Abstract
Work with dying persons concerns not only the question of dying individual bodies but also the social solidarity around dying individuals. The present paper examines the following points: 1） M. Foucualt’s triangle of life, disease and dying, and his notion of individual body, 2） awareness of dying and suffering in A. Strauss’s study on working with dying persons, 3） problem of the historical “prégnance” of family in the Japanese system of health care, 4） problem of nurses’ articulation work, studied through a survey research in Paris and Tokyo, 5） social solidarity for caring dying persons and T. Parsons’ notion of “gift of life”. It should be noted that the notion of “gift of life” is not limited to family sphere but open to social network, called “selective bonds” by C. Ueno.
