A Clinical Activity Analysis of Funeral Agents’ Work in the Brazilian Northeast

Abstract:

Specialized in the management of death processes, funeral agents are an indispensable professional category in contemporary society. It is extremely relevant to study these professionals who endure a high degree of social invisibility, especially by considering them as active subjects in the process of analyzing their own activities. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the work activity of funerary agents using the theoretical-methodological contributions of Clinical Activity. To develop this research-intervention, 23 participant-observations at their workplace, 15 individual interviews, and six group interviews, mediated by the use of the Instructions to the Double technique were carried out with funeral agents who work in a large funeral group in the inner Brazilian northeast. The analysis of work activity led us to understand that these workers’ job prescriptions exceeds dealing with inert lifeless bodies. These workers have a high demand of socio-emotional skills, especially to cope and support grieving families. The professional genre in funeral agents’ activity provide important ways for these workers to behave. As a result of the unpredictability and impediments in their work routines, funerary agents find their own way to meet the demands of work. However, their shared conducts enable them to construct the collective mode of professional action, making funerary agents’ activity a constant mixture of collective and singular contributions.

Keywords:  Funeral Agents; Clinical Activity; Instruction to the Double; Professional Gender