Big Brother and the Grim Reaper: Political Life After Death

by Benjamin Ginsberg

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Book cover for Big Brother and the Grim Reaper

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States are thought only to exercise power over the land of the living. Benjamin Ginsberg argues otherwise, exploring the state’s reach into the realm of the Grim Reaper, bureaucratizing death to strengthen the state’s hold on life. He notes that increasingly institutions are using the regulation of death as an essential source of power. They do this by not only threatening death to their enemies but also securing loyalty and obedience by extending citizens’ lives and promising to effectuate the postmortem fulfillment of citizens’ antemortem desires. The state treats the loyal dead with respect, sometimes offering them a place in the secular afterlife of honor and memory, while consigning the faithless to the void.

  • Publish Date 1 September 2024
  • Publish Status Forthcoming
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Michigan State University Press
  • Edition Kindle Edition
  • Format eBook (EPUB)
  • Pages 160
  • Language English