Over the last 20 years, suicide rates have grown across most demographic groups in the United Sta... more Over the last 20 years, suicide rates have grown across most demographic groups in the United States, making the sociological study of suicide as imperative now as it was in Durkheim's day. For the most part, however, sociologists study suicide solely using Durkheim's analytic strategy. The following article recovers a text on suicide long since forgotten by sociology. Divided into three parts, the article begins first by revisiting Ruth Cavan's social disorganizational theory of suicide, eventually culminating in a formalization of her theory. Second, the article brings contemporary social scientific ideas to bear on her theory to modify and extend its empirical utility. Third, the article considers the implications this theoretical exercise has for an increasingly vibrant and creative sociology of suicide.
A serious consideration of pain has largely been absent in sociology, especially physical pain's ... more A serious consideration of pain has largely been absent in sociology, especially physical pain's close neurobiological relative, social pain. Social pain is the process by which rejection and exclusion recruits similar neural circuits as physical pain, generating an affectual response that mirrors the response one feels from physical trauma. Pain is essential to any sociological analysis of motivation and action because, like many affective responses, it is a necessary ingredient in cognition and behavior; and, in many cases, it preconsciously commands and even controls how we think and act. While exploring this concept, it becomes apparent that sociology has an entire set of distantly related concepts that can be classified as different processes of social pain that reveal the structural, cultural, and situational conditions shaping the distribution of social pain. The paper concludes by thinking through the implications social pain portends for neuroscience and sociology.
Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have some... more Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have somethingtobelieveinand to commit themselvesto. […Humans] must act in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability and consequentlyt hey must have faith; they must be willingt ot ake the gamble, the risk of faith. In this sense some symbolization of transcendent reality seems inescapable, whether religious in at raditional sense or not.
Like any disaster, COVID-19 laid waste to infrastructure and the ability for a community to do co... more Like any disaster, COVID-19 laid waste to infrastructure and the ability for a community to do community. But, unlike a tornado or nuclear meltdown, COVID-19 laid waste to social infrastructure in unique ways that only a disease can do. On the one hand, a pandemic brings biological dangers that, in turn, make all individuals-loved ones, too-into potential threats of biological contamination. On the other hand, the efforts to contain diseases present social dangers, as isolation and distancing threatens mundane and spectacular ritualized encounters and mask-wearing heighten our awareness of the biological risk. By exploring the link between disasters and disease, this paper leverages the contamination process, beginning first with the barriers it presents to making and remaking the self in everyday life. Constraints on ritualized encounters, both in terms of delimiting face-to-face interaction and in determining that some spaces have contaminative risks, reduces collective life to imagined communities or shifts to digitally mediated spaces. The former intensifies the sense of anomie people feel as their social world appears as though it were disintegrating while the latter presents severe neurobiological challenges to reproducing what faceto-face interaction habitually generates. Finally, these micro/meso-level processes are contextualized by considering how institutions, particularly polity but also science, manage collective risk and how their efficacy may either contribute to the erosion of solidarity or provide a sense of support in the face of anomic terror. Using the US to illustrate these processes, we are able to show how an inefficacious State response weakens the already tenuous connective tissue that holds a diffuse and diverse population together, while also exposing and intensifying existing political,
