Sociation Today®
ISSN 1542-6300
The Official Journal of the
North Carolina Sociological
Association
A Peer-Reviewed
Refereed Web-Based
Publication
Spring/Summer 2014
Volume 12, Issue 1
|
A
Study of Social Capital and Social
Trust Among Those Who Have Attempted
Suicide
by Rayehe Ghareh Shiraz University Toktam Hamidi Allameh Tabatabee University and Vahid Kashafinia Shiraz University Statement
of the Problem
Three centuries after Shakespeare's famous quote: "To be, or not to be, that is the question" Albert Camus, in his book named The Myth of Sisyphus wrote: "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide." In fact, answering the question which Camus proposes is really difficult. Why would someone kill himself? This question, aside its philosophical or aesthetic aspects, has a sociological aspects which sociology as a science of society always has attempted to answer. Preventing suicide is a global priority. Every second someone commits suicide (Duffy, 2004). Social, individual and biological factors all control suicide rates (Kishi and Kahol, 2002). Suicide is a complex and multifactor phenomenon and there is no single factor which can prevent it.
In Iranian culture suicide is
forbidden and Islam has banned
it, but the rising trend in
suicide in the country has drawn
attention. Social sciences
researchers are trying to find
the factors which are involved
in this social problem.
According to Iranian Legal
Medicine Organization in the
period of four months from March
to July 2013 the average number
of deaths suspicious of suicide
was 1408, while this number in
the same four months in 2012 was
1242.
(http://en.lmo.ir/). It is
also obvious that the number
attempting suicide is more than
those who have died through
suicide.
Social science
researchers assume suicide to be
a social phenomenon which needs
to be explained by other social
phenomena. A large number of
social science researchers pay
special attention to the role of
individual communication
networks for studying social
problems and social distortions.
They have sought to study social
problems in the framework of the
communication networks and the
way individuals interact. The
communication networks described
in the sociological literature
are called social capital.
Nowadays, many sociologists
believe that the main reason for
attempting suicide should be
sought in the social relations
and structures. That is why
suicide is considered as being a
social pathology and disorder.
One of the most famous classical
studies of suicide was done by
Emile Durkheim. He rejects the
idea that suicide is committed
due to personal and
psychological reasons and states
that social factors and
especially disorder or anomaly
creates feeling of absurdity in
certain social conditions and it
increases individual's push
toward suicide. He also believed
traditional ethical rules and
regulations, especially provided
by religion, disappear as a
result of new social
developments. This brings about
the feeling of absurdity and
meaninglessness in modern
societies (Durkheim,
1897(2002)). Durkheim
defined suicide as "death
resulting directly or indirectly
from a positive or negative act
of the victim himself, which he
knows will produce this result"
(Durkheim, 1897(1955):
xlii). It should be said
that Durkheim differentiates
completed suicides from nonfatal
suicide attempts and defines an
attempt "act of killing oneself,
but falling short of actual
death" (Ibid: xlii)
Durkheim believes that there are
four types of suicides: anomic,
egoistic, altruistic, or
fatalistic. All arise
because humans have unlimited
desires and their needs
cannot be fulfilled
completely in society.
