The American Way of Death (Revisited Again)

What does the way that we think about and deal with death say about American Culture?

American Deathways: Metcalf and Huntington

• Illumination of American Deathways Through Examination of Paradoxes
• Ritual Uniformity and Indeterminate Ideology
• Though there is great variation that exists in a heterogenous culture like the US, one can still point to certain characteristics that are common in American culture:
• rapid removal of the corpse to funeral parlor
• embalming (seen as a hygiene issue, not required)
• institutionalized viewing (display of restored corpse)
• disposal by burial
• UNIFORMITY of practice (why???-economic or psychological)
• Why do we have death specialists instead of leaving these tasks to everyone. Is this the source of this uniformity?
• Despite this uniformity practice, there is a lacking in uniform ideology

The Berewan of Borneo: extended and abbreviated death rituals plus a number of different options for temporary storage, final storage and processing. Rituals of death are known to all, not just specialists. 

• Critiques of the Funeral Industry (economic variables #1)
• ruthless capitalism and materialist values
• colonial times, undertaker was a part time specialist, his main skill was carpenter. 
• cemeteries became separated from churches with urbanization, and cemeteries were moved to peripheral areas. 
• undertaker became a full time specialists who also transported bodies and factories began producing coffins
• Embalming and the civil war (see below)
• allowed period between death and burial to be extended and the European wake to be recreated as an extended ritual
• strengthened the role of the undertaker, legislation which licensed -created a professional elite of undertakers. 
• restorative techniques-too complex to be done at home. funeral home took over from house of worship because some forbade the display of the body. (Jews and Catholics). Eventually, chapels were added to funeral homes. 
• focus on display of the corpse
• CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION (Veblen)-wealth and social class are expressed in funerals. 
• Nonprofit funeral and mortuary societies(largely unpopular)
• Fear andGuilt: the inadequacy of Psychology (explanation #2)
• death occurs in a hospital not home, body is transported to funeral parlor, we can all avoid dealing with the corpse and death-death denial. 
• euphemisms: passed on, funeral home or parlor, slumber room, etc. 
• do these have to d with our fears of death or the professionals fear over their status? 
• embalming as a death denial in preservation. -prevents mourners from dealing with the body's decay. Berewan try to hasten the decay, we try to prevent it.
• Collective Representations of Death in America
• rules for notifying, and viewing the dead and dealing with mourners (kin) These are all institutionalized
• Puppet Death
• People used to prepare for their own deaths and take the necessary steps to tie up loose and and make final plans. Now family, doctors and friends may conspire to hide imminent death from the terminal. 
• truth is kept from children
• emotion is contained
• deathbed "scene" is eliminated
• wake increased in duration and function
• funeral and wake merged, but burial is less important and only close family members may opt to attend
• American individualists give up their agency in death when compared to earlier times. Nuclear family rather than community takes on the burden of mourning.
• Indigenous American religion

Mitford and American Deathways:
---Describes the average american funeral and the "culture" which supports it
---Myths of American Funiary Practices:
          --based on age old tradition
          --Industry gives the American public what it wants (rather than selling)
          --psychological necessity of  funeral practices for proper grieving.
          ---Role of Language and Euphemism:
                    “Undertaker” has been supplanted by “funeral director” or “mortician.” (Even the classified section of the telephone directory gives recognition to this; in its pages you will find “Undertakers—see Funeral Directors.”) 
                     "Coffins" are “caskets”; 
                     "hearses" are “coaches” or “professional cars”; 
                     "flowers" are “floral tributes”;
                     "corpses" generally are “loved ones,” but mortuary etiquette dictates that a specific corpse be referred to by name only—as “Mr. Jones”; 
                     "cremated ashes" are “cremains.” 
                     Euphemisms such as “slumber room,” “reposing room,” and “calcination—the kindlier heat”
---What are the techniques used by the funeral industry to profit from death? How are these supported by the economic system of Capitalism? 
---How re they illustrative of American Consumption patterns?