Most of the research on suicide by fire is based on samples from Asian nations (e.g., Ahmadi, 200... more Most of the research on suicide by fire is based on samples from Asian nations (e.g., Ahmadi, 2007; Fernando, et al., 2011; Laloe, 2004). Three countries from the Asian continent alone (India, Sri Lanka, and Iran) accounted for nearly half of the world's known published cases (Laloe, 2004), and burn centers in these three nations saw, on average, forty cases of self-immolators each year. Burn centers in other areas in the world report far fewer cases per year. No burn center in the United States, for example, has reported more than six cases of self-immolation per year (Laloe, 2004). Prevalence rates of self-immolation among patients reporting to burn centers are low in Western nations, ranging between 1% to 9%. In contrast, prevalence rates reported in Asia, the Middle East, and portions of Africa are higher, reaching 28% in some locales (McKibben, Ekselius, Girassek, et al., 2009). The startling examples of self-immolation in Asia are often based on long-standing historical patterns and sometimes marked by links to Eastern religions. For example, the suicide by fire of Indian widows (sati) has been the subject of much scholarly work and has been the subject of many artistic representations for centuries (Lester, 2013). Like any behavioral repertoire or pattern, suicide or, more particularly, the "appropriate" means to suicide, varies culturally and regionally (Farberow, 1975) and is transmitted through various social media, including language, but also various forms of art (Kral, 1994; van Hooff, 2004). The motives for suicide by fire include dowry disputes wherein the in-laws of a wife demand additional dowry payments, demands that apparently contribute to considerable stress on Asian wives involved 193
Though anomie is one of sociology's most unique conceptual contributions, its progenitor, Emile D... more Though anomie is one of sociology's most unique conceptual contributions, its progenitor, Emile Durkheim, was notably ambiguous about its meaning. Consequently, its use in contemporary sociology has varied wildly. In part, the confusion surrounding anomie stems from Durkheim's insistence that it is caused by deregulation, which has resisted operationalization. Nevertheless, careful consideration of the "four faces" of anomie most prominent in the sociological canon-that is, (1) the anomic division of labor, (2) anomic suicide, (3) Mertonian strain, and (4) the micro-level symbolic-cultural versions-reveals that disruption and disintegration, rather than deregulation, are the common threads woven through each. Drawing from this insight, a new theoretical conceptualization for anomie is offered that defines it as (a) a social psychological force operating at both the (b) individual-or "meso"/corporate unit-level of social reality that results from (c) chronic or acute disruptions that, in turn, generate (d) real or imagined disintegrative pressures. Furthermore, disruptions are not only predicated on the real or imagined loss of social ties (dissolution), but also on the real or imagined loss of attachment to a coherent social reality (disjunction) and/or physical space (dislocation). This recalibration allows anomie to enter into deeper dialogue with a wide range of other phenomena that may in fact share some overlapping elements with anomie related to the pain of potentially losing cherished social relationships and the motivation toward self-harm, antisocial and even pro-social behaviors to escape this social pain.
Current research indicates that exposure to suicide is a risk factor for suicidality; however, we... more Current research indicates that exposure to suicide is a risk factor for suicidality; however, we know little about the mechanisms through which exposure confers this risk. In this study, we address this gap by examining the role of meaning-making after a suicide death in moderating individual's vulnerability to suicide. We draw on interview data with suicide bereaved individuals in the USA (N = 48), the majority of whom engaged in intense meaning-making processes after their loss. Many reported an increased awareness of suicide as a 'something that actually happens,' a realization that impacted their lives and relationships with others (N = 37). For 7 participants, all women, their loss appeared to trigger increased suicidality, as they not only felt overwhelmed by grief, but also came to see suicide as something they, too, could do. However, for 19 participants, witnessing the profound impact of suicide on others made them feel that suicide was something they could never do. Thus, in our data, how exposure impacted vulnerability was tied to how individuals made sense of and experienced their loss. For some, suicide was re-framed as more of an option, while for others it was re-framed as not just the killing-ofoneself, but as the harming-of-others through grief and trauma, which in turn diminished their view of suicide's acceptability. Collectively, our findings suggest that exposure to suicide itself is not inherently risky, though it may be inherently distressing; instead, whether it results in increased vulnerability depends on the meaning an individual makes of the experience and likely the context surrounding the death. We discuss the implications of our findings for theories of suicide contagion, suicide itself, and suicide prevention.
