How to study why people commit suicide… u sing Sociology.

Studying suicide shows how Positivism & Interpretivism differ: POSITIVISM Interpretivism Sociology should be studied as a science: objective & observable. To study the social world: use quantitative methods. The world is full of social facts, expressed in statistics & correlations. Sociology should focus on the meanings and motives of individuals (actors). To study the social world: use qualitative methods. People work out what something means before they react to it. We can discover laws of human behaviour that are the same all over the world. Human behaviour is shaped external stimuli. Human behaviour is shaped by internal stimuli (what goes on in the mind).

What does this set of quantitative data tell us about the suicide rate between ?

i)Who is most vulnerable to suicide? ii)Who is least vulnerable to suicide? iii)Explain both patterns.

What commonality do you notice about these high suicide- risk groups?

Why do you think these particular women’s occupations are susceptible to suicide?

1. Using POSITIVISM to explain suicide: 1.Durkheim (1897) studied suicide to show it could explain something as individual and psychological as this. 2.He studied the suicide statistics of European countries. Rates of suicides per million inhabitants in different European countries.

1. Using POSITIVISM to explain suicide: 3.He found the following people had high rates: Protestants, more than Jews or Catholics. Single rather than married people. Childless people rather than people with children. Those living in times of war rather than peace & stability. Suicide rates are social facts....they are socially determined by the organisation of societies.

4. Durkheim identified two key factors in suicide: i) A person’s level of I NTEGRATION and ii) their level of R EGULATION. Integration is the extent to which someone feels part of their community, family or society. How connected, bonded, involved they feel. Regulation (social control) is the extent to which a person’s behaviour is determined & ruled by another. How much freedom a person has. Suicide can therefore be explained by an individual’s relationship to society rather than their psychological state

5. Durkheim came up with four types of suicide based on their relationship to regulation and integration. INTEGRATION ALTRUISTICEGOISTIC Too much integration into society. Sacrifice for the good of the group. Lack of integration into society – don’t feel part of their community.

1. Using POSITIVISM to explain suicide: 5. Durkheim came up with four types of suicide based on their relationship to regulation and integration. REGULATION ANOMIC FATALISTIC Too much freedom; not enough regulation: lack of normality in a rapidly changing society or situation, ie sudden loss of wealth Too little freedom; too much regulation: lacking control, eg prison suicides

Fatalistic Anomic AltruisticEgoistic Regulation Integration Committed by people who are controlled by others. Committed by people who are no longer sure of their role and their purpose. Committed by people who feel they don’t belong in society. Committed by people who want to please their community & who really stick to their cultural norms and values.

Using Durkheim’s ‘ideal types’ of suicide, try to classify the following image cues. Ask yourself if Durkheim’s application of the of regulation and integration are valid explanations of the ‘social fact’ of suicide.

Interpretive approaches to the sociology of suicide.

Sociology should focus on the meanings and motives of individuals (actors). To study the social world: use qualitative methods. People work out what something means before they react to it. Human behaviour is shaped by internal stimuli (what goes on in the mind). A recap on Interpretive approaches:

KEY CONCEPTS: Interpretivism; transformation of the soul; transformation of the self; means to achieve sympathy; getting revenge. 1967

He is very critical of Durkheim’s positivist study of suicide. He particularly criticized the use of official statistics, questionning their validity. The decision to define a death as suicide is made by a coroner. This depends on available evidence & is influenced by other people, chiefly the family of the deceased.

Douglas pokes holes in Durkheim’s categories of suicide. If a person is very well integrated into society, their family & friends are more likely to deny the possibility of suicide. Sociology must investigate the meaning attached to the suicide act by those involved: suicide can have very different meanings in different cultures.

So, sociologists should carry out in-depth interviews with those who knew the person well along with analysis of suicide notes and diaries left by the deceased.

He identified four meanings of suicide in Western society: i)transformation of the soul; - a way of getting to the “next level”/heaven ii) transformation of the self; - suicide used to get others to think of you differently iii) as a means to achieve sympathy and - suicide as a way to get others to feel sorry for you iv) as a means of getting revenge. - suicide as a form of revenge by making people feel guilty about your death

RESEARCH METHOD: He didn’t carry out any research, this was chiefly a critique of Durkheim, so it’s entirely theoretical. WEAKNESSES: while this is a useful critique of Durkheim which led to further Interpretivist study of the issue of suicide, it does lack empirical rigour to back up its claims.

