ABSTRACT
Compassion is, of course, at the heart of the helping professions. But it does not occur in a social vacuum. To what extent compassion is encouraged or discouraged, restricted or enabled to flourish will depend on a number of wider socio-political factors. This chapter explores the relationship between, on the one hand, compassion as a basis for professional practice in rising to the challenges presented by loss and grief and, on the other, materialism as a major feature of the socio-political context in which such practice takes place.
