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- 1. A2-Level Sociology Suicide
- 2. • http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article- 2093792/Gary-Speed-inquest-Issues- marriage-Louise-months-suicide-Alan- Shearer-reveals.html
- 3. Interpretivism and Suicide Whatkey words can you remember in relation to Interpretivist's? How can those key words be applied to suicide? What types of research methods do Interpretivist's use?
- 4. Interpretivism and Suicide Positivists focus on causes of suicide Interpretivist Sociologists study suicide in a non-scientific method. Interpretivist's reject the use of official statistics as they prefer to look at why individuals behave in the ways they do (the meanings of suicide for those involved e.g. deceased & the coroners label deaths)
- 5. Interpretivism and Suicide Douglas (Interactionist) criticises Durkheim’s study of suicide on 2 main grounds: 1. Use of suicide statistics 2.Actors meaning and qualitative data
- 6. Use of suicidestatistics • Suicide is not influenced by social facts as Durkheim believes but social constructs based on coroners interpretations of deaths and influences by other actors e.g. Family members • Suicide and the stats based on them are the product of interactions and negotiations between those involved- Well Integrated individuals have family & friends to deny & cover up suicide
- 7. McCarthy & Walshstudy • Studies the suicide rate in Dublin between 1964 and 1968 and estimated that the suicide rate should have been 4 x greater than officials records showed. • Family members, police, family doctors and court officials collaborated to cover up suicides and have them categorized as accidents due to stigma associated with suicide in Catholic society (mortal sin)
- 8. In Western Societiessocial meanings of suicide include escape, repentance, search for help/sympathy, self Actors meaning and qualitative data punishment, revenge Other societies may do it for religious reasons e.g. getting to heaven • Durkheim ignores the meanings of the act • Douglas suggests that motives and meanings of suicide can vary between cultures • We must classify suicides according to their meaning for the deceased • To do this qualitative data must be used; suicide notes, diaries, interviews with survivors & relatives • This will give a better idea of the real rate of suicide than OS
- 9. Evaluation Douglas producesa classification of suicide based on the actors supposed meanings. However what evidence is there to state that Sociologists are better than coroners at interpreting a persons meanings Douglas is inconsistent suggesting that OS are the product of a coroners opinions. At other times he claims we can really discover the causes of suicide- yet how can we if we can never really know whether a death was a suicide if all we have is coroners opinions
- 10. Take a comparativeapproach in the study of suicide between Durkheim and Douglas Write a brief summary of Douglas’s explanations of Suicide
- 11. Ethnomethodology • Ethnomethodology, anothertype of social action approach, can certainly be described as micro sociology as it examines how people speak to each other and interact in everyday conversations and in relationships within their own homes.
- 12. Ethnomethodology • Ethnomethodology reveals that there are unspoken rules when people of a common culture chat to each other. For example we usually take turns and respond to what the other person has just said in an appropriate way.
- 13. Ethnomethodology • There are conventions such as not describing our ailments in detail if a comparative stranger greets us with ‘How are you?’
- 14. Ethnomethodology Atkinson (1978) Takes adifferent Interpretivist approach from Douglas Ethnomethodology- social reality is a construct of its members He agrees with Douglas that statistics are merely the result of coroners interpretations
- 15. Ethnomethodology What does Atkinsonbelieve? Page 151
- 16. Atkinson's commonsense factorswhich affects a coroners decision to classify a death as a suicide or not are: 1. The presence of a suicide note or suicide threats before death 2. Type of death such as hanging indicate suicide 3. Location and circumstances 4. Life History e.g. Depression, Disturbed childhood, Divorce, Bankruptcy etc
- 17. • These common sense factors provide clues to whether the deceased intended to take their own life • Coroners engage in analysing cases using taken- for-granted assumptions about what constitutes a ‘typical suicide’ • Therefore when Positivists study suicide statistics that shows isolated individuals commit suicide all they will discover is the taken for granted assumptions made by coroners not social facts about causes of suicide
- 18. AO2 Ethnomethodology hasbeen criticised for being self-defeating….Atkinson's view that the only thing that can be studied is coroners interpretation can be turned back on him. If objective truth cannot be found (real suicide rate) then ethnomethodologists own accounts are no more than interpretations- so why should we accept it Most ethnomethodologists accept that the accounts are merely interpretations (do not claim that their interpretations are superior to those of coroners)
- 19.
- 20. Taylor: Realism &Suicide • Takes a different approach to Positivists and Interpretivists. • Like Interpretivists he argues that suicide stats are not valid ‘persons under trains study’ • However like Positivists he believes we can explain suicide (can discover real patterns and causes) • Realist approach aims to reveal underlying structures and causes which though not observable can explain observable evidence. • Uses case studies to discover the meanings that cause suicide
- 21. ‘Persons Under Trains’ (1989) • Questions usefulness of suicide statistics • Studied a 12 month period – 32 cases of uncertainty – no strong suicide clues but 17 were defined as suicide
- 22. Defining Suicide • Many theories focus on acts where the individual was intent on dying and that resulted in death • Taylor suggests that in many cases those who attempt suicide are not certain that their actions will kill them. • Neither are all who attempt suicide aiming to die • We should look at successful and unsuccessful attempts and adapt a broader definition ‘any deliberate act of self damage or potential self damage where the individual cannot be sure of survival’
- 23. Types of Suicide • Suicide is based on an individuals certainty or uncertainty about themselves or others • Read through the 4 types of Suicide and summarise (page 152)
- 24. AO2 Taylor’s theory is based on his interpretations of the actors meanings (we do not know if it is correct) Individuals cases may involve a combination of motives and be difficult to categorise Taylor used a small number of case studies (unrepresentative) Theories are useful in explaining some of the observed patterns of suicide such as why attempts differ in seriousness and why only some people leave notes Deals with failed and successful attempts
- 25. Plenary: Meanings ofsuicide activity
- 26.
