DURKHEIM - SUICIDE

• What are social facts?

  a category of facts which present very special characteristics, consist of manners of acting, thinking, and feeling external to the individual which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him
• according to durkheim social facts have an objective reality that sociologists can study in a way similar to how other scientists such as physicists study the physical world
• how does Durkheim explain suicide?

  in terms of a persons integration in society and the regulation that constrains a person
• what is integration?

  means strong duties and obligations to others
• what is an integrated society?

  in a strongly integrated society people are bound together by shared norms and values.
• how is level of integration measured?

  by the strength and number of relationships with others
• What is regulation?

  refers to the control society has over its members, how society regulates its members. Without regulation peoples desires and actions are limitless
• when did Durkheim carry out ‘A study of suicide’?

  1897
• what is altruistic suicide?

  acting unselfishly out of concern for others, even if this is harmful to oneself. their lives are taken out of a sense of duty
• what is fatalistic suicide?

  belief that nothing can be done to change a situation
• what is egoistic suicide?

  refers to the self, characteristic of societies making the transition to modernity. they have excess of individualism, thinking of themselves rather than the duties to others
• what is anomic suicide?

  anomie is a sense of ’normlessness’. this occurs when there is a lack of regulation on desires and expectations
• where on the scale is altruistic suicide?

  too much integration
• where on the scale is anomic suicide?

  not enough regulation
• where on the scale is altruistic fatalistic suicide?

  too much regulation
• where on the scale is egotistic suicide?

  not enough integration
• What are social facts that aren’t directly observable?

  social currents according to Durkheim

  just as real and have power over behaviour. The underlying causes of different types of suicide, the suicide rate itself if the social fact
• weaknesses

  subjective and non standardised methodology

  only 3 western European countries in sample

  concepts have researcher bias, subjective

  dont know the reasons behind someone’s suicide
• what are the problems with the suicide definition?

  changed in 2011

  some deaths that were under “mental and behavioural disorders” became classed as “self poisoning and undetermined intent” therefore suicide.

  could mean that even more deaths coded when they might not be suicide
• What is the interpretivist approach to the meanings of suicide?

  Jack Douglas - statistics on suicide are useless as they are unreliable and invalid. result of negotiated meanings and complex social interactions. a persons family may conceal their suicide or a homicide is framed to look like a suicide. an examination of meanings is essential to understand arbitrary suicide statistics
• what are the 3 steps in the interpretivist approach to suicide meanings?

  1 find evidence of the meaning victims may have given, look at the time immediately before the suicide

  2 look for patterns of meaning that are common with other suicides

  3 link the patterns of meaning to wider culture of the victim