Durkheim's approach to relation of individuals and society is a balanced approach. He believes that we need to grasp the social nature of the individual in its fullest implications. Individuals develop in the context of a network of relations, and it is an illusion for individuals to think that they have developed through resources that owe nothing to anyone but themselves. Individuals "belong" not merely to themselves but to society at large – for society has in a sense created and empowered them, and they are not entitled to assume that they can do as they please with themselves (Huffman, 2006: 636). Suicide has been a focus of theoretical and empirical interest since the inception of sociology as an academic discipline. In particular, Durkheim's examination of suicide as a consequence of the social structure, rather than simply the outcome of an individual's impulse/motivation, was revolutionary. He looked at a very intimate, seemingly personal event, took the individual out and showed that the decision to kill oneself is a part of the social context. He demonstrated that variations in the social environment correspond to variations in suicide rates, meaning suicide rates are driven by something beyond simple individual suicidal motivation. He argued that social integration and social regulation are the mechanisms by which communities flourish (and perish). For Durkheim, variations in suicide rates were indicative of varying degrees integration and regulation (Cutlip, 2009:7). Without a strong bond between the individual and society, life would become relatively meaningless and suicide potential would increase. So if we agree that suicide is a social phenomenon and on the other hand Individuals are connected to society, we need to consider the relation between individuals and society. But what links individuals to a society? The term "Social Capital" applies to describe this relation. Although the concept of social capital is by no means new, it has certainly spread more widely due to the writings of Robert D. Putnam. His writings have underlined the importance of civic engagement and social ties for the welfare of individuals and societies at large. Other scholars (economists, political scientists, sociologists) have been exploring the various types and uses of capital that exist in society. The benefits of human, physical, and cultural capital are well documented in the literature. Social capital is unique relative to the other forms of capital. Whereas the aforementioned types of capital are either embodied by the individual or possessed by the individual, social capital exists only within the associations between individuals "To possess social capital, a person must be related to others, and it is those others, not himself, who are the actual source of his or her advantage" (Portes,1995:7). Review of
the Literature
Suicide
Modernization which embodied the
processes of industrialization,
urbanization, and secularization
erodes the ties of individuals to
society. During the
industrialization process, economic
opportunities may be much greater in
urban areas, thus luring people away
from agricultural areas. Ancestral
ties to kin, home places, churches,
friendships, and other institutions
in the countryside are often broken
through the process of urbanization
(Stack, 2000: 163). Specialization
in the labor force is ultimately
associated with an expansion of the
educational system, a system that
tends to promote questioning
religion and weakening of common
faith. To ensure adequate demand for
the fruits of industrial machine
production, society's cultural
systems may shift sharply from a
religion-dominated system to a
cultural system centered on the
value of materialism (Stack 2000:
164).
On the other hand, as Giddens
states, the mechanism of
"disembedding" "lifted out" social
relations from local contexts of
interaction and their restructuring
cross indefinite spans of
time-space. (Giddens,1990: 21) The
close relation between people are
transformed to a new model of
intimacy. But what happens during
this transformation? It is clear
that the process of isolation
weakens ties of individuals to each
other and society. Absence of close
relations between individuals causes
a revolution in human relations and
creates new ways of living. Family
relations change, rates of divorces
increase, and intimate relation
change. The consequence of whole
process is the appearance
individuals living alone in their
own private lives. In this situation
"abstract systems" play role of
mediator between individuals,
or, in other words, "colonize"
relations.
Recently the dominant mode of
analysis of suicide has stressed
Durkheim's concept of social
integration – bonds between the
individual and society.
Subordination of the individual to
society is thought to provide
meaning and prevent selfishness or
"egoism." Groups lacking in ties to
society, such as widowers, the
divorced, atheists, the unemployed
and non-church members are at higher
than average risk of suicide (Stack,
2007). Durkheim suggested
integrated societies with adequate
social control function better
overall than societies lacking
integration and regulation
(integration and regulation are the
mechanisms through which communities
are able to dictate the expectations
and obligations of community
members). His basic proposition is
that communities appropriately
integrated and regulated provide
more protection (as indicated by low
suicide rates) than communities
possessing either very high or very
low rates of integration and/or
regulation (high suicide rates).
Although, the specifics
(propositions, methods and data) of
Durkheim's theories are continually
reevaluated, his general proposition
is often accepted. Durkheim's impact
on sociology is evident by the
dominant position his perspective
has maintained in the literature on
suicide throughout the years. In
fact, social integration is a theme
that runs through a variety of
sociological perspectives (Cutlip,
2009:2).
Kelly and et al., in an article
entitled "Social Science and Suicide
in Eleven European Countries: An
Ecological Analysis," states that
social capital refers to the
existence of voluntary and community
relationships based on trust which
help positive social action. Social
capital is positively associated
with psychological symptoms choice.
They concluded that the higher the
social trust is, the lower the rate
of national suicide will be. They
came to the conclusion that after
controlling gender, age, marriage
rates, standardized income and
reported discomfort. Social capital
may have a protective effect against
the risk of suicide on the national
level (Kelly, 2009).
Javier Mignone and John O'Neil
(2005) in their article entitled
"Social Capital and Youth Suicide
Risk Factor in First Nation
Communication" state that social
capital is an important ecological
determiner. Social capital
emphasizes on the quality of
interactions among people in certain
places and occasions. Social capital
components comprises of social
relations and communication
networks, social values and norms,
trust and resources (Mignone, 2005).
