Sociology and Suicidal Behaviour (IN: The International Handbook of Suicide and Attempted Suicide, edited by K Hawton & K van Heeringen)

This chapter describes the essentials of the sociological approach to studies of suicidal behaviour, rather than the many studies carried out since the birth of sociology. Against the background of the classic works of Durkheim, the meanings & attitudes towards suicidal behaviour & their impact on the frequencies of suicidal acts, concepts such as social integration, societal stability/instability & spatial &/or age distributions are discussed from vaious points of view within different schools of sociology. (33 refs.)