There may be no quote more befitting the unifying vision of Jonathan Turner's copious and diverse... more There may be no quote more befitting the unifying vision of Jonathan Turner's copious and diverse body of work than Herbert Spencer's (1873 [1961]) prescient (and ironically timeless) warning (in the epigraph) to sociologists in his oft-forgotten The Study of Society. It's not that Jon rejects or dismisses temporally and spatially bounded sociological work but rather that without grounding training and subsequent research in a general body of sociological theory, this work lacks cumulative power; and, consequently, practical or scientific utility. As such, Jon has spent a career trying to pull together a wide range of theoretical insight drawn from an equally diverse body of empirical sources. And while it is questionable how definitive, exhaustive, or, perhaps more critically, how "correct" his extraordinarily large set of "first" principles may be (Jonathan H. Turner 2010a, 2010b, 2011), the existence of these principles speaks volumes about his scholarship and the discipline's potential. 1 Each chapter in this volume is devoted to some aspect of this sprawling body of sociological theory, but what is missing is a much-needed evaluation of his macrosociology. In part, this is because Jon spent the last two or three decades mining exciting new ground in neurosociology (
The study of the various forms of differentiation among people, their interrelations, the conditi... more The study of the various forms of differentiation among people, their interrelations, the conditions producing them, and their implications is the distinctive task of sociology. No other discipline undertakes this important task, and sociologists too have neglected it, despite the theoretical emphasis on differentiation as a core sociological conceptever since Spencer. (Blau 1974
Much of the recent, renewed interest in the cultural evolution of religion has been driven by fin... more Much of the recent, renewed interest in the cultural evolution of religion has been driven by findings in experimental and cognitive psychology, and, as a result of disciplinary boundaries, sociologists have engaged very little with this new data and theory. In order to bring sociology formally back into this discussion, we provide in this paper five sociological sources for the birth and diffusion of 'Big God' ideation (with monotheism serving as a paradigmatic case). Agentically, we suggest that Big God beliefs assuaged existential anxiety, aided in elite legitimation and were useful for religious entrepreneurs hoping to establish new institutional fields. Structurally, we suggest that Big God beliefs may have been an epiphenomenal attempt by people to symbolically represent the centralization of political authority and the intensified use of new technologies. We conclude with a general theory of the cultural evolution of Big Gods that integrates these agentic and structural explanations.
Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have some... more Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have somethingtobelieveinand to commit themselvesto. […Humans] must act in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability and consequentlyt hey must have faith; they must be willingt ot ake the gamble, the risk of faith. In this sense some symbolization of transcendent reality seems inescapable, whether religious in at raditional sense or not.
Purpose-In recent decades, some sociologists have turned to evolutionary biology, neuroscience, a... more Purpose-In recent decades, some sociologists have turned to evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and cognitive science to support, modify, and reconfigure existing social psychological theory. In this chapter, we build on this momentum by considering the relevance of current work in affective and cognitive neuroscience for understanding emotions and the self. Our principal aim is to enlarge the range of phenomena currently considered by sociologists who study emotion while showing how affective dynamics play an important role across most outcomes and processes of interest to social scientists. Approach-We focus on the ways external social objects become essential to, and emotionally significant for, the self. To that end, we draw on ideas from phenomenology, pragmatism, classic symbolic interactionism, and dramaturgy. We show how basic affective systems graft on, build from, and extend current social psychological usages of emotions as well as the important sociological work being done on self, from both symbolic interactionist (SI) and identity theory (IT) perspectives. Finally, we turn to the promising directions in studying emotional biographies and various aspects related to embodiment. Findings-Affective systems consist of brain networks whose connections deepen when activated, with interesting variations observable at the neural, individual, and social levels in which one or more system is more salient than others. Affective systems may come to saturate the construction and maintenance of an autobiography or collective biography, with consequences for self-projection, self-other attunement, and embodied action. In turning to embodiment, however, we consider aspects of cognitive neuroscience that can contribute to ongoing work in neurosociology building on symbolic interactionism.