As Wilkins puts it, sociologists have given little or no attention to the place of attempted suicide in the process of suicide, in spite of the fact that there is considerable evidence to show that the proportion of suicidal acts, which result in death, is very small (Atkinson, 1968: 87) so in this research we tried to focus on relation between social capital and attempted suicide. Social Capital
James Coleman (1990) distinguishes
between social capital and other sorts
of human, economical and physical
capital. He assumes it a structural
and interactional feature in which an
actor subscribes and interacts with
other actors in the group, and he/she
gets access to desired information by
observing group accepted rules and
principles and building up trust. As a
result, s/he enjoys collective
protection. Therefore, social capital
is an action facilitator. In Coleman's
view, social capital is opportunity
rooted from collective life which can
be intragroup or intergroup and
facilitates the action of individual
and collective actors. Obviously, each
actor's enjoyment of the group's
social capital is combined with the
individual's commitments and this may
make him/her opposed to other groups
and deprived him/ her from their
social capital. Coleman also asserts
that social capital does not exist as
a single entity but as relationships
between people and the social
structures. (Coleman, 1988: S98)
A more contemporary version of
Durkheim's regulation/integration
thesis is the theory of social capital
developed by Robert Putnam (2000) in
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and
Revival of the American Community.
Though not specifically applied to the
question of suicide, Putnam, like
Durkheim, argues that the community
benefits when its members know and
interact with one another. Social
participation is a mechanism through
which social capital is accumulated.
Social capital is a community resource
that provides the capacity for action
that otherwise cannot be accomplished
solely by the individual. Social
capital is considered an outgrowth of
a cooperative commonwealth. For
Putnam, a community's stock of social
capital is directly associated with
the strength of its civil society.
Civil society represents the web of
voluntary cooperative relationships
among community members organized
around the available social
institutions in a society. The degree
to which a community can develop a
strong civil society depends on the
degree to which the community
encourages social participation. A
community able to encourage social
participation enables the formation
and maintenance of social
relationships among community members
providing for the accumulation of
social capital, therefore a strong
civic community engenders the
accumulation of social capital. Putnam
defines social capital as "features of
social organization, such as networks,
norms, and trust, which facilitate
coordination and cooperation for
mutual benefit" (Putnam, 1993: 2) and
suggests the comprehensive social
capital index (Putnam, 2000: 291).
Putnam's concept of social capital has
three components: moral obligations
and norms, social values (especially
trust) and social networks, especially
voluntary associations (Putnam
1993). In his opinion, social
capital is the different aspects of
social organizations such as trust,
norms and networks which can improve
the performance by creating and
facilitating coordinated actions.
Bourdieu defines social capital as
"the aggregate of the actual or
potential resources which are linked
to possession of a durable network of
more or less institutionalized
relationships of mutual acquaintance
and recognition" (Bourdieu, 1986:
248). Bourdieu's concept of social
capital puts the emphasis on conflicts
and the power function (social
relations that increase the ability of
an actor to advance her/his
interests). Social positions and the
division of economic, cultural and
social resources in general are
legitimized with the help of symbolic
capital.
Francis Fucuyama (1999) defines social
capital as "an instantiated informal
norm that promotes cooperation between
two or more individuals. The norms
that constitute social capital can
range from a norm of reciprocity
between two friends, all the way up to
complex and elaborately articulated
doctrines like Christianity or
Confucianism." He also sees the social
capital on the macro level and his
definition for social capital is
collective and assumes it as the
communities' and groups' property. In
his opinion, social capital is a
certain collection of informal values
and norms in which group members who
are allowed to cooperate, are
involved. Those norms which produce
social capital must include honesty,
obligations fulfillment and mutual
communications.
Dimensions
of Social Capital Applied in This
Research
The concept of 'social capital'
provides a framework for exploring a
variety of individual and
community-based assets which
researchers and activists have argued
can improve people's lives through
creating resilience, building trust
and improving physical and mental well
being. Indeed, research evidence shows
that high levels of social capital are
associated with a range of positive
outcomes for individuals and /or
communities including better health
and wellbeing, lower crime rates and
higher educational achievement.
