Continuing on from his research and by using Empirical evidence Durkheim determined that there were four types of suicide; Altruistic, Fatalistic, Anomic and Egoistic. And that these suicides were a result of Social Integration or Moral Regulation and the excess or lack of either.
Altruistic is a result of over integration, a self sacrifice out of duty to others or to benefit others. For example, Hindu widows would kill themselves at their husband's funeral. Egoistic is a result of under integration, such is when a person isn't sufficiently part of a group to which they should belong. It can be argued that this is one of the reasons why Protestants are more prone to suicide than Catholics, because there is a lesser sense of community. Fatalistic is a result of over regulation, in the case of when a person is too restricted by society and has no future they may resort to suicide.eg. Slaves or long sentenced prisoners. Finally Anomic is a result of being under regulated, occurring when the traditional norms and values that the individual is accustomed to no longer apply. For example, the Wall Street Crash, businessmen could be seen jumping from buildings on a daily basis.
Depite Durkheim's impressive work into suicide, others have found flaws in his research and conclusions. Surprisingly some of these criticisms have come from fellow Positivists. Halbwachs thought that Durkheim overestimated the importance of religion in regards to causes of suicide and Halbwachs himself thought that the differences between living in rural and urban areas had more of an impact. Gibbs and Martin thought the flaw in Durkheim's work was that not all of his concepts were sufficiently defined making it difficult to test thus meaning that his work was not a true Positivist method. For example, 'Integration' was not defined sufficiently therefore it could not be tested that this affected suicide. Despite their criticism Gibbs and Martin still believed that Social Integration is an important influence on suicide.
Jack Douglas, an Interpretevist, unlike Durkheim didn't rely on using statistics for his research as he believed that statistics do not uncover the true meaning of suicide. Suicide according to Douglas can be defined in 'cultural' terms and because of this cultural significance suicide can only really be explained through the analysis of coroner's case studies. Douglas' emphasis on coroner's interpretations highlights the problem with using suicide statistics as evidence. In order for a suicide to be put into the statistics relies on a coroner ruling a death as a suicide, but individual coroners may work in different ways and despite evidence pointing to suicide doesnt necessarily mean a coroner will rule that way. So therefore not all suicides will make it into the statistics thus making the statistics unreliable. As an Interpretevist Douglas took into account individual's possible motives for suicide, he saw it that not all of those that commited suicide neccessarily intended to die and there are other cases where a genuinely suicidal person may not succeed. He concluded that a person might resort to suicide or self harm for 1 of 4 reasons, as an escape, as a cry for help, as an act of revenge or as a means of repentance. This is why case studies are so crucial to determining a person's motives.
Maxwell Atkinson, who in theoretical terms can be considered to be an ethnomethodologist went even further than Douglas when considering coroners, in Atkinson's work 'The Role of Coroners in Defining Suicide'. Atkinson was interested in how such deaths get catergorized as a suicide, he also dismissed Positivist methods and the use of statistics as he thought that these things have nothing to do with social reality. He said that Suicide is a construct of 'social actors', an aspect of social reality. Coroners reach their verdicts by gathering forensic evidence, witness statements, medical information.etc. then reach the cause of death by putting the information together. Atkinson said quite simply that coroners are experts in representing common sense. Atkinson also thought that in determining or ruling out a cause of death such as suicide coroners have to rely on both Primary and Secondary cues. Primary cues are parts of evidence which are obvious at the time of death and probably the first information that the coroner will recieve. Such things as, the mode of death, location and whether or not there was a suicide note. Secondary cues are revealed at an inquest, these tend to "paint a portrait of the life history of the deceased". Such things as, financial problems, depression, illness, desertion of a partner.etc. are the issues which might sway a coroners ruling.
It was thought by Sociologist, Irving Stengel, that there is a grey area between actual suicides and attempted suicides, although they are conceptually different it is not actually possible to distinguish between the two. For instance, an individual may have the genuine intention to kill themselves but might fail to do so perhaps because of the intervention of another. Stengel thought that suicide and attempted suicide should be studied as part of the same social phenomenon, and he refers to this idea as 'Para-Suicide'. Para-Suicide according to Stengel should be studied by the method of unstructured interviews. Only this way can it be possible to understand the individual's motives and ask such questions about the persons reasons, state of mind.etc. This qualitative method reveals more than what statistics can.
Steve Taylor's recent study on 'Persons under trains' ( Deaths which occurred on the London Underground) interestingly enough uses the Positivist method of statistical analysis to confirm that suicide statistics are unreliable. Taylor also used the case study method, not unlike Douglas and Atkinson in this ragard. Over a period of 12 months Taylor studied the cases of individuals whom had met their deaths by being hit by tube trains on the London Underground. Over this time Taylor found 32 cases where the reasons for death were not conclusive. There were no suicide notes, no conclusive eye witness account, mental health state was considered.etc. Out of these 32 cases, 17 were ruled as suicide, 5 as accidental and the remaining 10 were an open verdict. In theoratical terms Taylor is a realist, he is aware of the social construction of statistics but still wishes to uncover trends. After his research Taylor distinguished between 4 types of suicide. They fall into categories, Ectopic Suicide (meaning inner directed) and Symphysic Suicide (meaning other directed). 'Thanative' falls into the Ectopic category and is based on uncertainty. This is when others cannot get through to the individual or cant tell him/her what they want to know. 'Submissive' also falls into this category but is more certain. This is when others cannot disuade the individual. 'Appeal' falls into Symphysic and is also uncertain. This is when a person is trying to gamble with their lives in order to change the attitudes of others. 'Sacrifice' also in this category is again more certain. This is in the instance when another has made the person's life unbearable.ie. pushed them to it.
In conlusion, in comparison to more recent studies Durkheim's work appears to be dated and flawed. The study might at first seem to be Reliable due to the Quantitative methods which are used, but it is now impossible to replicate Durkheim's study since it was conducted many years ago and the statistics will have changed considerably. It might also be argued that the statistics used are vague, too general and 'Socially Constructed'. Another problem with the study is that it lacks validity, without using qualitative methods it is impossible to truly understand suicide, but then on the other hand it is also impossible to communicate with someone who has succeeded in commiting suicide. Perhaps this is where Irving Stengel's concept of Para- Suicide is superior. There are also problems with Durkheim's types of suicide, it is not so easy to pigeon hole somebody like that especially in regards to such a serious topic. A suicide may fall into more than one of these categories, For example, Bobby Sands (IRA hunger striker) falls into all 4 categories. Where does the point of balance fall? Although argued that Durkheim's study is dated, Sainsbury used some of Durkheim's methods and theories in his own study. By using a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods Sainsbury identified several Social Factors and emphasized the effect of Social Integration. Therefore, although dated by todays standards Durkheim's ideas still hold relevance and significance in todays society, but still, in order to use Durkheim's ideas effectively then the problems in his theories must be solved as Sainsbury attempted to do.
