Mental illness and suicide
Durkheim: Study of suicide Durkheim studied suicide with the aim of showing that sociology is a science.
Functionalist As a positivist, he saw official suicide statistics as social facts
He argued that even something as personal as suicide has societal causes.
Durkheim used statistics to examine patterns to uncover causes of suicide and
identified types of suicide.
He focused on two social facts that determine suicide rates: social integration
and moral regulation. If integration and regulation is too high or too low, it
could lead to suicide
Findings:
- Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than Catholics (as
Catholics are better integrated)
- Too much integration can lead to suicide
- Too much regulation can lead to suicide
Douglas: the meaning of Douglas takes an interactionist approach to suicide. He is critical of the use of
suicide official statistics because he argues that official suicide statistics are socially
Interactionist constructed by coroners.
For example, whether a death comes to be officially labelled as suicide,
rather than, say an accident or homicide, depends on the interactions and
negotiation between social actors such as the coroner, relatives, friends, and
doctors etc.
The statistics therefore tells us nothing about the meanings behind an
individual’s decision to commit suicide. Douglas argues we must use
qualitative methods such as analysis of suicide notes, unstructured interviews
with the deceased friends or relative or people who have survived a suicide
attempt
This would allow us to ‘get behind’ the labels of coroners attach deaths and
discover their true meanings
Atkinson: Coroner’s Atkinson agrees that official statistics are merely a record of the labels
commonsense knowledge coroners attach to deaths. He argues it is impossible to know for sure the
meanings the dead gave to their deaths
He focused on the taken-for-granted assumptions that coroners make when
reaching their verdicts. He found that their ideas about a ‘ typical suicide’
were important. For instance, certain modes of death, location and
circumstances of death were seen as ‘typical suicide’
Durkheim: Study of suicide Durkheim studied suicide with the aim of showing that sociology is a science.
Functionalist As a positivist, he saw official suicide statistics as social facts
He argued that even something as personal as suicide has societal causes.
Durkheim used statistics to examine patterns to uncover causes of suicide and
identified types of suicide.
He focused on two social facts that determine suicide rates: social integration
and moral regulation. If integration and regulation is too high or too low, it
could lead to suicide
Findings:
- Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than Catholics (as
Catholics are better integrated)
- Too much integration can lead to suicide
- Too much regulation can lead to suicide
Douglas: the meaning of Douglas takes an interactionist approach to suicide. He is critical of the use of
suicide official statistics because he argues that official suicide statistics are socially
Interactionist constructed by coroners.
For example, whether a death comes to be officially labelled as suicide,
rather than, say an accident or homicide, depends on the interactions and
negotiation between social actors such as the coroner, relatives, friends, and
doctors etc.
The statistics therefore tells us nothing about the meanings behind an
individual’s decision to commit suicide. Douglas argues we must use
qualitative methods such as analysis of suicide notes, unstructured interviews
with the deceased friends or relative or people who have survived a suicide
attempt
This would allow us to ‘get behind’ the labels of coroners attach deaths and
discover their true meanings
Atkinson: Coroner’s Atkinson agrees that official statistics are merely a record of the labels
commonsense knowledge coroners attach to deaths. He argues it is impossible to know for sure the
meanings the dead gave to their deaths
He focused on the taken-for-granted assumptions that coroners make when
reaching their verdicts. He found that their ideas about a ‘ typical suicide’
were important. For instance, certain modes of death, location and
circumstances of death were seen as ‘typical suicide’
