This article concentrates on 4 aspects of the social relations of suicide: 1) a brief history of the sociologic study of suicide; 2) social isolation; 3) contagion or imitation; & 4) social stress & negative interaction. The focus is on the presence or absence of external & constraining social factors, as reflected in indicators such as divorce rates, marital status, the number of close friends, loss of crucial significant others, feelings of shame or intolerable guilt, & feelings of altruism.