The Institutionalization of Kübler-Ross’s Five-Stage Model of Death and Dying

Abstract

Kübler-Ross’s five-stage model of death and dying—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—is one of the most popular theoretical models to come out of the 20th century. How did an obscure theory of the dying process come to dominate our understanding of emotional processes altogether? Building on previous work in the sociology of knowledge, I analyze the diffusion and institutionalization of Kübler-Ross’s five-stage model in scientific and journalistic fields. Specifically, I analyze all 3216 citations of Kübler-Ross in the New York Times and the Web of Science database using qualitative and quantitative text analysis. I demonstrate how early scientific interest and commercial promotion led to adoption in popular culture, and document how the five-stage model expanded to cover everything from rent prices to COVID-19. I also argue that renewed interest in Kübler-Ross’s work may signal contemporary attempts to mine the tradition for meaningful understandings of death and dying.

Keywords

death diffusion institutionalization cultural sociology text analysis

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