The study of Suicide

Question 1

Positvist view of suicide

Answer 1

Positivists believe society can be studied scientifically. Science develops laws to explain observed patterns. Durkheim argued that there are patterns in suicide and their social causes could be discovered. This would prove sociology is a science.

Question 2

Suicide rates as social facts

Answer 2

In Durkheim’s view, behaviour is caused by social facts- forces found in the structure of society. Social facts are external to individuals; they constrain individuals, shaping their behaviour, and are greater than individuals- they exist on a different ‘level’. For Durkheim, the suicide rate is a social fact.

Question 3

What did Durkheim find when using official statistics for various European countries?

Answer 3

1. Different societies have different rates

2. Within a society, rates varied between social groups; e.g. Catholics had lower rates than Protestants

Question 4

For Durkheim, these patterns in society are a result of which two facts?

Answer 4

SOCIAL INTEGRATION: how far individuals experience a sense of belonging to a group
MORAL REGULATION: how far individuals’ actions are kept in check by norms.

Question 5

Durkheim’s typology of suicide (four types)

Answer 5

1. Egoistic suicide (too little integration); e.g. Catholics have a lower rate than Protestants because they are more tightly integrated by shared ritual
2. Altruistic suicide (too much integration); where it is the individuals duty to die for the good of the group; e.g. Japanese Kamikaze pilots
3. Anomic suicide (too little regulation); where society’s norms become unclear or outdated by rapid change, e.g. economic booms
4. Fatalistic suicide (too much regulation); where society controls individuals completely, e.g. slaves and prisoners

Question 6

Different types of society have different types of suicide…

Answer 6

In modern societies, individualism is more important, causing egoistic suicides, while rapid change produces anomic suicides
In traditional societies, the group is more important, causing altruistic suicides, individuals have rigidly ascribed status, causing fatalistic suicides.

Question 7

Interpretivism and suicide

Answer 7

Rather than focus on the causes of suicide as Positivists do, interpretivists focus on its meanings for those involved- the deceased, coroners, relatives, etc.

Question 8

Douglas: interactionism and suicide

Answer 8

Douglas takes an interactionist approach. He is interested in the meaning of suicide for the deceased, and the way coroners label death

Question 9

Douglas rejects Durkheim’s use of statistics in the study of suicide…

Answer 9

They are not social facts, as Durkheim believes, but social constructs, based on coroner’s interpretations of deaths and influenced by other actors, e.g. family members

Question 10

Douglas argues that Durkheim ignores the meaning of the actor…

Answer 10

We must classify suicides according to their meaning for the deceased. To do so, Douglas uses qualitative data: suicide notes, diaries, interviews with survivors and relatives. he believes this will give us a better idea of the real rate of suicide than official statistics.

Question 11

Atkinson: ethnomethodology and suicide

Answer 11

Atkinson argues that social reality is simply a construct of its members. He agrees with Douglas that statistics are merely the result of coroner’s interpretations. But he disagrees that we can find the deceased’s meanings and discover the real rate, since neither researchers nor coroners can classify deaths objectively. All we can study is how coroners came to classify a death as a suicide. To do this, he favours the use of qualitative data (court documents, conversations with coroners etc.)

Question 12

What does Atkinson conclude? (Commonsense theory)

Answer 12

He concludes that coroners have a commonsense theory about the typical suicide. They take the following as clues indicating suicidal intent and use them to reach a verdict of suicide: a suicide note or suicide threats; mode of death, e.g. hanging is seen as ‘typically suicidal’; location and circumstances, e.g. shooting in a deserted lay-by; life history, e.g. mental illness.

Question 13

Taylor: realism and suicide

Answer 13

Taylor agrees with interpretivists that coroner’s theories influence their verdicts, so statistics are not valid. But he accepts the positivist view that we can discover the underlying causes of suicide. He uses case studies to discover the meanings that cause suicide.

Question 14

Based on the certainty or uncertainty about themselves or others, what four types of suicide does Taylor identify?

Answer 14

1. Submissive suicide: involves certainty about ones self
2. Sacrifice suicide: involves certainty about others
3. Thanatation suicide: involves uncertainty about ones self
4. Appeal suicide: involves uncertainty about others.