Plyusnin]. Moscow: Publishing House of PSTGU, (Series of Sociology of Orthodoxy).
Рp. 65–78. (In Russian).
12. Sitnikov A. V. (2017) Religioznaia traditsiia v sovremennom obshchestve: opyt
teoreticheskogo analiza [Religious tradition in modern society: experience of theoretical
analysis]. State, religion, church in Russia and abroad. 4 (35): 233–254. (In Russian).
13. Trotsuk I. V., Kochkina N. N. (2016) “Normativy smerti”: transformatsiia traktovok
i praktik ukhoda iz zhizni v sovremennom obshchestve [“Standards of death”: transformation of
interpretations and practices of death in modern society]. RUDN University Bulletin, Sociology
series. 16 (1): 189–201. (In Russian).
14. Fokin K. V. (2021) Zombi biovlasti: ustarela li kontseptsiia segodnia? [Biopower
Zombies: Is the Concept Outdated Today?] POLITIA. 4 (103): 43–62. DOI: 10.30570/2078-
5089-2021-103-4-43-62. (In Russian).
15. Fromm E. (1994) Anatomiia chelovecheskoi destruktivnosti [Anatomy of human
destructiveness]. Moscow: Republic. (In Russian).
16. Hobsbawm E. (2000) Izobretenie traditsii [Invention of traditions]. Bulletin of Eurasia.
1: 47–62. (In Russian).
17. Schmeman A., protopresbyter (2013) Liturgiia smerti i sovremennaia kul’tura [The
Liturgy of Death and Modern Culture]. Moscow: Publishing house “Granat”. (In Russian).
18. Beck U., Giddens A. and Lash S. (1994) Reflexive Modernization. Politics, Tradition
and Aestetics in the Modern Social Order. Cambridge: Polity Press. (In English).
19. Foucault M. (1976) Histoire de la sexualité. Paris: Gallimard. Vol. 1: La volonté de
savoir. (In French).
20. Hobsbawm E. and Ranger T. (eds). (1983) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (In English).
21. Latour B. (1993) We Have Never Been Modern. London; New York, etc.: Prentice Hall.
(In English).
22. Riley Jr. (1983) Dying and the Meanings of Death: Sociological Inquiries. Annual Review
of Sociology. 9: 195–204. (In English).
23. Thompson J. (1996) Tradition and Self in a Mediated World. Detraditinalization.
Critical Reflections on Authority and Identity. Ed. by P. Heelas, S. Lash and P. Morris. Cambridge
(Mass.); Oxford: Blackwell. (In English).