Social Sciences, Suicide and Self-Immolation

Abstract

Unlike all other causes of death, the idea of death by suicide intrigues humankind. Scholars of the social sciences from diverse fields such as history, philosophy, sociology, cultural anthropology and psychology contribute to the understanding of the phenomenology and etiology of suicide. Law, religion and ethics colored attitudes and perceptions about suicide for centuries, often establishing severe consequences for those who suicide and surviving families. To better navigate the complexity of the sociological and philosophical aspects of suicide, this chapter will examine existential perspectives of life and death, sociological determinants and motivations for suicide in general and self-immolation in particular. The basic premise of the sociological approach to suicide prevention is that suicide results from society’s failure to protect vulnerable individuals. Sociological factors predisposing to self-immolation suicides include economic and class disparities, limited access to education, a cultural context of violence and conflict, misogyny and sexism, human rights violations, dissolution societal bonds needed to preserve the integrity of the individual, and excessive altruistic pressure to self-sacrifice.