SUICIDE

The study of suicide is a classic area in Sociology that has led to many different types of approaches to studying it. There are different methodological perspectives or theories of methods and approaches to the study of suicide in very different ways.

POSITIVISTS (DURKHEIM)

See official statistics as being social facts. In Durkheim’s thought experiment (comparative method), he compared the rate of suicides between Catholics and Protestants. He found that Catholics were less likely to commit suicide do to the rate of social integration that is intertwined with the religion such as being in bigger families.

INTERPRETIVISTS (DOUGLAS)

They are interested in the meanings behind the suicide for the deceased. Douglas argues that suicide rates are not social facts but are socially constructed by the participants. (An example could be by the Coroner or friends and family.) This means statistics are disregarded because it allows labels to be attached to the person who is supposed to have committed the suicide due to social factors such as depression, mental illness or stress. (Another factor is that different countries regard suicide as different)

ETHNOMETHODOLOGISTS/PHENOMENOLOGISTS (AKTINSON)

They take a more hard-core interpretivist approach that believes all knowledge and meanings are socially constructed on an individual basis so we can never have a true understanding of another person’s meaning. This is because we are always interpreting it with our own subjective context so we can never know the true rate of suicide because we don’t know the meaning the dead gave to their deaths.

Atkinson however criticizes common sense theorists on how they categories incidents that are socially constructed as suicide.

· Ethnomethodology- An interpretivist method for understanding the social orders of society through social interaction constructing a common sense view of the world. (GARFINKEL)

· Phenomenology- This is an interpretivist method that concentrates more on human experiences and objectivity. (HUSSERL)

REALISTS (TAYLOR)

Realists tend to look for the real pattern and causes for suicide rates. They aim to discover the underlying structures and causes that can explain observable events such as suicide. This is because many who attempt suicide are not sure their actions will kill them. The way to define an event as a suicide would be to look at the successful and unsuccessful attempts to commit this offence. Taylor distinguishes between 4 main types of suicide:

· Submissive Suicides- When the person is certain about themselves. (e.g. no future)

· Thanatation Suicides- When person is uncertain about themselves and what others think so attempt a risk taking death like Russian roulette.

· Sacrifice Suicides- When they are certain about others and know they have to kill themselves. This could involve knowing business failing or knowing they are hated by all.

· Appeal Suicides- When a person is uncertain about others having doubts about their importance to them. The suicide tries to resolve uncertainty and is an attempt to form communication.

Taylor’s views don’t apply to wider society as his studies were a small sample of case studies. Unlike Durkheim, this makes it lack representativity; however the theory is original and with merit shows patterns of observed suicide. Q1) What did Positivist Durkhiem about crime?