AQA A2 Sociology - Suicide

1. Suicide
Durkheim used his study of suicide to prove
sociology is a science. There are observable
patterns to human behaviour which can be
explained.

2. Suicide Rates as Social Facts
Durkheim believes our behaviour is caused by social facts - social
forces found in the structure of society. Lukes identifies three
features of social facts…
1. They are external to individuals
2. They constrain individuals, thereby shaping their behaviour
3. They are greater than individuals; they exist on a different
‘level’

3. Social Patterns
Durkheim, a positivist, compared suicide rates for different societies
and discovered four regular patterns…
1. Suicide rates in any society remain more or less constant
2. When the rate did change, it coincided with other changes in wider
society (economic depression, war, prosperity booms)
3. Different societies have different rates
4. Within a society, rates varied between social groups (for example,
single/widowed/childless individuals have a higher rate than those
who are married and/or have children)

4. Conclusion
So, Durkheim concluded that suicide cannot just be
the result of individual motives. He proves this by
pointing out that the population of Paris is constantly
changing and the French army, too, is made up of
different individuals as the years go by. But, in both
cases, suicide rates remained constant.
Therefore he believes in each group and society, the
forces act with differing degrees of intensity.
Durkheim devised four types of suicide…

5. Type Cause Motivation Example Society
Egoistic Too little social
integration
• Individualism
• Social
detachment
Protestants Modern
Altruistic Too much social
integration
• Collectivism
• Calm duty of
duty (e.g.
Hindu women
are expected
to perform
‘sati’ when
their husbands
die so they
aren’t a
burden)
Military
Religious Martyr
Leader/Follower
Traditional, pre-
industrial
Anomic Too little moral
regulation
• Frustration
• Inability to
adapt to social
change (e.g.
the Wall St
Crash)
Divorce
Economic booms
(come about
quicker than can
be fulfilled)
Modern
Fatalistic Too much moral
regulation
• Overly
disciplines
lifestyle
• Lack of
personal
freedom
Slavery Traditional, pre-
industrial

6. Positivist Responses
Halbwachs (one of Durkheim’s students!) largely confirms Durkheim’s
findings. However, he argues the main reason for variation in suicide
rates is differences between rural and urban dwellers. Similarly,
Sainsbury found suicide rates in London boroughs were highest in
places of social disorganisation.
Gibbs and Martin argue Durkheim’s concept of integration is not
operationalised (measurable or testable). They define integration as a
situation with stable and lasting relationships. They use their idea of
status integration to show that in places where there is such integration,
suicide rates are lower. This is because compatible statuses do not
conflict with one another.

7. Criticisms
 Many of the statistics Durkheim used were incomplete and
unreliable as autopsies were rare in the 19th century
 Many countries in the 19th century lacked the sophisticated,
modern administrative system to collect and compile results
on a national scale

8. Interpretivists
Interpretivists believe behaviour is the result of each individual’s
subjective interpretations and interactions with others. They believe
official statistics are socially constructed and they tell us nothing about
the reasons for behaviour. Douglas criticises Durkheim in 2 ways…
Use of suicide statistics Actor’s meanings and qualitative data
Decisions to classify a death as a
suicide is made by the coroner and
influenced by other social actors (family,
friends). Highly integrated individuals
may not want to label a death as suicide.
So, social integration actually increases
the likelihood of a death being labelled
and recorded as suicide
Durkheim ignores personal meaning,
which varies between individuals and
cultures. So, they must be understood
within their own social and cultural
context. We should use qualitative data
to build a typology of suicidal meanings
to the deceased

9. Douglas: the Meaning of
Suicide
Transformation of the self:
Repentance suicide
Suicide as a self-punishment to
show repentance for wrong doing
Transformation of the soul:
Escape suicide
Suicide as a means of escaping the
misery of life
Revenge suicide Suicide to attach guilt and blame to
those who wronged them
Sympathy suicide Suicide as a ‘cry for help’, often
found among attempted suicide
(hope they will be found in time)

10. Criticisms
 No reason to believe sociologists can interpret a
deceased person’s meaning better than a coroner
 He is inconsistent: how can we discover the
causes of suicide if we don’t know if a death is a
suicide, and we only have a coroner’s opinion?
 Sainsbury and Barraclough found statistics
actually reflect real differences between groups.
For example, immigrants’ in the USA suicide rate
correlated closely with the rate for their countries
of origin, despite different labellers.

11. Douglas’ Methods in Action
Baechler argues suicide is a way of responding to and trying to solve a
problem. He identifies 4 main types…
Escapist Suicide Flight from an intolerable situation,
response to grief/loss, self-punishment
Aggressive Suicide Vengeance to make another feel guilty,
blackmail, appeal
Ludic Suicide Taking deliberate risks which might lead
to death (e.g. ordeal, playing Russian
Roulette)
Oblative Suicide To achieve something, sacrificing
yourself, transfiguraton (e.g. to join a
loved one)

12. Ethnomethodology
Atkinson agrees with Douglas that official statistics are the
construct/labels coroners give to deaths, but reject his ideas of
qualitative data being able to discover the meanings of suicide. For
Atkinson, we can never know the real rate of suicide; it is impossible to
know for sure people’s meanings so all we can study is how people
make sense of their world. We need to know: “How do deaths get
categorised as suicide?”
From his research, he concludes coroners have a commonsense theory
about the typical suicide. This theory leads them to believe 4 pieces of
evidence are relevant: a suicide note; the mode of death; location and
circumstances; life history.

13. Evaluation
Coroners regard these as clues. Therefore, he concludes coroners are
engaged in analysing cases using taken-for-granted assumptions about
what constitutes a ‘typical suicide’. Nevertheless, he is criticised…
Hindless criticises ethnomethodology for being self-defeating. If all we
have is interpretations of the social world, than ethnomethodologists
accounts are more than interpretations, which they claim a coroners
opinion is. Why should we accept an ethnomethodologists opinion over
a coroners opinion if both are interpretations?
However, most ethnomethodologists accept this, and don’t claim to have
superior interpretations to those they are studying.

14. Realist Approaches
Like interpretivists, Taylor believes suicide rates cannot be taken as valid.
However, like positivists, he still believes we can explain suicide.
Taylor found that out of 32 people hit by a London tube train, over half resulted
in suicide despite there being no conclusive evidence. So, Taylor aims to
reveal underlying causes and structures.
He dispels a number of myths about suicide:
 People who talk about suicide are likely to actually commit it. They usually
give others a warning of their intention
 There is no evidence to support the idea that people who commit suicide
are mentally ill
 Amongst survivors, first opportunity re-attempts are very rare
 Responses with no sympathy and concern increase the likelihood of the
actor attempting suicide again

15. Taylor’s Typology
Inner-directed
suicide
Other-directed
suicide
Certainty Submissive Suicide:
“I give in”
Sacrifice Suicide:
“You killed me”
Uncertainty Thanatation Suicide:
“Should I live?”
Appeal Suicide: “Do
you want me to live?”

16. Evaluation
 Taylor is original and useful in explaining some observed patterns.
He also accounts for failed and successful attempts
 There is no way of being certain about actor’s meanings as there
may be multiple motives
 He used small samples, so this study is likely to be unrepresentative

17. Similarities
Taylor’s idea of certainty and uncertainty parallels
with Durkheim’s idea of fatalism and anomie
Taylor’s idea of self-directed and other-directed
parallels with Durkheim’s egoistic and altruistic