The discursive construction of the dying subject: mapping the complexity of an end-of-life care context.

Research output: Working paper

Abstract

This paper focuses on how (the good) death and the dying subject are, in a complex end-of-life care
context, constructed by articulating a series of contingent signifying elements. In an articulation
process - that is: 'any practice establishing a relation among elements such that their identity is
modified as a result of the articulatory practice' (Laclau & Mouffe, 1985: 105) - all identity is
formed in a relational manner. The relational and contingent nature of identity formation is deemed
crucial (Hall, 1997) and is a basic theoretical point of departure for this text. Indeed, this paper
approaches the identity of the dying subject from the discourses that circulate on (the good) death.
These discourses and the way they construct the identity of the dying subject are embedded within an
institutional context: the identities of a series of societal (medical, social, political, legal and
religious) fields that intervene in the dying process. Concretely, this paper first sketches a
discourse-theoretical approach to medical-sociological categories. Then, this approach is used
to discuss the construction of the body and the construction of the dying subject. Focusing on the
dying subject, it will analyze the (re-)articulations of death and the good death in which the
construction of the dying subject is embedded. Main attention will finally go to the present-day
struggles over these articulations: the struggle for meaning between the 'right to die' movement and
the palliative care movement and the crisscrossing of conflict and institutional struggle within the sphere of end of-
life care.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherUnknown
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Keywords

  • dying subject
  • end-of-life care

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