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Funeral Wishes and Trends: What Does the Future Hold?
Professor Kate Woodthorpe, Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath presented at the AEE 2025
As society changes, so too do our approaches to death, dying and remembrance. The funeral sector, once rooted in formality and tradition, is now undergoing significant transformation, shaped by social change, personal preference and economic reality.
The Changing Role of the Funeral Director
Today’s funeral directors operate in a landscape that looks markedly different from that of previous generations. Their role increasingly extends beyond the practical organisation of funerals to include emotional support, administrative guidance, and often mediation between family members with differing views on what constitutes a meaningful farewell.
Bereaved families now expect greater transparency, flexibility and personalisation. These expectations create opportunities for innovation but also raise questions about professional standards, ethics and accountability.
Changing Rituals and the Purpose of Funerals
The purpose and meaning of funerals are shifting. Once seen primarily as collective rituals of mourning, funerals are becoming more individualistic, designed to reflect the personality, interests or beliefs of the deceased. Some families are choosing to replace traditional services with private gatherings or celebrations of life.
At the same time, the growing popularity of direct cremation — where the cremation takes place without a formal ceremony — illustrates wider social trends. Concerns about cost, convenience and a discomfort with traditional rituals all play a part. Increasingly, people die “behind closed doors”, with fewer of us directly experiencing death or dying. This distance inevitably shapes how we commemorate and make sense of loss.
Costs, Burden and Expectation
Rising funeral costs have placed additional pressure on bereaved families, sometimes creating a sense of financial and emotional burden. This has encouraged the move towards simpler, less ritualised farewells. While such approaches can reduce expense, they also prompt reflection on what might be lost when shared, communal mourning gives way to private, pared-back alternatives.
Oversight and Regulation
As funeral practices diversify, oversight and regulation become more challenging. How should new and alternative providers be monitored? How can innovation be supported without compromising ethical standards or quality of care? These questions will be central to the profession’s future development.
How We Got Here: A Period of Profound Social Change
The transformation of funeral practices reflects broader shifts across society — urbanisation, changing family structures, declining religious affiliation and the influence of the digital world. People now engage with death differently: through online memorials, crowdfunding for funerals, or sharing experiences of dying on social media. These developments demonstrate both a new openness and a growing fragmentation in how we relate to mortality.
Looking to the Future
What does the future hold for funerals and bereavement care? Continued innovation, greater individual choice, and perhaps a reimagining of what collective mourning looks like in an increasingly digital and global society.
Researchers at the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS) at the University of Bath continue to explore these issues — examining not only how we die, but how society lives with death.
If you would like to learn more:
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Join the CDAS newsletter by emailing cdas@bath.ac.uk
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Attend monthly online seminars or the annual online conference
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Explore PhD opportunities with the Centre
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Or, if you are visiting Bath, take part in the Death Walk — a unique exploration of the city’s relationship with mortality and memory