Understanding Suicide: A Sociological Autopsy

Sociologists have debated suicide since the early days of the discipline. This book assesses that body of work and breaks new ground through a qualitatively-driven, mixed method 'sociological autopsy' of one hundred suicides that explores what can be known about suicidal lives.

BEN FINCHAM is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Sussex, UK, and part of the Gender and Inequality Research Group at Sussex. He has researched and written about suicide, mental health and work.

SUSANNE LANGER is Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Mental Health and Well-Being, University of Liverpool, UK. Trained as a Social Anthropologist, her interests are health and illness, personhood, technologies and qualitative research. 

JONATHAN SCOURFIELD is Reader in Social Work at Cardiff University School of Social Sciences, UK. His main research interests are in gender, child welfare and children's identities as well as distress and suicidal behavior. 

MICHAEL SHINER is Senior Lecturer in the Social Policy Department and Assistant Director of the Mannheim Centre for Criminology at the London School of Economics, UK. His main areas of interest are young people, drugs and alcohol, and suicidal behavior. 

 

List of Tables and Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Sociology of Suicide - A Critical Appreciation

What is a Sociological Autopsy?

Suicide Case Files as Sites of Identity Creation

Suicide Notes as Social Documents

Repertoires of Action

When Things Fall Apart - Suicide and the Life-Course

Lessons for Prevention

Bibliography

Index