Suicide

Question 1

Durkheim

Answer 1

• described suicide as a social fact, external to individual in structure of society- cannot be simply result of individual motives through varied groups in society
• using quantitative suicide rates eg official statistics- rates varied between social groups, and rates wishing a society remained more or less constant over time
• down to two social facts- social integration (belonging), moral regulation (kept in check by norms)
• fourfold types of suicide
  
  • altruistic suicide (too little integration)- eg Catholics have a lower rate than protestants as they share integrated rituals
  • egotistic suicide (too much integration)- individual’s duty to die for good of group
  • anomic suicide (too little regulation)- norms become outdated/ blurred
  • fatalistic suicide (too much regulation)- societies control individuals

Question 2

Douglas

Answer 2

• interpretivist look- argues against use of official statistics as suicide is a social construction, coroners define deaths as suicide
• cannot be sure any death is a suicide, only that coroners base this on certain pieces of evidence and the meanings of the suicide for the deceased (changed how coroners mark death)
• argues we should classify suicide by what the deceased wanted

Question 3

Atkinson

Answer 3

• ethnomethodology; argues social reality is a construct of its members
• suicide as a result of coroner’s interpretations but disagrees we can ever uncover deceased’s meanings so have to study how coroners’ come to decision
• based on qualitative methods of court documents, conversations and observations, Atkinson found a common sense theory- based on suicide nots, mode of death, location and circumstance, life history and mental health

Question 4

Criticisms of Durkheim

Answer 4

• suicide rates not reliably collected in the past
• sociologists can’t rely on coroner’s reports, as family might not want a death to be seen as suicide/ labelled as such

Question 5

Criticisms of Douglas

Answer 5

• assumes sociologists are better at determining suicides than coroners who are trained professionals

Question 6

Criticisms of Atkinson

Answer 6

• argument is self-defeating- argues that what we can study is corone’s interpretations rather than objective truth, but isn’t accounts themselves just interpretations?