PROFESSIONALIZATION AND DIRTY" WORK : A STUDY OF EMBALMERS IN SINGAPORE"

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to understand the social reality of the embalmers in Singapore. The uniqueness of their social situation lies in the fact that their occupation is socially stigmatized and often regarded as "dirty" work. We seek to understand two aspects of their social reality. One aspect is focused on the degree of professionalization of the occupation of an embalmer in Singapore and the degree to which the embalmers themselves are trying to professionalize. Professsionalism is but just one of the stigma management techniques utilize by the embalmers to try to reduce the stigma. This is a macro-dramaturgical technique as it attempts to upgrade the occupational status of the occupation in the occupational structure of society. With the relative failure to professionalize, the embalmers have to turn to more individualized micro-personal dramaturgical techniques of managing stigma. This other aspect focuses on how they deal with the social stigma that is associated with an occupation that deals with the dead. We then conclude the thesis by assessing the fundamental sociocultural forces at play that causes the negativity surrounding death, deathwork and its incumbents. We explore the 'Fear of Death' and 'Denial of Death' thesis and its manifestations in supernatural beliefs of death pollution.