Although there are many different
definitions of social capital, and
different theoretical approaches
underpinning these definitions, all of
them center on the importance of
network. (Ormstone & Reid, 2012)
The concept of suicide and social
capital alone have been focused in
many articles. However, there have
been less attention paid to the
relation between the two concepts
and their functions. The present
research aims at studying social
capital effects and functions among
those who have attempted suicide. In
this research we define five
dimensions for social capital tried
to assess the impact of these
dimension on the attempted suicide.
Of course here we had some
demographic variables like gender,
habitat, marital status, suicide
records and education.
Five types of social capital that have been assessed in our research can be summarized as follow: Social
trust: As Giddens puts,
trust exists in the context of (a) the
general awareness that human activity
is socially created, rather than given
in the nature of things or by divine
influence. Giddens defines "trust" as
confidence in the reliability of a
person or system, regarding a given
set of outcomes or events, where that
confidence expresses a faith in the
probity or love of another" (Giddens,
1990: 34). In our research, we tried
to assess social trust using Giddens
definition except his arguments about
risk, abstract systems and
trust. We limited the concept of
"trust" to items like trust of
friends, family, group and so on.
Social
cohesion: Contemporary analyses
of social cohesion treat it either as
a multidimensional phenomenon or as a
latent construct with multiple
indicators. (Friedkin, 2004:
409) Dimensions of social
cohesion which have been considered in
this research consist of group
commitment, interpersonal attachments,
and network structures.
Social
participation: Social
participation means institutionalized
processes that take place by the
actors of a society deliberately,
voluntarily and collectively in order
to access power in society. In our
research on social participation we
mean political, cultural participation
in society and even participation in
the family decisions.
Social
security: By this concept we do
not mean insurance or health matters
but on feeling secure in the society
e.g. in the street or so on because we
were trying to understand the
relationship between crime, violence,
and rape (in short: feeling unsafe in
society) with suicide.
Social
support: We have assessed this
concept with questions on family,
friends or other group support.
Data and
Methods
The research population consisted of
those who had attempted suicide and
were subsequently admitted to the
intoxication ward of Imam Reza
hospital in Mashhad city during the
summer of 2013 (from June 22 to
September 20). 200 patients were
sampled be "purposive sampling"
technique. Due to patient's bad
condition, to get reliable responses,
researchers conducted the interview at
least 24 hours after the patient's
suicide attempt. The method of
research was quantitative and based on
semi-structured questionnaire.
Validity of the questionnaire was
based on Cronbach's alpha, which was
more than 0.7, showing the
intercorrelations among test items is
high. All statistical analysis of data
were done by SPSS software and
open-ended questions analyzed by SPSS
after coding.
A consulting psychologist went with
the team of interviewers because
because of the mental state of those
being interviewed and the need for
good communication skills with the
patients.
The questionnaire used in this study is available as a Word document here. Variables
The five social trust factors
listed above, social trust,
social cohesion, social
participation, social security
and social support were all
studied as a possible
influence on attempted
suicide. In addition,
there several demographic
variables.
Gender: nominal variable. Male or Female Marital status: nominal variable. Single, Married, and Divorced Habitat: nominal variable. Center of province, City, and Village Suicide records: binary variable. Yes or No Education:
ordinal variable. Illiterate,
Elementary, Middle school,
Diploma, Associate degree,
Bachelor degree, Master degree
Suicide reasons: nominal variable. We tried to sort all the patients' answers in these categories: Dispute among couples, Incompatibility with parents, No interest in living, Betrayal, Relationship with opposite gender, Diversity of opinion with the other members of family and Financial problems. The real aim of suicide: binary variable. Death or To impress others Research
Hypotheses and Questions
Results
Table 1
This
table indicates the
descriptive statistics according
to individual and
educational
characteristics, social
status and suicide
reasons.
Table 2
Distribution
of Age in the Sample
Description
of social trust, social cohesion, social
participation, social support and social
security
According to the reported averages, the
least rate of average among the participants
is in the security section and the most rate
of average is in the support section. This
proves that social and family support among
subjects is reasonable and social security
(especially among women) can be a
significant factor in attempting suicide. Hypothesis Testing
Table 4 Testing the
hypotheses related to the difference of mean
statistic
Testing the
hypotheses related to the correlation
statistic
Table
6
Linear
Regression: Model Summary
In
the second model in Table 6, above, gender
and social involvement were in the equation. Table
7
Linear
Regression: Coefficients
According to linear
regression table, our empirical model is
indicative of the effect of social
participation and gender on social
security. Involvement has a positive
effect on security by 0.22 Beta and gender
has a negative effect on security of -2.3.