- 27. Theory Explanation of suicide Usefulness of statistics? Evaluation points (+ key concepts) (methods discussion) Durkheim Positivism Social facts as things Gibbs & Martin Interpretivism Douglas Comparative method Social Baechler constructionism coroners Atkinson Meanings of suicide correlations Taylor labelling
- 28. Practice Questions 1. QuickCheck Questions Page 153 2. Item A: For positivists, suicide has social causes. This is why different groups have different rates of suicide. Foe example, Durkheim found that Protestants have higher rates than Catholics. In his view, this was the result of differences in levels of social integration and moral regulation Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that we can discover the social causes of suicide
Editor's Notes
- #4 Subjective Social Action Verstehen Meanings and Motives Validity Interpretivist’s aim to study suicide in a non-scientific manner, they reject using statistics to look at why people commit suicide, Interpretivist’s prefer to look and try to understand why humans behave in such a way and they believe this isn’t knowable through statistics.
- #6 Douglas is interested in the meaning that suicide has for the deceased and in the way that coroners label deaths as suicides
- #7 Douglas is interested in the meaning that suicide has for the deceased and in the way that coroners label deaths as suicides Classifying a death as a suicide is decided by coroner and other social actors which may produce bias in verdicts reached Suicide and the stats based on them are the product of interactions and negotiations between those involved- relatives, friends, doctors, police, the coroner and so on High level of integration leads to low suicide- well integrated individuals have friends & relatives who deny the death as suicide or even cover it up Socially isolated individuals have no-one to oppose a suicide verdict. Integration doesn't prevent suicide all it does is affect the likelihood of a death being labelled and recorded as a suicide Douglas identified that suicide statistics are based on the coroner’s decisions as to whether they decide if the death was a suicide or not, so the coroner’s verdict is based on interpretation. Douglas saw that there are different types of suicide based on the meaning and reason for the death. For example in some societies Eskimos were expected to kill themselves in the times of food shortages.
- #16 However Atkinson rejects the idea that we can find the deceased meanings and discover the real rate since neither the researchers nor coroners can classify deaths objectively (and we cannot get the meanings from the dead). As we cannot do this it is therefore pointless trying to discover the real rate. All we can do is study how the living come to classify a death as a suicide, accident etc. The statistics are neither right or wrong, they are interpretations made by certain officials and so all we can study is how they were constructed. Atkinson states the only task for sociologists is to discover ‘How do deaths get categorised as suicide?’ He uses qualitative methods: court documents, conversations with coroners, observations of inquests. From this research he concludes that coroners have a commonsense theory about the typical suicide including what type of person commits suicide, for what reasons, what is a typical mode or place of death and so on. If a case fits this common sense theory coroners are more likely to categorise the death as a suicide.
- #17 Location and circumstances- death by shooting is more likely to be recorded as suicide if it occurs in a deserted lay-by than when out with a hunting party
- #18 A verdict of suicide is simply an interpretation of a death based on these taken-for-granted assumptions
- #19 Atkinson, similarly to an Interpretivist just looks at how deaths are categorized, as Atkinson demonstrates Coroners just use their own interpretation to decide whether a death was a suicide. E.g. the presence of a suicide note in interpreted as a sign of suicide.
- #20 Atkinson, similarly to an Interpretivist just looks at how deaths are categorized, as Atkinson demonstrates Coroners just use their own interpretation to decide whether a death was a suicide. E.g. the presence of a suicide note in interpreted as a sign of suicide.
- #21 Realism is “the assertion that social reality, social structures and social currents, etc, have an existence over and above the existence of individual actors”
- #23 Realism is “the assertion that social reality, social structures and social currents, etc, have an existence over and above the existence of individual actors”
- #26 Or Suicide risk to service personnel activity
- #27 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPWakWYtpsg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPWakWYtpsg&list=UUBOXcyvqIDkm_cXAZskYaDA&index=10&feature=plcp
- #28 Consolidation chart to help students bring together studies/debates central to sociology of sucide. Use in conjunction with Suicide ppt and core textbook. Encurage students to think about the methodological issues central to this agenda..and link back through other parts of topic and serve as a springboard to methods in context work.
- #29 1. Because he wanted to show that even an act as personal as suicide could nonetheless have social patterns and social causes. In doing so, he would be able to demonstrate the need for sociology as a separate scientific discipline to explain such patterns and causes. 2. They are external to the individual; they shape individual behaviour; they are greater than individuals. 3. Anomic suicide. 4. Because there is more individualism (individuals’ rights and freedoms become more important than obligations and responsibilities towards the group. 5. Escape; repentance; cry for help, self-punishment; revenge; seriousness. 6. Mode of death; location; suicide note; history of mental illness; social circumstances (e.g. recent redundancy, bereavement or divorce). 7. Where the suicide is produced by the individual’s relationship with or feelings about another person or persons. 8. Altruistic suicide.