How have things changed since Mitford wrote her book, and how have they not?

https://timeline.com/jessica-mitford-funeral-industry-2a74b807ccfe (timeline-significance of Mitford)

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1982110500 (Mitford’s death)

https://www.livescience.com/15980-death-8-burial-alternatives.html (alternatives to burial)

https://www.npr.org/2014/01/19/263128098/swiss-company-compresses-cremation-ashes-into-diamonds (death to diamonds)

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/how-to-be-eco-friendly-when-youre-dead/382120/ (green/eco-friendly burials)

The Funeral Rule

The Funeral Rule gives certain rights to consumers to avoid unethical or illegal business practices related to funeral arrangements and expenses. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversees and enforces the Funeral Rule. The law exists so that funeral service providers are unable to use a family’s grief to their advantage. Because those who are using the services of a funeral home are often already in a fragile emotional state, the FTC tries to protect consumers from unlawful or exploitative business practices. When stricken with grief and pain, survivors may be inclined to try to make arrangements hastily and without much thought to whether or not the services are priced fairly.

The Funeral Rule helps to protect family and friends through these guidelines:

Under the Funeral Rule, consumers have the right to purchase each specific service ala carte.Many funeral homes provide packages that bundle various services together for one price, but consumers have the right to buy each practice individually and do not have to buy a package. This right must be stated on the funeral home’s price list. A funeral home is required to give consumers an itemized list of the goods and services they offer when a consumer visits a funeral home. (Please note:Funeral homes are not required to give this information over the phone unless the consumer specifically requests it.)

If there are state or local laws that require certain practices, the funeral home is legally required to declare this on their price list so the consumer is aware of what services they are legally obligated to purchase.

• When you are looking for a casket or other container, the funeral home must give you the price list and descriptions before showing you any caskets or containers.
• The funeral home cannot charge for or refuse to use a casket that was bought elsewhere. This is especially helpful in cases where a deceased individual has prepared for death by pre-purchasing a casket. If this is the case, you are not obligated to use the services of the funeral home where the casket was purchased; you may use it at any funeral home free of charge.
• Finally, in cases of cremation, funeral homes have to offer alternative containers instead of caskets to house the remains. This way a funeral home cannot coerce a consumer into purchasing a casket (often the most expensive part of funeral arrangements) in which the remains will be cremated. Most funeral homes will give the consumer the option to rent an elaborate casket for viewing purposes and use a simple container for the actual cremation.

How the Funeral Home Treats Survivors

The Funeral Rule also incorporates laws about embalming. Many people do not realize that embalming is not necessary or required as long as the remains are cremated or buried soon after death. Embalming is a method of preservation, so if services happen immediately, it is probably not necessary. (Please note: There may be laws about embalming in your specific state, so this is not necessarily a universal rule.) The Funeral Rule stipulates that funeral homes cannot falsely claim that embalming is necessary and it must be stated in writing along with the right to choose a direct burial or cremation over embalming. If the funeral home does claim the law requires embalming, it is best to double check with another source. Funeral providers are also not allowed to claim that any preservation process, including embalming, permanently preserves the remains because there is no such process. The Funeral Rule states that funeral homes cannot embalm remains without the expressed permission of the family handling the affairs and cannot charge for unauthorized embalming unless it is required by law. The funeral home must also state in writing that some funeral arrangements necessitate embalming and is thus a required purchase.

The Funeral Rule states that funeral homes cannot claim that caskets will indefinitely preserve remains. This assertion is untrue because any casket will eventually be penetrated by water and contribute to the decomposition of the remains. Even if the casket did prevent it, the remains would still decompose on their own. Some caskets may have special seals meant to delay this process, but it is inevitable.
   
If you choose to have your loved one cremated, the Funeral Rule also governs how the funeral home must act in certain situations.

• When customers request a direct cremation (no viewing of the remains), the funeral home must offer an inexpensive container in which the remains can be cremated.
• The funeral home cannot claim that the law requires remains to be cremated in a casket.
• The funeral home must disclose your right to purchase a simple container in writing and must make such a container available for purchase. (Please note: Funeral homes usually offer a simple unfinished wood box or an alternative container made of pressboard, cardboard or canvas.)

Burial Specifics

While state laws do not require a burial vault or grave liner be used in cemetery burials, and funeral homes are not allowed to make such a claim, some cemeteries do require them. A burial vault’s purpose is to line the grave to prevent the ground from collapsing. If funeral homes claim the purpose is to preserve the remains, they are violating the Funeral Rule. Grave liners do not in any way prevent decomposition of the remains. As with caskets, the funeral home must provide a list of prices and descriptions before showing you any grave liners.

