Abstract
It is a popular view that Suicide has had a profound and celebrated influence not only on the sociology of suicide, but also on the general development of the discipline. Merton, for example, referred to it as perhaps the greatest piece of sociological research ever done,1 while Selvin has claimed that ‘the empirical analysis in Suicide is as vital today as it was in 1897 — perhaps more so’.2 However, although Suicide helped to shape a distinct sociological perspective, such homages to Durkheim should not obscure the significant reservations that later generations of students had about the work.
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Notes and References
R. K. Merton, On Theoretical Sociology ( New York, Free Press, 1967 ) p. 63.
H. C. Selvin, ‘Durkheim’s Suicide: Further Thoughts on a Methodological Classic’, in Nisbet (ed.), Emile Durkheim p. 136.
R. L. Geisel, ‘Suicide in Missouri: An Empirical Test of Durkheim’s Social Integration Theory’, unpublished paper.
S. Labovitz and M. B. Brinkerhoff, ‘Structural Changes and Suicide in Canada’, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, vol. 18 (1977) pp. 254–67.
G. E. Murphy and E. Robins, ‘Social Factors in Suicide’, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 199 (1967) pp. 303–8.
L. I. Dublin, Suicide: A Sociological and Statistical Study, ( New York, Ronald, 1963 ).
F. L. Nelson, ‘Religiosity and Self-Destructive Crises in the Institutionalised Elderly’, Suicide and Life Threatening Behaviour, vol. 7 (1977) p. 68.
W. J. Chambliss, ‘Review of Status Integration and Suicide’, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 71 (1966) pp. 731–2.
R. Hagedorn and S. Labovitz, ‘A Note on Status Integration and Suicide’, Social Problems, vol. 14 (1966) pp. 79–84.
A. F. Henry and J. F. Short, Suicide and Homicide ( Glencoe, Free Press, 1954 ).
M. Gold, ‘Suicide, Homicide and the Socialisation of Aggression’, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 63 (1958) p. 657.
J. P. Gibbs, ‘Suicide’, in R. K. Merton and R. A. Nisbet (eds), Contemporary Social Problems ( New York, Harcourt Brace, 1961 ), p. 228.
F. Achille-Delmas, Psychologie Pathologique du Suicide ( Paris, Alcan, 1932 ).
W. S. Robinson, ‘Ecological Correlations and the Behaviour of Individuals’, American Sociological Review, vol. 15 (1950) pp. 351–7.
C. S. Kruijt, ‘The Suicide Rate in the Western World since World War II, Netherlands Journal of Sociology, vol. 13 (1977) pp. 55–6.
A. L. Stinchcombe, Constructing Social Theories, ( New York, Harcourt Brace, 1968 ) p. 13.
R. Pawson, ‘Empiricist Explanatory Strategies: the Case of Casual Modelling’, Sociological Review, vol. 26 (1978) p. 642.
E. Esquirol, Des Maladies Mentales vol. 1 (1838) p. 639. Quoted in Giddens, ‘The Suicide Problem in French Sociology’, p. 37.
P. Courbon, ‘Review of Halbwachs’ Les Causes du Suicide’, Annales Medico-Psychologiques (1 March 1931) p. 322. Quoted in Giddens, ’The Suicide Problem in French Sociology’, p. 41.
R. A. Van Del, ‘The Role of Death Romanticisation in the Dynamics of ’Suicide’, Suicide and Life Threatening Behaviour, vol. 7 (1977) p. 47.
S. Taylor, ‘Suicide and the Renewal of Life’, Sociological Review, vol. 26, (1978) p. 378.
J. I. Kitsuse, ‘Societal Reaction to Deviant Behaviour: Problems of Theory and Method’, in H. S. Becker (ed.), The Other Side ( New York, Free Press, 1965 ) pp. 87–8.
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© 1982 Steve Taylor
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Taylor, S. (1982). The Sociologistic Perspective on Suicide. In: Durkheim and the Study of Suicide. Contemporary Social Theory. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16792-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16792-0_2
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