The sociological study of suicide: methodological issues

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 than focuses on a critical assessment of the dominant macro-level methodology. Three recurrent problems are identified: measurement issues on four key variables (suicide and parasuicide, economic conditions, religion, and political conditions such as war); problems in studying the effect of mass media stories on suicide; and 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.