Читать книгу Sociology - Anthony Giddens - Страница 39

Since its publication, many objections have been raised to Durkheim’s study, particularly in relation to his uncritical use of official statistics, his dismissal of non-social influences and his insistence in classifying all types of suicide together. Some critics have shown that it is vitally important to understand the social process involved in collecting data on suicides, as coroners’ definitions and criteria influence the number of deaths that are recorded as ‘suicides’ in the first place. Because of this, suicide statistics may be highly variable across societies, as Durkheim suggests, but this is not necessarily because of differences in suicidal behaviour; rather, it is due to divergent practices adopted by coroners in recording ‘unexplained deaths’. Suicide statistics may not give us a valid or reliable picture of the extent of suicide in a given society.