The U.S. Military

All veterans of the United States military are entitled to a free burial in a national cemetery and a grave marker.This can be extended to civilians who have worked with the military and some public health service employees. The spouses and children of veterans are also entitled to plots and a marker. The free services, provided by the federal government include: opening and closing the grave, the vault liner and setting the marker in the cemetery. The family is responsible for any other expenses. Many states also have cemeteries for veterans, and the eligibility to be buried there varies so you must contact your state. The FTC warns that some cemeteries will try to trick consumers by offering “veterans specials” in which a plot is offered for free but fees for other services such as opening and closing the grave or for adjoining plots are unreasonably expensive. For more about U.S. Military burial benefits, visit our Survivor Benefits Section.

The funeral industry makes money during a turbulent time for many people. Their customers are often grieving, upset and can be irrational or less scrupulous than they otherwise might be when making a large purchase. Some businesses in the funeral industry can try to take advantage of that position and laws like the Funeral Rule help protect consumers from predatory practices.

Despite consumer protection, however, a number of funeral myths have developed over the years which originated with insincere funeral businesses. It’s important to be aware of these common inaccuracies so you can make an informed decision about funeral arrangements.  To help, the Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) outlines several myths that persist in the industry:

Myths about Embalming

MYTH: Embalming preserves the remains permanently.
FACT: It only lasts about a week.

MYTH: Embalming protects the health of the public.
FACT: Embalming uses extremely noxious and harmful chemicals.

MYTH: It is required by law.
FACT: Some states do require embalming in certain situations such as when shipping remains, but in general it is not stipulated by law.

Myths about Caskets and Burial

MYTH: Caskets can permanently preserve the remains.
FACT: There is no such thing as a casket that will permanently or even temporarily prevent decomposition.

MYTH: Burial vaults can permanently preserve the remains.
FACT: Burial vaults do not preserve the remains.

MYTH: Burial vaults are required by law.
FACT: They are not required by law but might be required by some cemeteries.

MYTH: Burial vaults are required for cremated remains.
FACT: Some cemeteries may require burial vaults for cremated remains, but it is unusual. Additionally, some states have laws in place that govern the scattering of ashes. Check with the funeral home about local laws or contact the government of any out-of-town destination where you’d like to scatter the ashes.

Myths about Cremation

MYTH: Cremated remains look just like regular ashes.
FACT: Cremated remains resemble small pebbles because they are fragments of bone.

MYTH: Cremated remains must be placed in an urn, buried or placed in a niche in a cemetery.
FACT: There are no requirements about the resting place of cremated remains with the exception of some state laws that stipulate where ashes can be scattered. It's always best to check with the owner of the property before scattering someone's ashes. Some state parks have laws against scattering them, so it's best to do a little legwork to make sure you can scatter the ashes where you or the Deceased would like.

Myths about Payment and Pre-Arranging

MYTH: If I arrange and pre-pay my funeral expenses, everything will be covered.
FACT: There are many items that may not be purchased prior to death, but most expenses will be covered.

MYTH: Arranging and pre-paying for my funeral will help me lock in prices.
FACT: Pre-paying for your funeral can make some things easier on your family, but don't assume that everything will be taken care of by pre-paying and arranging. Your family will still have to make some decisions and fund part of the services. These packages exist for the convenience of both the funeral homes and the consumer, but there are some expenses that may not be able to be prepaid. In addition, if you ever move or experience some sort of life change that would alter your plans, you may not be able to transfer all the money to a new funeral home. Most funeral homes will try to work with you if you are moving, but it's important to keep this in mind when considering pre-paying for a funeral.

MYTH: Insurance is a great way to pay funeral expenses.

FACT: It’s rare that the interest accumulated on a policy will match the inflation of funeral prices over time, but insurance can be helpful. Your family may end up paying more money to cover the costs. Some decedents choose to both pre-pay for expenses and have an insurance policy. In this case, sometimes the insurance policy is able to pay costs that are not covered by the Decedent's pre-paid plan.

Death in America is a $15 billion a year industry.  (10 corporations that control Death) With the buying up of small locally owned funeral homes. large international corporations have started a "death-care" industry.

