포스트-코로나19 시대 장례 제도 변화와 장례지도사의 구조적 소외

초록

This study analyzes the failure of pandemic response in funeral settings from an institutional perspective. Specifically, it aims to examine the structural inequalities and alienation experienced by institutional practitioners (funeral directors) through the historical formation of funeral institutions, explore their responses within institutional voids, and derive directions for institutional improvement. Through in-depth interviews with funeral directors and legal document analysis, it compares experiences of funeral home directors versus sangjo company directors (pre-need funeral service providers), connecting these to the historical transformation of the Act on Funeral Services. Analysis reveals dualized capacity structures during the pandemic. Funeral home directors received systematic infection control training and equipment, while sangjo directors were excluded from these resources, creating capacity gaps despite working at the same sites and weakening overall quarantine effectiveness. Legal analysis shows South Korea's funeral system developed with facility-centered path dependency from Japanese colonial cemetery regulations. However, regulations regarding funeral personnel were continuously omitted, creating institutional voids. The 2012 national funeral director certification system attempted to fill this void, but a fundamental mismatch emerged: certification is granted to individuals while the law remains facility-centered. This entrenched a dualized system including only funeral home directors in legal management while structurally excluding sangjo directors. The funeral director system has “drifted” since 2012 without improvements to core elements, resulting in institutional “alienation” of field funeral directors. The study proposes shifting funeral policy from facility-centered to personnel-centered approaches, establishing integrated education and management systems for all funeral directors, and developing medical-funeral information-sharing systems and infectious disease response manuals.

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