KEY CONCEPTS: coroner; social construction of suicide statistics; commonsense theories of suicide.

Atkinson doesn’t accept that a ‘real’ rate of suicide exists as an objective reality. The suicide rate is not an exact record of how many suicides there have been. He focuses on the methods used by coroners to categorize some deaths as suicides.

Atkinson (phenomenologist) argues that coroners have a commonsense theory of suicide. If information about the deceased person fits their theory, they are likely to record a suicide verdict. What behaviours would you expect of a suicidal person? What information would you, as a Coroner, want in order to arrive at a verdict of suicide?

Coroners consider four types of evidence when trying to reach a verdict: i) suicide notes; ii) mode of death; iii) location and circumstances of death & iv) the biography of the deceased – mental health history, things happening in their lives etc.

RESEARCH METHOD: He carried out interviews with coroners & attended inquests in three different towns. He also observed a coroner’s officer at work & examined some of the records of a particular coroner. EVALUATION: Atkinson has used a more thorough empirical approach to support his theoretical claims and it makes us seriously think about the social construction of the suicide statistics.

KEY CONCEPTS: ectopic suicide; symphysic suicide; submissive suicide; thanatation; sacrifice suicides; appeal suicides.

Taylor agrees that suicide statistics are unreliable. Over the course of one year, he found 32 cases of deaths on the London Underground where there were no strong clues as the reason for the deaths (inconclusive). No suicide notes were left and there were no witnesses who could say if the person had jumped.

It was impossible to say with any certainty if these 32 had been suicide. Despite this, 17/32 of the deaths were recorded as suicide, 5/32 were classified as accidental and 10/32 were left as open verdicts (undecided).

Taylor found that a number of factors made a suicide verdict more likely; i) deceased people with mental health issues and/or had suffered from some form of social failure or disgrace, were more likely to be recorded as suicide; ii) when the deceased had no good reason to be at the train station; iii) the verdict was strongly influenced by witnesses who testified to the dead person’s state of mind – if they were close friends or relatives of the deceased, they were more likely to deny a suicide verdict.

Taylor classifies suicides as either ectopic (what the person thinks about themselves) or symphysic (suicide as a result of their relationships with others). Suicide and its attempts are also related to certainty and uncertainty – people are sure or unsure about themselves or others.

He comes up with two types of ectopic suicides: i) Submissive suicides occur when a person is certain about themselves and their life – it’s CRAP. They see themselves as already dead. The person is sure they want to die. Common in people with terminal illness. ii) Thanatation is a type of suicide which is a gamble, the person isn’t sure about dying or living. Which of these is submissive & which is thanatation?

Taylor also identifies two symphysic or other-directed suicides: i) sacrifice suicides are certain that others have made their life unbearable and they have no choice but to end it; ii) appeal suicides are when a person wants to show another that they are desperate, desperate enough to try to kill themselves – if it doesn’t work, that’s fine. Any thoughts?

ECTOPIC (suicidal action is directed towards oneself). SYMPHYSIC (suicidal action is directed towards other people). CERTAINTY (totally sure about wanting to die). UNCERTAINTY (unsure about wanting to die). Thanatation (who am I?), e.g. taking risks like Russian Roulette. Submissive (I am already dead), e.g. the terminally ill. Appeal (who are you?), e.g. the cry for help. Sacrifice (I am killed), e.g. making others feel guilty because they have driven you to suicide. Others cannot tell the individual what he wants to know. Others have made this individual’s life really difficult and painful. Others cannot dissaude the individual from what he knows. Others have terminated the individual’s existence in the world.

RESEARCH METHOD: He conducted a study of ‘persons under trains’ – people who were killed on the London Underground by being hit by trains. EVALUATION: Taylor’s study helps to explain why some suicide victims leave notes and others don’t & why some are more serious attempts than others.

Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of quantitative and qualitative sources of data in studying suicide. 21 marks