1. Chapter 7
Suicide

2. Introduction Myth: depression is the major cause of suicide
Myth: suicide bombers are generally psychotic
Or at least irrational, poor and uneducated
Every year about 31,000 Americans commit suicide
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3. Varieties of Suicidal Experience
3 types of suicidal experiences:
Some threaten suicide; 40% attempted to kill themselves in the past;
Many use the attempt as a means of achieving some objective in life and don’t want to die
Suicide attempters are ambiguous in their intent; most do NOT succeed
2/3 who commit suicide had prior attempt
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4. Self-Injurers Multiple reasons for these physical acts Cutting
Existing literature suggests substantial variation among cutters
In terms of function and form of cutting practices
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5. Inside the Social Structure and Organization of Cutting
“individual deviants,” vs. the “loners” or “loner deviants”
Cutters are more difficult to situate in one specific category of deviance
Constantly negotiating the boundaries of their new options and possibilities
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6. Groups With Higher Suicide Rates
Stats are not always reliable
Traditionally, suicide rates are higher in urban areas
Today, suicide rates are higher in rural areas
The suicide rate is higher among whites than blacks in the U.S.
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7. Groups With Higher Suicide Rates
Protestants have higher suicide rates than Catholics
Who in turn have higher rates than Jews
Men are more likely to kill themselves than women
Attempted suicide rates are higher among women than men
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8. Groups With Higher Suicide Rates
Men are more likely to use lethal instruments such as firearms
Divorced persons have the highest suicide rate, married the lowest rate
And single individuals are intermediate
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9. Groups With Higher Suicide Rates
U.S. suicide rates tends to rise with increasing age
Findings on the relationship between social class and suicide are contradictory
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13. A Social Profile of Suicide Bombers
Relatively well-off; middle class; better educated than their countrymen
Mostly young, male and single, and see themselves as martyrs
Suicide attacks have been common throughout history
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14. Situational Factors in Suicide
Teenagers today are much more likely than in past to kill themselves
Going to college is associated with higher suicide rates
Suicide in prison is relatively common
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15. Situational Factors in Suicide
People with fatal diseases have higher rates of suicide; this holds true for AIDS
Mass media has an influence on suicide –
Highly publicized suicides tend to result in national suicide rates increasing
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17. Global Perspective on Suicide
Suicide rates are higher in industrialized countries
In Western countries, suicide rates peak in the spring and bottom out in winter
Suicide occurs more often in the beginning of the week and very rarely on weekends
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18. Social Responses to Suicide
When a loved one commits suicide, survivors tend to feel guilty
Patients have the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment (living will)
Several individuals and organizations try to prevent suicide
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19. Sociological Theories of Suicide
To sociologists, causes of suicide do not reside within the individual
But rather within the group to whom the individual belongs
And the individual’s interaction with agents of social institutions
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20. Sociological Theories of Suicide
Durkheimian theory:
social integration: involves persons attaching themselves to groups
social regulation: involves individuals being coercively regulated by a group
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21. Suicide
In another study, Durkheim found that the more firmly connected people are to others, the less likely they are to commit suicide; thus demonstrating that even suicide is impacted by social forces.

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23. Sociological Theories of Suicide
Henry and Short theory:
Interprets suicide as an act of aggression directed toward oneself
That results from three factors – sociological, psychological and economic
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24. Sociological Theories of Suicide
Phenomenological theories:
Theory of suicidal meanings:
Individuals impute specific meanings to their prospective suicidal acts
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25. Sociological Theories of Suicide
Theory of suicide process:
Interprets the social meanings of suicide as a social prohibition against suicide
So that the suicidal person must overcome the prohibition before taking his or her own life
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