Suicide

• Suicide is a product of external forces
• Suicide is a social fact
• Used statistics from different countries to find correlations and patterns

In each society suicide rates are constant

There are significant differences in the suicide rates of different societies

2 Social Facts

Social Integration -  refers to the extent to which individuals experience a sense of belonging or obligation

Moral Regulation - the extent to which individuals actions/desires are kept in check by norms and values. 

Egoistic Suicide - too little social integration, more common in modern societies, excessive individualism, lack of social ties (Teacher suicide article)

Altruistic Suicide - too much social integration, puts others first, self sacrifice for the sake of the group, duty to die (Suicide bomber article)

Anomic Suicide - too little moral regulation, normlessness (anomie) unclear or obsolete norms, don't know what to expect (Greece depression article)

Fatalistic suicide - too much moral regulation, can do nothing to affect their destiny, governed completely by society (Northen Ireland article)

In modern industrial society we experience: low levels of integration, little obligation to others, failure to regulate individuals (egoistic/anomic)

In traditional pre-industrial society we experience: high levels of integration, rigidly arcribed status (altruistic/fatalistic)

• Too heavily based on official stats - these can be manipulated and are a product of social construction
• Can be used to show the link between sociology and science
• Halbwachs (1930) Durkheim forcuses too heavily on areas such as religion and ignores other factors like ecology, only based on what membership of a group means to individual 
• Durkheim suggests that we must be aware of unconcious societal values which is impossible (borderline interactionist approach)

• Suicide is a social construction
• Each act of suicide is individual and unique
• Can only be explained by others affected by the death
• Suicide stats are not valid as they are easily influenced (eg. people destroying evidence)
• Stats are a product of opions, attitudes and values
• Integration affects how likely a suicide is to be recorded
• Positivists ignore the meanings of suicide
• We must aim to build a typology of suicidal meanings

• Transforming soul - we must kill ourselves in order to reach a higher and better state of being (mass suicide in religious cults)
• Transforming oneself - telling other people how strong our feelings are about  a certain topic (killing yourself because you have killed someone else)
• Acheiving fellow feelings - allowing others to empathise with us (parasuicides)
• Gaining revenge - making someone feel guilty for your death (ex love)

• How can coroners label a death a suicide?
• The exact numbers of suicide will never be known 

4 clues to a Suicide:

Sucide notes - there may not be a note, could have been written by someone else

Mode of Death - most common include hanging, overdose, slashed wrists, jumping off a bridge

Location and Cirumstances - where and when?

Life history and Mental Condition - history of mental illness, recent family death, poor financial situation, divorce

• To undertand suicide, we must compromise between positivists and interpretivist (REALISTS)
• Studied suicides and parasuicides
• Argued stats are subjective
• Real patterns do exist in suicide
• Aims to reveal underlying structures and causes
• Suicides are about communication and certainty 

Self Directed (ectopic)

Submissive Suicide - certain about yourself, no future or reason to go on, deadly serious attempt (terminally ill people)

Thenation Suicide - uncertain about yourself, concerned with others opinions, risk taking suicide (russian roulette)

Other Directed (symphysic)

Sacrifice Suicide - certain about others, dealing serious attempt, impossible to go one, blame others for their death (guilt passed to ex)

Appeal Suicide - uncertain about others, doubts about importance, form of communication to change others behaviour, both an act of despair and hope, a wish to die and for things to get better