That includes funeral homes, crematoriums, and cemeteries, but excludes related costs such as headstones and crypts. It is expensive to die in the United States. The average cost of a funeral is $7,323, according to The National Funeral Directors Association. The addition of flowers and a burial plot raises that number closer to $9,000. Almost 2.5 million people died in the United States in 2008, and 1.8 million of these bodies were placed into coffins that were sold.

The death industry is a tale of two economies. A relatively few large companies, most of them publicly traded, control most of the businesses that sells caskets and granite for memorials. The rest of the death industry is made up of many modest businesses. Most of the 19,500 funeral homes in the country are small operations, often owned by the same families for generations. There are more than 120,000 cemeteries and many of these belong to families, nonprofits, and religious institutions.

Death has become more democratic, particularly over time and especially in America. Centuries ago Egyptian pharaohs received elaborate funerals and entombments which would cost  many millions of dollars by today’s standards. The typical Egyptian was fortunate to have a modest burial. Centuries later, bishops were sealed in crypts carved with their likenesses. Their congregations were filled mostly with people whose final resting places were unmarked, and who were buried without coffins and certainly without  rings or mitres.

Today, nearly all of the deceased receive some sort of burial or cremation even if it is paid for by the state. The cost of land and the current overcrowding in cemeteries, along with changes in perception, have made people consider cremation.  Cremations are less expensive than the cost of caskets and plots. John Ross, the executive director of the Cremations Association of North America, claims that a crematory fee is $1,400 which includes a modest urn. Bob Fells, acting CEO of the International Cemetery  and Cremation Funeral Association says that 36% of Americans who die now are cremated. That number is expected to rise to 56% by 2025, although it is hard to imagine how anyone could forecast a trend of that sort so precisely. Most of the funeral business will be decimated if the cremation trend does continue.

Death, like so many other businesses, has been changed by the internet. Wal-Mart sells caskets online at a discount, sometimes as much as two-thirds of  their retail prices. They are shipped to funeral homes.  This competition is another factor that will erode the margins of the traditional funeral industry.

24/7 Wall St. analyzed  the death industry. Much of it is dominated by a few large companies. The tens of thousands of smaller firms that compete with these public corporations have been affected profoundly by their business practices and pricing. The firms that have started to change the industry through e-commerce will certainly leave a larger and larger mark on the sector as each year passes, transforming the American way of dealing with its dead.

Here is the 24/7 Wall St. Ten Companies That Control The Death Industry:

Hillenbrand, Inc. (HI)
> Interesting Fact: Sells 45% of caskets sold in the United States
> # of Employees: 3,200
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $212 Million
> Most Recent Net Income: $20 Million

Hillenbrand sells more than 800,000 of the 1.8 million caskets sold in the United States each year. In addition to this, the company sells cremation containers and urns. All of Hillenbrand’s funeral products are sold under their Batesville Casket Company brand, which was founded in 1906.

Service Corp. International (SCI)
> Interesting Fact: funeral and cemetery market share in North America of roughly 12%
> # of Employees: 13,087
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $533.2 Million
> Most Recent Net Income: $18.8 Million

Service Corp. International owns more funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematories than any other company in North America. At last count, the company operates 1,254 funeral service locations and 372 cemeteries in 43 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Germany.  SCI also sells a variety of merchandise including caskets, vaults, and urns.

Walmart (WMT)
> Interesting Fact: Caskets come with monthly payment terms
> # of Employees: 2,100,000
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $101.9 billion
> Most Recent Net Income: $3.6 billion

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, helped begin the trend of selling low-priced caskets online. The company offers the $995 “Dad Remembered Steel Casket,” with “18 gauge steel high-gloss silver-blue finish.” Walmart is taking a share of the death care industry away from funeral homes and related companies.  According to the casket industry, the impact of the big box retailers is still small.  Other industry experts suggest otherwise.

Carriage Services Inc. (CSV)
> Interesting Fact: Carriage Services is the fourth largest publicly traded in the death care industry
> # of Employees: 917
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $45.5 Million
> Most Recent Net Income: $859,000

Carriage Services operates 147 funeral homes in 25 states and 33 cemeteries in 12 states.  The company is a significant provider of prefunded funeral and burial services.  This allows people to plan ahead by purchasing interment rights, grave sites, mausoleums, and crypts in advance.  The company plans to increase its annual revenue by 43% by the end of 2014.

