SOCA01H3 Chapter Notes -The Sociological Imagination, Altruistic Suicide, Social Constructionism
Document Summary
Demonstrated that suicide is more than just an individual act of desperation that results from a psychological disorder, as was commonly believed at the same time. Social forces, he showed, strongly influence suicide rate. He examined the association between rates of suicide and rates of psychological disorder for different groups. Psychological disorder causes suicide only if suicide rates tend to be high where the rates of psychological disorder are high. Suicide rates varied because of differences in the degree of social solidarity in different categories of the population. Refers to the degree to which group members share beliefs and values, and the intensity and frequency of their interaction. Durkheim expected high-solidarity groups to have lower suicide rates. Women are less likely to commit suicide than men because they are more involved in the intimate social relations of family life. Suicide in canada today **aboriginals have highest suicide rate** Men are 4 times more likely to commit suicide than women.