In social security, being male or female
has effect on the rate of social security,
even though this hypothesis has been
rejected at the end. Social trust also has
indirect influence on security via social
participation. The Model
In the present research, the applied indexes for measuring social capital among those who attempted suicide have been used on the three dimensions of social trust, social cohesion, and social participation. Besides, two more effective dimensions on social capital (social security and social support) have been applied. According to the reported statistics, the rate of social security among the participants shows an average level. There is no significant difference between males and females in the reported statistics, except the social security index among women which is lower than men. As a result, this factor can be assumed as a reason for attempting suicide among females. Therefore, increasing the level of social security among females is a must. The most frequent reason for attempting suicide in the present study is couple dispute and this demonstrates lack of strength especially among women. It may bring about regretting getting married. However, knowledge and enough recognition before marriage and trust in yourself and your partner can be a solution for possibly decreasing the rate of suicide. As regards, education as a factor can be considered as a point of emphasis in the suggested solution; i.e. if education is regarded as a factor indicating the level of knowledge and recognition, it should be mentioned here that the subjects enjoyed a low level of education (below diploma).
Clearly, attempting suicide for the subjects
had been a way for removing an obstacle in
their way which they find no solution for;
an obstacle which has been put in their way
by family and society. Developing
self-confidence among the individuals can be
used as a method for reducing negative
social pressure (family and society). In the
present study, Durkheim's theory regarding
an increase in the social cohesion leads to
a decrease in attempting suicide is not
applicable because the subjects in the
present study enjoyed an average and somehow
high level of social cohesion and they had
strong relationship with their families and
the society. So, a noteworthy factor led
them to attempt suicide was an obstacle they
could not remove via other solutions, lack
of security and fear of social labeling. The proportion of females to males in the present study is 146 to 45. This indicates both the present research limitation which was done in the intoxication ward of Imam Reza hospital (because attempting suicide via intoxication is mostly seen among females) and also family and society collective pressure which is mostly is imposed on women. At the end it should be said that social capital results in both positive and negative effects for individuals and society. As a result, social capital does not have the same effects for all social groups and it cannot be certainly expressed that social capital has necessarily a negative relation with suicide; rather, it has a negative effect for social groups with different economical- social base, age and gender. The whole discussions in this research indicates that methodical planning and investments must be adjusted and performed in direction of development and reinforcement of social capital and its elements and it should prevent from social capital disintegration and erosion by employing scientific and precise actions. This
although research specifically addresses
social capital and attempted suicide, it
does support the notion that the processes
involved with the most deviant forms of
behavior (killing) work differently among
social groups. This paper helps to shed
light on the fact that there is much
variability among social groups with how
they process/respond to the presence of
community social capital. Moreover, this may
help to shed light on the black/white
homicide/suicide differential with respect
to social capital or community resource
orientations. Historical context and social
participation differentials may factor into
which facets of community social capital are
beneficial to which social groups and which
groups are actually negatively affected by
the increasing presence of certain types of
social organization that produces group
specific social capital. All patients, whom were interviewed, had participated voluntarily and due to their bad mental conditions, the researchers were very careful about them. In the process of interviewing, researchers attempted to help the patients, so accompanying of a psychologist helped researchers to reach this goal. Acknowledgment
We would like to
acknowledge the support of the staffs of the
intoxication ward of Imam Reza hospital
specially Dr. Hamid Khosrojerdi, who allowed
us to interview patients and helped the team
a lot. Also we would like to appreciate Mr.
Ghasem Shahryari because of his generous
guides in the whole process of research.
Atkinson, M (1968).
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Editorial Board: Editor: George H. Conklin, North Carolina Central University Emeritus Robert Wortham, Associate Editor, North Carolina Central University Board: Rebecca Adams, UNC-Greensboro Bob Davis, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Catherine Harris, Wake Forest University Ella Keller, Fayetteville State University Ken Land, Duke University Steve McNamee, UNC-Wilmington Miles Simpson, North Carolina Central University William Smith, N.C. State University |
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