Assess sociological explanations for suicide

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Assess sociological explanations for suicide

According to official statistics, suicide rates have declined since the 1990’s. Britain’s suicide rate is now about 10 per 100,000. And according to studies the highest suicide rate for men is between the ages of 15-44 and women 15-19. The suicide rate amongst homeless are 35 times more than the general population and suicide is the 2nd most common death amongst young people. But why do people commit suicide?

Durkheim is a positivist who compared suicide rates across different European countries. He claims that the suicide rate is the number of people who kill themselves in a particular society, in a given period of time. And he found that within each country suicide rates were constant over a number of years.

Through use of official statistics Durkheim found that suicide rates fell at times of economic success and during wars. However critics say that Durkheim paid insufficient attention to the reliability and validity of official suicide statistics and differences of opinion of coroners can lead to variation in statistics. Atkinson states the official statistics that classify deaths as suicides are neither right nor wrong but just interpretations, but they can never be valid as the person is not there. However Ethnomethodologists point out that it will never be valid as there is no other way to study suicide.   A coroner is an appointed expert in medicine and law who investigates any sudden, unexplained death. A coroner must be satisfied that the person killed themselves and intended to and then the verdict is recorded. This then becomes the official statistics which are challenged by anti-positivists. Anti-positivists believe suicide statistics should be treated as ‘social constructions’ rather than social facts, as seen by Durkheim. Also there is a higher rate of suicide amongst Protestants than Catholics and Jews. Suggesting that religion has an impact on why people do and don’t commit suicide. On the other hand Halbwachs suggests the area in which a person lives is more important that religion as densely populated areas have higher suicide rates. Thirdly he found that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to commit suicide. However he feels religion is deemed more important that education as Jews are highly educated but have a low rate of suicide.

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Durkheim believed there are four types of suicide. Altruistic Suicide, when there is too much integration and an individual sacrifices themselves for the good of a group e.g suicide bombers. Fatalistic suicide, when individuals have too little freedom and are highly regulated so feel when they die is the only thing left they can control. Egoistic suicide, when there is too little integration and a person is in no way connected to society. And finally Anomic suicide when there is too much freedom, uncertainty and social change. Taylor backs up Durkheim sating that sociologists should looks for underlying and casual ...

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