Interpretivist Approaches to Suicide



Interpretivist Approaches to Suicide

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.

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 but more than a suicidal gesture” |

|(Majority) | |

- Taylor does incorporate Durkheim’s ideas and interpretivist views of suicide to fully understand suicidal behaviour.

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Recap of Interpretivism

• Subjective

• Social Action

• Verstehen

• Meanings and Motives

• Validity

What type of research methods do Interpretivist’s use?

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