1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS)
> Interesting Fact: The site offers instructions on how to help others deal with the loss of a loved one
> # of Employees: 2,200
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $104.5 million
> Most Recent Net Income: ($5.1 million)

A significant portion of 1-800 flowers’ revenue comes from the funeral business. The company offers a variety of arrangements, including “sympathy bouquets,” “casket sprays,” funeral wreaths, and crosses. These items are prominently displayed on the company site, as are books and guidance from a “celebration expert,” and an original video which outlines “how to express sympathy with flowers and gifts.”  According to one 1-800-FLOWERS representative, “Sympathy remains an important business for retail florists and 1-800-FLOWERS.COM works closely with…florists to help them grow their share in this category.”

Rock of Ages Corp. (ROAC)
> Interesting Fact: The largest integrated granite quarrier and manufacturer of
finished granite memorials and granite blocks for memorial use in North America
> # of Employees: 257
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $15.8 Million
> Most Recent Net Income: $2.2 Million

Rock of Ages is primarily a provider of granite used for memorials, including tombstones and mausoleums.  The company operates eight different active quarries and four manufacturing facilities.  The company’s revenue is divided between the selling of raw granite from its quarries and the manufacturing and selling of its final memorial products to 115 independent retailers.  The company was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Graniteville, Vermont.

Stewart Enterprises Inc. (STEI)
> Interesting Fact: Stewart facilities manages funerals and burials at each of its sites at a rate that is more than double that of an average funeral home which means its operations are unusually efficient.
> # of Employees: 4,000
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $125.3 Million
> Most Recent Net Income: $9.1 Million

Funeral homes and cemeteries in the United States perform an average of approximately 110 funerals and 150 burials per year.  Stewart, on the other hand, performs approximately 265 funerals and 320 burials per year per location.  The company currently owns 218 funeral home locations and 140 cemeteries, about 9,900 acres.  Appoximately 38% of the company’s land, a significant portion of which is located in Florida, Texas, and California, is still available for burial plots.

Matthews International (MATW)
> Interesting Fact: Largest percent of revenue comes from bronze plaques
> # of Employees: 4,900
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $256 million.
> Most Recent Net Income: $20.6 million

Matthews International develops “memorialization products” including caskets and urns.  Its specialty is “graphic imaging” – the process of engraving headstones and plaques. Bronze plaques – an often-overlooked means of remembrance – accounted for 27.7% of its 2009 sales.  The company was founded in 1850 and is based in Pittsburgh.

Amazon.com (AMZN)
> Interesting Fact: Amazon sells a steel embalming table
> # of Employees: 21,700
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $7.6 billion
> Most Recent Net Income: $231 million

Amazon.com helped bring the funeral service online.  Like Wal-Mart, the company offers caskets in more than 50 different varieties.  Additionally, it sells a steel embalming table for $1,095 and pet urns for under $200.  Many caskets are sold at 67% off the list price, thanks to a partnership with Bestpricecaskets.com.

StoneMor Partners (STON)
> Interesting Fact: Company performed 37,782 burials in 2009
> # of Employees: 2,156
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $52.1 Million
> Most Recent Net Income: $4.6 Million

Like Service Corp. International, StoneMor Partners is a multifaceted death care conglomerate.  The company operates more than 200 cemeteries in 24 states and 58 funeral homes in 16 states.  It also sells interment rights, caskets, and other merchandise.  In 2009, the company sold 25,842 interment rights and performed 37,782 burials.

Embalming and its Origins

The American funeral industry emerged in the aftermath of the Civil War, picking up steam at the turn of the twentieth century and gaining economic power by the middle of the century. Although the industry has long been the object of scathing public attacks, local funeral homes across the country have won respect as established and trusted places of business and as a source of comfort for families suffering from the loss of a close friend or relative. Variously called "undertakers," "funeral directors," and "morticians," America's new ritual specialists have transformed the twentieth-century experience of death and body disposal.

