Assess the usefulness of different sociological approaches to suicide

Durkheim wrote in the 1890s and was ane of the first sociologists right at the forefront of establishing and defining sociology as a scientific discipline. Durkheim argued that it was non only possible to apply scientific principles to affable phenomena but that it was essential to do so in order to garden truck useful sociology. His 1897 book self-destruction a study in sociology uses his scientific methods to explore suicide. Durkheim chooses suicide deliberately, because as the most single, private and psychologically set act it was considered by most not to be a accessible phenomenon.If sociology could identify social factors and causes of suicide, this would demonstrate the power and impact of society on single(a) behavior. So in Durkheims view he believes our behaviour is ca utilize by social facts and they are said to be external from the individual, oblige individuals and be greater than the individuals. After Durkheims analysis of official statistics on suicide it revealed some social meetings are more likely to deplume suicide than otherwises. For Durkheim, the social patterns of suicide he discovered is not a random individual act but as stated by Lukes social factors play a key role.Durkheims blend showed a correlation between suicide and social facts like suicide rates were higher(prenominal) in predominantly protestant countries than in Catholic ones, Jews were the religious group with the low-tonedest suicide rate, married people were less(prenominal) likely to commit suicide and those with higher education had a higher suicide rate. Durkheim said different forms of suicide related to how much consolidation and regulation there was in society and this would provide us with a fourfold typology. The term social integrating means socialisation into the norms, set and lifestyles of social groups and society.Regulation meaning the control that society and social groups has over an individuals behaviour. With these two factors Durkhe im brings upon egoistic suicide not generous integration. The individual isnt successfully integrated into groups or society, anomic not enough regulation society has insufficient control over individuals, altruistic to a fault much integration an over integrated individual sacrifices their life for the group and fatalistic too much regulation the individual is too highly controlled by society. Durkheims work wad withal be utilise into type of society.As Durkheim states modern societies and traditional society differ from one and other in their levels of integration and regulation. Durkheim discovers that modern industrial societies have lower levels of integration due to lack of freedom this weakens bonds and give rise to egoistic suicide. Whilst, traditional pre-industrial societies have higher levels of integration as the group is more grave than the individual and this gives rise to altruistic suicide. Durkheim has been criticised by other positivist sociologist.Halbwachs by and large supported Durkheims conclusion but adverted out that the impact of outlandish versus urban lifestyles on suicide rates hadnt been considered. Also, Gibbs and Martin argued that Durkheim hadnt used vigorous enough scientific methods even though hed stressed how important they were. The key concepts of integration and regulation werent specify closely enough to be measured statistically. Gibbs and Martin query how anyone can exist how anyone can realize what normal levels of integration and regulation are.Interpretivist sociologists have devised election theories of suicide they say social reality is not a serial of social facts for sociologists to discover, but a series of different meanings and interpretations that each someone brings to and takes from each situation. Durkheims work is fatally flawed from this perspective because he relies on the unquestioning use of official statistics. According to interpretivists, statistics are not fact they are a social con struction based on the definition of the people who compile them.Douglas takes an Interactionist approach to suicide and he is provoke in the meaning that suicide has for the deceased, and the way that medical examiners label remainder as suicides. He criticises Durkheims study of suicide on two main grounds. One of them existence the use of suicide statistics because the decision to classify death as a suicide is taken by a coroner and this may produce bias in verdicts reached. So Douglas feels these are the patterns Durkheim comprise and that well integrated have friends and relatives who may deny death and this explains their low level of suicide.So Durkheim indicates that suicide verdicts and statistics are based on interactions and negotiations between those complex like friends, doctors and police as they may affect death being labelled as a suicide, rather than it actually being one. Thats why people feel integration plays no dividends. Douglas second point criticises Durkheim for ignoring the meanings of the act for those who kill themselves and for assuming that suicide has a fixed or constant meaning.Douglas backs this up as he notes the cultural differences by Japanese samurai warrior who kill themselves because they have been dishonoured by western society. Douglas also states that we need to reason suicides according to their social meanings because the triggers and response to suicide are different in different cultures. These social meanings consist of transformation of the soul, transformation of the self, achieving sympathy and achieving revenge.Douglas can be criticised, as he is inconsistent, sometimes suggesting that official statistics are precisely the product of coroners opinions. At other times, he claims we really can discover the cause of suicide-yet how can we, if we can never know whether a death was a suicide and all we have is coroners opinions? Douglas also produces a classification of suicide based on the supposed meani ngs for the actors. However, there is no reason to believe that sociologists are any better than coroners at interpreting dead persons meanings.