2. Durkheim (1897)
'Suicide'
• Seen by Functionalists as deviant (at
one time it was a criminal offence)
• Selfish act that denies society of
one of its members
3. study of suicide statistics
noted
• regularities in the statistics
• SR varies with a state's established religion
• SR varies indirectly with family size
• SR varies with political and national crises
• SR varies with a state's economic condition
• SR varies with occupational group
• SR varies directly with the divorce rate
4. 3 conclusions
within
• single societies the SR rate remains
constant
• SR varies between societies
• SR varies between different groups within
the same society
• discounts individualistic explanations, and
factors such as climate, heredity,
• mental state
5. • presents 'social explanation'
"suicide varies... with the degree of
integration of the social group to which
the individual forms a part"
• sociological explanation based on the social
bonds that bind the individual to society
'social integration' - integrative bonds
'moral regulation' - regulative bonds
idea of 'social equilibrium' - disequilibrium
results in increase in suicide
7. • "A major issue in suicidology is... Do
we have a common definition of
suicide?" Soubrier (1993)
8. • Taylor (1977) 'Suicide: Public purpose, private grief'
• shows how the assumption of a clear difference between
'genuine' and 'fake' suicidal is unsustainable
• demolishes several 'myths' of suicide
• people who talk about suicide do not kill themselves
people who kill themselves are mentally ill
even if someone is prevented from killing himself, he will
only try again at the next opportunity
manipulative suicide acts deserve little sympathy
