Using Item A and elsewhere, assess different sociological explanations of suicide
1) Using Item A and elsewhere, assess different sociological explanations of suicide
Durkheim was the first to study the social causes, or facts that he believed led to suicide, and these social facts are what shape humans’ behaviour and are external to the individual. He did recognise that some were naturally predisposed to committing suicide, but he argue that it was largely a social problem. However, many interpretevists contest Durkheim’s findings, arguing that the meaning needs to be investigated to find the causes of a suicide rather than a positivist approach, relying on scientific methods.
Durkheim came up with his own typology of suicide, Egoistic, anomic, fatalistic and altruistic. Egoistic is where there is too little social integration, and is the most common type of suicide, because it happens when there is very little social cohesion among society’s members, and has been used to explain why the rates of suicide are lower among Catholics than protestants, because there are stricter rules in Catholicism meaning there are solid boundaries to which people adhere too and can stay close, whereas Protestantism is a lot more lenient with its rules meaning there is little cohesion among members where beliefs differ. Altruistic suicide is where there is too much social integration, meaning there is too much social cohesion and the welfare of the group is more important than the welfare of the individual, and is called sacrificial suicide also, because it isn’t about the individual and their thoughts, but through their death, the group can survive and an example of this would be Japanese kamikaze pilots who would fly into war ships in world war 2. Anomic suicide is where there is little moral regulation which occurs when society undergoes rapid change, like in the 1930’s America where the massive economic depression caused many suicides, and likewise in economic booms the same happens because the desire to succeed the goals are rising faster than the means
Durkheim was the first to study the social causes, or facts that he believed led to suicide, and these social facts are what shape humans’ behaviour and are external to the individual. He did recognise that some were naturally predisposed to committing suicide, but he argue that it was largely a social problem. However, many interpretevists contest Durkheim’s findings, arguing that the meaning needs to be investigated to find the causes of a suicide rather than a positivist approach, relying on scientific methods.
Durkheim came up with his own typology of suicide, Egoistic, anomic, fatalistic and altruistic. Egoistic is where there is too little social integration, and is the most common type of suicide, because it happens when there is very little social cohesion among society’s members, and has been used to explain why the rates of suicide are lower among Catholics than protestants, because there are stricter rules in Catholicism meaning there are solid boundaries to which people adhere too and can stay close, whereas Protestantism is a lot more lenient with its rules meaning there is little cohesion among members where beliefs differ. Altruistic suicide is where there is too much social integration, meaning there is too much social cohesion and the welfare of the group is more important than the welfare of the individual, and is called sacrificial suicide also, because it isn’t about the individual and their thoughts, but through their death, the group can survive and an example of this would be Japanese kamikaze pilots who would fly into war ships in world war 2. Anomic suicide is where there is little moral regulation which occurs when society undergoes rapid change, like in the 1930’s America where the massive economic depression caused many suicides, and likewise in economic booms the same happens because the desire to succeed the goals are rising faster than the means