Despite efforts to identify risk factors following exposure to completed suicide, research has pa... more Despite efforts to identify risk factors following exposure to completed suicide, research has paid less attention to the associations between exposure to non-fatal suicide behavior (NFSB)
By leveraging the case of Hindu sati, this paper elucidates the ways in which structure and cultu... more By leveraging the case of Hindu sati, this paper elucidates the ways in which structure and culture condition suicidal behavior by way of social psychological and emotional dynamics. Conventionally, sati falls under Durkheim's discussion of altruistic suicides, or the self-sacrifice of underindividuated or excessively integrated peoples like widows in traditional societies. In light of the fact that Durkheim's interpretation was based on uneven data, nineteenth century Eurocentric beliefs, and a theoretical framework that can no longer resist modification and elaboration, by reconsidering sati it is possible to sketch a new model that strengthens Durkheim's theory by making it more robust and generalizable. The following model is built on five principles. First, integration and regulation are not distinct causal forces, but overlapping contextual conditions. Second, to better explain the variation in suicidality across time and space, we must also pay attention to culture as it provides the underlying meanings of suicide that can increase the odds a person or class of persons become suicidal or are protected against suicidality. Third, structure still matters, but in many cases, the role power and power-differentials play must be considered. Fourth, understanding why and how people choose suicide depends on incorporating identity and status processes. Fifth, because the expression of social emotions like shame are patterned by structural and cultural
Modern suicidologists have noted a dearth of qualitative research on suicide. The first author co... more Modern suicidologists have noted a dearth of qualitative research on suicide. The first author conducted 20 in-depth interviews with formerly suicidal adults to understand how they accounted for their experiences contemplating or attempting suicide. According to participants, stigma necessitated impression management, which contributed to the production of silence and misunderstanding. Silence and misunderstanding reinforced stigma. This complex, dialectical, belief system about stigma yields insight into the interpretive culture of surviving suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt. These beliefs about suicide may serve as a barrier to individuals seeking help, recovering from suicidality, and larger social change regarding attitudes toward suicide.
Despite its enduring insights, Durkheim's theory of suicide fails to account for a significant se... more Despite its enduring insights, Durkheim's theory of suicide fails to account for a significant set of cases because of its overreliance on structural forces to the detriment of other possible factors. In this paper, we develop a new theoretical framework for thinking about the role of culture in vulnerability to suicide. We argue that by focusing on the cultural dynamics of excessive regulation, particularly at the meso level, a more robust sociological model for suicide could be offered that supplements structure-heavy Durkheimian theory. In essence, we argue that the relevance of cultural regulation to suicide rests on the (1) degree to which culture is coherent in sociocultural places, (2) existence of directives related to prescribing or proscribing suicide, (3) degree to which these directives translate into internalized meanings affecting social psychological processes, and (4) degree to which the social space is bounded. We then illustrate how our new theory provides useful insights into three cases of suicide largely neglected within sociology: specifically, suicide clusters in high schools, suicide in the military, and suicides of "despair" among middle-aged white men. We conclude with implications for future sociological research on suicide and suicide prevention.
Sociologists have long argued that institutions like religion or the economy can become relativel... more Sociologists have long argued that institutions like religion or the economy can become relatively distinct spheres that facilitate and constrain action, goal setting, and decision-making. But few empirical studies have looked closely at how institutions become relatively distinct cultural and structural domains. This paper examines how institutional entrepreneurs-in this case, Major League Baseball (MLB) sportswriters-build and sustain institutional boundaries by considering how they create a distinct cultural discourse that infuses baseball places, times, and events with culturally distinct meanings. Drawing from sportswriters' columns, documentaries, and monographs written on baseball I show that MLB entrepreneurs have developed and disseminated a discourse oriented around the generalized medium of sport exchange, interaction, and communication: competitiveness. Using these data, this article examines how baseball writing becomes quantified and embodied in tangible and intangible forms. Additionally, the paper draws on sport columns that illustrate how MLB entrepreneurs protect the autonomy of a sacred core (the Hall of Fame) from internal threats (gambling and performanceenhancing drugs) and external corruption (the influence of money). The paper ends with a discussion of implications for the applicability of the findings to other sports and institutional domains.
Sociology can no longer avoid engagement with biological ideas, but it can incorporate them where... more Sociology can no longer avoid engagement with biological ideas, but it can incorporate them where they are useful. Most biologically inspired explanations of sociological processes from outside the discipline are simple and, moreover, too reliant on biological rather than sociological models of social processes. Yet, it is possible to engage these efforts by developing sociological concepts and theories that meet those using evolutionary theory from biology. This paper argues that the heavy reliance on Darwinian natural selection limits sociological explanations, although this approach can help sociologists understand the evolved behavioral propensities of humans as evolved apes. These behavioral propensities cannot, however, explain the evolution and dynamics of the layers of sociocultural phenomena studied by sociologists, and efforts to do so with Darwinian notions of natural selection on individual organisms will always be inadequate. As an alternative, we propose that there are other types of natural selection inherent in the organization of what Herbert Spencer termed superorganisms. We label these Durkheimian, Spencerian, and Marxian selection, and they explain what Darwinian selection cannot: the dynamics and evolution of sociocultural phenomena.