The foundation of the emergent industry was embalming, a practice that gained legitimacy during the Civil War years. Although medical schools before the Civil War relied on various European methods of preserving dead bodies for instructional purposes, most Americans had no knowledge of the procedure and abhorred any "unnatural" intervention into the body's organic processes of decomposition. In antebellum America, the integrity of the dead body, even one disintegrating in the coffin, had to be preserved at all costs. Even though it might be placed on a cooling board, the interior of the corpse was generally not accessible to prying eyes, hands, or medical equipment.

During and after the Civil War, embalming became acceptable to more Americans who wanted to ensure that, no matter what, they could have a last look at their lost loved ones. Many Northern families who could afford it arranged to have the sacred remains of their fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands shipped home from Southern battlefields. They hired death specialists who found innovative methods, including arterial injection, to preserve bodies for the long journey home. Thomas Holmes, one of the pioneering founding fathers of the modern funeral industry, perfected his skills and made a dramatic impact on his fellow undertakers during the Civil War.

A critical turning point in popular awareness of embalming, and in legitimating it as a permissible American practice, was the cross-country journey of Abraham Lincoln's body after the war. Hundreds of thousands of people filed past the viewable body on display in cities from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Illinois, and newspaper reports provided the public with graphic details about embalmers, whose methods were central to preserving a sacred relic that ritualistically united Americans after the divisive and bloody war.

After the Civil War, increasingly more undertakers began to experiment with embalming as an alternative to other modes of preservation. By the early decades of the twentieth century, embalming had become a standard practice in much of the country. American undertakers, many of whom had connections with the furniture industry and had a growing interest in the production of coffins, began to focus on the transformed appearance of the body.

Embalming assumed a central place in American burial practices for a number of reasons. First, instructors representing embalming chemical companies traveled the land, offering courses in the trade and conferring diplomas that signified professional expertise. In time, many of these companies established full-fledged mortuary schools. In addition, states began to recognize this modern professional occupation through licensing boards made up of established funeral directors and other civic leaders.

Second, the rhetoric surrounding embalming relied on contemporary theories about public health and sanitation; many argued that embalmed bodies posed less of a threat to the health of a community than bodies left to rot in the ground naturally. Third, an entirely modern funeral aesthetic emerged in these early years, based in part on chemical company assertions about the value of providing mourners with a pleasing, well-preserved, and viewable corpse. Fourth, embalming proliferated because of an industry-inspired mythology that portrayed current practices as a technological culmination of ancient sacred rites dating back to ancient Egypt. Finally, embalming seemed to respond at some level to the needs and desires of Americans from a variety of ethnic, racial, and religious communities.

The rapid spread of embalming spurred the equally swift emergence of funeral homes across the country in the first few decades of the twentieth century, as American life was transformed by urbanization, medical advances, and the increasing prevalence of scientific attitudes and perspectives. Undertakers no longer traveled to the home of the deceased to prepare the body but instead transported corpses from the home or hospital to the funeral home. A melange of business, residence, religion, and consumerism, the funeral home rapidly became an American institution in local neighborhoods. Funeral directors lived with their families in these homes, and very often wives and children worked with the father in preparing services for people in grief. Whether they helped friends, neighbors, or acquaintances, everyone who walked into the home shared one thing in common: They were customers engaged in a financial transaction.

As funeral homes multiplied, so did a variety of professional associations organizing men at the national and state levels, trade publications exclusively catering to an emerging class of authorities of disposal, and educational institutions for the training of funeral directors. The funeral industry gradually emerged as an economically sophisticated, politically adept, and consumer-oriented institutional powerhouse that revolved around the embalmed, viewable body. But the industry encompassed much more than embalming chemical companies and national professional associations. Casket manufacturers, florists, cosmetic corporations, automobile companies, cemetery associations, insurance agencies, and other related businesses played a role in the financial triumph of

the industry, which was generating billions of dollars per year in economic activity by the end of the twentieth century.

While the changing nature of funerals created an industrial juggernaut over the course of the twentieth century, the public image of funeral directors has been constantly tarnished by bad press, ugly controversies, and negative stereotypes. Although they have referred to themselves as "professionals," undertakers have had a difficult time convincing the public that this title should apply to an occupation that does not require a college degree—hence the gaping divide between the self-image of funeral directors as well-respected, active community members and the popular, media-fostered stereotype of the heartless, corrupt, and exploitative swindler.