1. Suicide / Le Suicide 1897

2. Is suicide a plague?
“Suffering is our problem. Suffering, mental suffering, depression, panic, suicide. Suicide has become a sort of plague everywhere in the world. Suicide, from the Indian countryside, to the Foxcon factory to the Telecom France…according to the World Health Organization, suicide has increased 45% in the last 30 years, the years of the neoliberal dictatorship.” (Franco Berardi)

3. World Health Organization
The problem
Almost 1 million people die from suicide every year; a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds
In the last 45 years suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide
Suicide is among the three leading causes of death among those aged years in some countries, and the second leading cause of death in the years age group
these figures do not include suicide attempts which are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide
Suicide worldwide is estimated to represent 1.8% of total global burden of disease in 1998
2.4% in countries w/ market and former socialist economies in 2020
Suicide rates have traditionally been highest among the male elderly
Rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now at highest risk in 1/3 of countries (developed & developing)
Mental disorders (particularly depression and alcohol use disorders) are a major risk factor for suicide in Europe and N. America
However, in Asian countries impulsiveness is said to play an important role
Suicide is complex with psychological, social, biological, cultural and environmental factors involved

4. Suicide and Modernity
key motivation: to bring moral issues into study of suicide
methodological objective: application of sociological method to explain what appears on its face to be an "individual" phenomenon
separates distribution of suicide rates and the etiology (causes) of individual cases of suicide

5. 19th century suicide DATA show stable distributions from year to year interspersed with periodic fluctuations
Therefore, patterns of suicide rates must depend upon stably distributed phenomena of geographical, biological, or social kind
ED considers geography and biology in detail, but rejects both, focusing on the social factor

6. Two key conditions that are “chronic” in modern industrial society
egoisim: a lack of integration of the individual into the social group
anomie: a lack of moral regulation
These conditions, in the extreme, pathological form express themselves as:
egoistic suicide
anomic suicide

7. Distribution of suicide rates in Western Europe are associated with religion
Predominantly Catholic countries have lower suicide rates than those which are mainly Protestant
Both creeds prohibit suicide w/equal stringency, so it's necessary to look for differences in the social organization of the two churches
Difference is that Protestantism is founded upon the promotion of a spirit of free inquiry
Catholic church is formed around traditional hierarchy of the priesthood, whose authority is binding in matters of religious dogma, but the Protestant is alone before God
Protestantism is "less strongly integrated" church than Catholicism
Suicide rates are higher among Protestants than Catholics or Jews
Jews, like Catholics, are considered more “communally oriented” than Protestants

8. inverse relationship between suicide and size of conjugal unit
degree of integration in other sectors of society related to suicide rates in same way
unmarried persons show higher rates of suicide than married ones of comparable age
inverse relationship between suicide and size of conjugal unit
the greater # of children, lower suicide rate
suicide declines in times of national political crisis and in times of war
in war this holds for those in armed forces and civilians
political crises stimulate involvement in events, for a time, bringing about closer integration of society

9. Suicide rates & occupational structure
Suicide rates higher in industry & commerce vs. agricultural occupations
Suicide rates are similarly high in ‘liberal professions’ as in industry & commerce
Highest rates among ‘men of letters’

10. Suicide rates & socioeconomic level
Within non-agricultural occupations, suicide rates inversely related to socio-economic level
Lowest among chronically poor
Highest among well-to-do & those in the liberal professions
 Poverty itself is a source of moral restraint

11. Suicide increases during booms AND busts
not simply the result of economic deprivation, since suicide increase in equivalent degree during sudden prosperity
moves both up and down in terms of prosperity have a disruptive effect upon accustomed modes of life
in either case, people’s habitual expectations come under strain

12. types of suicide: anomic, egoistic, altruistic
anomic suicide springs from the anomic state of moral deregulation

13. Egoistic suicide
Egoistic suicide is caused where "the individual self asserts itself to excess in the face of the social self and at its expense…"
Egoistic suicide is particularly characteristic of contemporary societies
Egoistic suicide linked to the "cult of the individual" in contemporary societies

14. Altruistic suicide
in altruistic suicide an individual gives his life for the social group
the primary type of
suicide in small,
traditional societies
where individuation
is minimal

15. Which subgroup has the highest rate of attempted suicide?
young white males
young black males
young Hispanic males
young Asian males
young white females
young black females
young Hispanic females
Asian females
Source: CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), 2011

16. The group has these common risk factors for suicide
Highest rates of depression
Highest teen birthrate
Second highest school dropout rate
Research shows that additional factors may play a role; cultural clashes with parents, social isolation, and poverty

17. Which subgroup has the highest rate of attempted suicide?
young white females (7.9%)
young black females (8.8%)
young Hispanic females (13.5%)
Asian females
young white males (4.6%)
young black males (7.7%)
young Hispanic males (6.9%)
young Asian males
Nationwide, 7.8% of students had attempted suicide one or more times during the 12 months before the survey (Table 25). Overall, the prevalence of having attempted suicide was higher among female (9.8%) than male (5.8%) students; higher among white female (7.9%) and Hispanic female (13.5%) than white male (4.6%) and Hispanic male (6.9%) students, respectively;
*Audio: "Why Are Young Latinas at Risk?," Talk of the Nation, NPR, 8/29/2006
Source: CDC, Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), 2011