Suicide

Suicide

1. Durkheim- positivist

   • social facts and ignore meanings
     • can find out social causes
       • official statistics
         • different societies have different rates
         • within society there are varied social groups
   • suicide is a result of 2 factors
     • 1. social integration- sense of belonging
     • moral regulation- social norms and actions being in check
   • identifies 4 types of suicide
     • egositic- too little regulation
     • altruistic- too much integratio
     • anomic- too little regulation- unclear norms
     • fatalistic- too much regulation slaves
     • in modern sdocieties individualism is main= egoistic suicides and rapid change= anomic suicides
   • later positivist approaches:
     • halbwachs- urban and rural areas cause the difference
     • gibbs and martin define integration as status integration- where the statuses are compatible there is no conflict
   • A02: positivists- no operationalising of concepts- the data is unreliable and incomplete

2. Douglas- interactionist

   • interested in individual meanings
   • statistics are as a result of coroners interpretations they are social constructs and affected by other factors such as family
   • use qualitative data: suicide notes, diaries, interviews, real rates are not statistics
   • Evaluation: produces a classification however no better at interpreting and inconsistant

3. Atkinson- ethnomethodologist

   • we cannot find the meanings and rate of suicide
     • we can only look to why the coroners came to classify the death as a suicide
   • social reality is a construct of its members
   • use quoitative methods: court documents, conversations with coroners, observations of inquests
   • coroners have a common sense theory they use clues to link suicidal intent: suicide notes, hanging is suicide, location and circumstances, life history
   • analysis: + identify how all we achieve is the coroners assumptions however they are also interpreting

4. Taylor- realist

   • we should look at both successful and unsuccessful suicides
     • accepts positivist views to discover causes of suicide
       • use case studies
     • accpets interpretivists that theories influence verdicts so not valid
   • 4 types of suicide certainty/ uncertainty of themselves and others
     • submissive- certain of self- e.g. teminally ill
     • sacrifice- certain of others rejection
     • thanatation- uncertain of self russian roulette
     • appeal- uncertain of others overdosing hoping someone will find them
   • evaluation
     • disadvantages: no way of knowing if signs are correct, combination of motives, hard to categorise small sample and not connected to wider causes
     • advantages: explain patterns and use both successful and unsuccessful