There may not be a concept so central to sociology, yet so vaguely defined in its contemporar... more There may not be a concept so central to sociology, yet so vaguely defined in its contemporary usages, than institution. In Revisiting Institutionalism in Sociology, Abrutyn takes an in-depth look at what institutions are by returning to some of the insights of classical theorists like Max Weber and Herbert Spencer, the functionalisms of Talcott Parsons and S.N. Eisenstadt, and the more recent evolutionary institutionalisms of Gerhard Lenski and Jonathan Turner. Returning to the idea that various levels of social reality shape societies, Abrutyn argues that institutions are macro-level structural and cultural spheres of action, exchange, and communication. They have emergent properties and dynamics that are not reducible to other levels of social reality. Rather than fall back on old functionalist solutions, Abrutyn offers an original and synthetic theory of institutions like religion or economy; the process by which they become autonomous, or distinct cultural spaces that shape the color and texture of action, exchange, and communication embedded within them; and how they gain or lose autonomy by theorizing about institutional entrepreneurship. Finally, Abrutyn lays bare the inner workings of institutions, including their ecology, the way structure and culture shape lower-levels of social reality, and how they develop unique patterns of stratification and inequality founded on their ecology, structure, and culture. Ultimately, Abrutyn offers a refreshing take on macrosociology that brings functionalist, conflict, and cultural sociologies together, while painting a new picture of how the seemingly invisible macro-world influences the choices humans make and the goals we set.
Over the last 20 years, suicide rates have grown across most demographic groups in the United Sta... more Over the last 20 years, suicide rates have grown across most demographic groups in the United States, making the sociological study of suicide as imperative now as it was in Durkheim's day. For the most part, however, sociologists study suicide solely using Durkheim's analytic strategy. The following article recovers a text on suicide long since forgotten by sociology. Divided into three parts, the article begins first by revisiting Ruth Cavan's social disorganizational theory of suicide, eventually culminating in a formalization of her theory. Second, the article brings contemporary social scientific ideas to bear on her theory to modify and extend its empirical utility. Third, the article considers the implications this theoretical exercise has for an increasingly vibrant and creative sociology of suicide.
A serious consideration of pain has largely been absent in sociology, especially physical pain's ... more A serious consideration of pain has largely been absent in sociology, especially physical pain's close neurobiological relative, social pain. Social pain is the process by which rejection and exclusion recruits similar neural circuits as physical pain, generating an affectual response that mirrors the response one feels from physical trauma. Pain is essential to any sociological analysis of motivation and action because, like many affective responses, it is a necessary ingredient in cognition and behavior; and, in many cases, it preconsciously commands and even controls how we think and act. While exploring this concept, it becomes apparent that sociology has an entire set of distantly related concepts that can be classified as different processes of social pain that reveal the structural, cultural, and situational conditions shaping the distribution of social pain. The paper concludes by thinking through the implications social pain portends for neuroscience and sociology.
Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have some... more Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have somethingtobelieveinand to commit themselvesto. […Humans] must act in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability and consequentlyt hey must have faith; they must be willingt ot ake the gamble, the risk of faith. In this sense some symbolization of transcendent reality seems inescapable, whether religious in at raditional sense or not.
