Suicide Essay Plan

P- Durkheim is a positivist
E- Suicide is not an individual act its due to social integration, moral regulation and the 4 types of suicide (anomic, altruistic, fatalistic and egoistic)
R- An example of Altruistic- Japanese kamikaze pilots who risk their life in a suicide attack in honour of their country.
C- Interpretivists criticise the use of official statistics - social construct + doesn't explain the social factors that can cause an individual to commit suicide
- due to suicidal forces being unable to be seen or measures, the theory has no true evidence= invalid or reliable
Y- Durkheim’s theory contributes to our understanding of suicide as it explains the patterns within suicide statistics.

P- Interpretivists look at the meaning of suicide rather than social structure- Douglas
- suicide notes, diaries, interviews
E- Social meaning -catholics are less likely to class the act as suicide as they are ashamed and therefore cover it up- no true representation of suicide rates
-Four types of suicide (self repentance, sympathy, revenge and escape)
Support (Jean Beachler) develops on Douglas- explained through personal factors instead of external thought case studies
R- Sympathy example- dad kills himself after son shots himself with dad’s gun.
C-definition of suicide may be different in cultures- japan sees suicide as an honour
-provides an detailed explanation to why people commit suicide
Y- This theory is useful as it look into depth of each individual’s reasons to why someone commits suicide as it objective.

P-Interpretivists look at the meaning of suicide - Atkinson
E- believes suicide statistics are based on coroners report (suicide notes, mode of death, location and history)- supports Douglas
- he believes it depends on the interpretation to determine suicide= real rates are unknown as some may not be suicide
- focus on the categories used by coroners to label an individuals as a suicide attack
R- no example
C- ‘self defeating’- criticise Durkheim for their theory and use of data but their theory might not be valid either non- participant = no insight of true meaning of suicide interviews= interview bias
Y-This theory can be seen as useless as it only bases its research on the coroner’s decision of what is cast as a suicide. But the coroners may not always make the right interpretation.

P- Taylor et al
E- agree that statistics are unreliable due to socially contrusted
-more likely seen as suicide= mental illness, social failure, relationship
-Symphysic= other directed from person’s relationship with others (certain that others make life unbearable sacrifice or uncertain over attitudes of others to them appeal)
-Etopic= inner directed from person’s vies of themselves (certain submission or uncertain thanatation)
R- London tube research with 32 cases 17 were suicide 15 were not seen as suicide due to relatives influence
C- Help to explain para-suicidie (attempted) and the degree behind suicide
Etthienger and Flurdan -(1955) 500 cases of self harm 90% gambled with faith = able to explain the individual’s motive
- doesn’t explain wider social factors
- small sample size of case research= unrepresentative data
- suicide is a complex topic cant use one theory to explain suicide as they offer a partial view
Y- This theory is not useful as it doesn't explain the external or internal factors in society that could cause someone to commit or attempt suicide, such as escaping from exploitation or frustration.