Download Interpretivist Approaches to Suicide

A2-Level Sociology
Unit 6: Crime and Deviance
Interpretivist Approaches to Suicide
Recap of Interpretivism
 Subjective
 Social Action
 Verstehen
 Meanings and Motives
 Validity
What type of research methods do
Interpretivist’s use?
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.
J.D. Douglas (1967)
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.
Jean Baechler (1979)
Baechler develops Douglas’s approach and looks at what solutions come out
of people committing suicide, basically Baechler is looking to see what
motivates people to commit suicide.
1. Escapist Suicides: This type of suicide happens when someone wants to
escape an unbearable situation.
2. Aggressive Suicides: This type of suicide aims to hurt or harm somebody
else. It may want to bring about feelings of vengeance or guilt to a
person.
3. Oblative Suicides: This type of suicide is used to gain something which is
desired, for example getting to heaven.
4. Ludic Suicides: This type of suicide is done for the risk and excitement
that it brings about.
Baechler appears to focus on personal reasons for committing suicide as all of
his suicide types focus on personal issues.
Baechler just looks at how suicide is a problem solver.
Criticisms
 How a death is classified is dependent on the judgement of the coroner
and people’s interpretations vary.
 Methods are unreliable.
A2-Level Sociology
Unit 6: Crime and Deviance
Phenomenological Approach to Suicide
Phenomenologist Sociologists look at how we interpret, classify and
understand things, they see there to be no wrong answers because it’s all
how we interpret things.
Atkinson (1978)
Atkinson rejects the idea of coroners being able to objectively classify suicides
because the facts are social constructions. (Criticism of Interpretivism)
Atkinson used the research methods of informal interviews and observations
of inquests.
Atkinson saw how there are four commonsense factors that affects a coroners
decision to classify a death as a suicide, these are:
1. The presence of a suicide note is taken as an indication the death was a
suicide.
2. Some types of deaths are seen to indicate suicide such as hanging.
3. The location and the circumstances are important factors.
4. Evidence of illnesses such as depression and evidence of difficult
circumstances could lead to a death being classified as a suicide.
Criticisms
 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.
Realist Approach to Suicide
Realism is “the assertion that social reality, social structures and social
currents, etc, have an existence over and above the existence of individual
actors”
(Collins Dictionary of Sociology, Jary & Jary, 1991)
Taylor (1980’s)
Taylor rejects the idea of a clear cut distinction between a ‘genuine’ suicide
and a ‘fake’ suicide. Taylor claims most deliberate acts of self harm fall in
between being ‘genuine’ and ‘fake’; he calls these ‘para-suicides’.
Genuine Suicides
Clear cut attempts to end ones life.
Fake Suicides
Those who commit suicidal gestures don’t intend to die.
Para-Suicides
“ behaviour which is less than deliberate suicide attempt
(Majority)
but more than a suicidal gesture”
- Taylor does incorporate Durkheim’s ideas and interpretivist views of suicide
to fully understand suicidal behaviour.