RT Journal Article
T1 Is There a Sociology of Suicide?
A1 Fernández Vilas, Enrique
A1 Labora González, Juan José
A1 Coca, Juan R.
K1 Durkheim
K1 Social Theory
K1 Sociology of Suicide
K1 Suicide
AB A sociology of suicide plainly exists in a historical sense. Since Durkheim, sociologists have ssshown that suicide varies with integration, regulation, inequality, relational embeddedness, institutional arrangements, and cultural repertoires of meaning. The stronger question concerns the conditions under which this work coheres as a field. This essay argues that a specifically sociological explanation of suicide locates suicidal trajectories within patterned inequalities and institutional settings, identifies the meso-level arrangements through which these conditions are enacted, and situates action within available vocabularies, scripts, and moral classifications. Reconsidering structural, interpretive, cultural, relational, critical, intersectional, and digital contributions through this lens shows that the field's strongest insights arise when structure, relation, and meaning are treated as mutually constitutive. The essay contends that sociology's contribution weakens when social variables become residual risk markers inside clinical and epidemiological models. A coherent sociology of suicide requires a mechanism-based account of how social worlds distribute vulnerability, organize recognition, shape interpretation, and channel access to support.
PB Wiley
YR 2026
FD 2026-05-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/47228
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/47228
LA eng
NO Fernández-Vilas, Labora González, J. J. y Coca, J. R. (2026). Is There a Sociology of Suicide?. Sociological Forum, 0, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.70078
NO This research was funded by University of Valladolid-The Bank of Santander (Spain), Grant number: 2024-3608; and “Research Development Grants 2025–2026, Cátedra Cel-Caja Rural”.
DS Minerva
RD 5 jun 2026