Sociological autopsy: an integrated approach to the study of suicide in men

Scourfield, Jonathan Bryn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6218-8158, Fincham, Ben, Langer, Susanne and Shiner, Michael 2012. Sociological autopsy: an integrated approach to the study of suicide in men. Social Science & Medicine 74 (4) , pp. 466-473. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.01.054

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Abstract

This paper’s main aim is to argue the methodological case for a particular approach to researching the sociology of suicide. By way of illustrating the use of this approach it also offers some brief examples of substantive findings about the gendered character of men’s suicides. The first half of the article explains and justifies the research approach. This is a qualitatively-driven mixed method and dual paradigm study of individual suicides. It is a sociological study which draws on the tradition of psychological autopsies of suicide; hence the term ‘sociological autopsy’. The second half of the article offers brief illustrative findings from a specific research project which employed the sociological autopsy approach. This was a study of 100 suicide case files from a coroner’s office in the UK. There is discussion of common sense assumptions about suicide in men; the construction of evidence in case files; a typology of gendered suicides where relationship breakdown seems to be the principal trigger; and the value of case-based analysis, with a single case discussed in some detail.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Suicide; Sociological autopsy; Psychological autopsy; Men; Methodology; Masculinities; UK
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0277-9536
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 20:25
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/15623

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