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The Sociological Study of Suicide: Methodological Issues
Author(s) -
Stack Steven
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.1987.tb01026.x
Subject(s) - sociological theory , macro , sociology , subject (documents) , politics , macro level , epistemology , psychology , social science , political science , computer science , law , economics , economic system , library science , programming language , philosophy
This paper is a critical review of selected methodological issues in the sociological study of suicide. It first distinguishes between two broad research orientations: the micro and macro approaches to the subject. The paper then focuses on a critical assessment of the dominant macro‐level methodology. Three recurrent problems are identified: (1) measurement issues on four key variables (suicide and parasiticide, economic conditions, religion, and political conditions such as war); (2) problems in studying the effect of mass media stories on suicide; and (3) reasons why we need to adopt a cross‐national method in order to test sociological theories for contextual effects. Partial remedies to many of these problems are discussed.