Like any disaster, COVID-19 laid waste to infrastructure and the ability for a community to do co... more Like any disaster, COVID-19 laid waste to infrastructure and the ability for a community to do community. But, unlike a tornado or nuclear meltdown, COVID-19 laid waste to social infrastructure in unique ways that only a disease can do. On the one hand, a pandemic brings biological dangers that, in turn, make all individuals-loved ones, too-into potential threats of biological contamination. On the other hand, the efforts to contain diseases present social dangers, as isolation and distancing threatens mundane and spectacular ritualized encounters and mask-wearing heighten our awareness of the biological risk. By exploring the link between disasters and disease, this paper leverages the contamination process, beginning first with the barriers it presents to making and remaking the self in everyday life. Constraints on ritualized encounters, both in terms of delimiting face-to-face interaction and in determining that some spaces have contaminative risks, reduces collective life to imagined communities or shifts to digitally mediated spaces. The former intensifies the sense of anomie people feel as their social world appears as though it were disintegrating while the latter presents severe neurobiological challenges to reproducing what faceto-face interaction habitually generates. Finally, these micro/meso-level processes are contextualized by considering how institutions, particularly polity but also science, manage collective risk and how their efficacy may either contribute to the erosion of solidarity or provide a sense of support in the face of anomic terror. Using the US to illustrate these processes, we are able to show how an inefficacious State response weakens the already tenuous connective tissue that holds a diffuse and diverse population together, while also exposing and intensifying existing political,
Most of the research on suicide by fire is based on samples from Asian nations (e.g., Ahmadi, 200... more Most of the research on suicide by fire is based on samples from Asian nations (e.g., Ahmadi, 2007; Fernando, et al., 2011; Laloe, 2004). Three countries from the Asian continent alone (India, Sri Lanka, and Iran) accounted for nearly half of the world's known published cases (Laloe, 2004), and burn centers in these three nations saw, on average, forty cases of self-immolators each year. Burn centers in other areas in the world report far fewer cases per year. No burn center in the United States, for example, has reported more than six cases of self-immolation per year (Laloe, 2004). Prevalence rates of self-immolation among patients reporting to burn centers are low in Western nations, ranging between 1% to 9%. In contrast, prevalence rates reported in Asia, the Middle East, and portions of Africa are higher, reaching 28% in some locales (McKibben, Ekselius, Girassek, et al., 2009). The startling examples of self-immolation in Asia are often based on long-standing historical patterns and sometimes marked by links to Eastern religions. For example, the suicide by fire of Indian widows (sati) has been the subject of much scholarly work and has been the subject of many artistic representations for centuries (Lester, 2013). Like any behavioral repertoire or pattern, suicide or, more particularly, the "appropriate" means to suicide, varies culturally and regionally (Farberow, 1975) and is transmitted through various social media, including language, but also various forms of art (Kral, 1994; van Hooff, 2004). The motives for suicide by fire include dowry disputes wherein the in-laws of a wife demand additional dowry payments, demands that apparently contribute to considerable stress on Asian wives involved 193
Though anomie is one of sociology's most unique conceptual contributions, its progenitor, Emile D... more Though anomie is one of sociology's most unique conceptual contributions, its progenitor, Emile Durkheim, was notably ambiguous about its meaning. Consequently, its use in contemporary sociology has varied wildly. In part, the confusion surrounding anomie stems from Durkheim's insistence that it is caused by deregulation, which has resisted operationalization. Nevertheless, careful consideration of the "four faces" of anomie most prominent in the sociological canon-that is, (1) the anomic division of labor, (2) anomic suicide, (3) Mertonian strain, and (4) the micro-level symbolic-cultural versions-reveals that disruption and disintegration, rather than deregulation, are the common threads woven through each. Drawing from this insight, a new theoretical conceptualization for anomie is offered that defines it as (a) a social psychological force operating at both the (b) individual-or "meso"/corporate unit-level of social reality that results from (c) chronic or acute disruptions that, in turn, generate (d) real or imagined disintegrative pressures. Furthermore, disruptions are not only predicated on the real or imagined loss of social ties (dissolution), but also on the real or imagined loss of attachment to a coherent social reality (disjunction) and/or physical space (dislocation). This recalibration allows anomie to enter into deeper dialogue with a wide range of other phenomena that may in fact share some overlapping elements with anomie related to the pain of potentially losing cherished social relationships and the motivation toward self-harm, antisocial and even pro-social behaviors to escape this social pain.
Current research indicates that exposure to suicide is a risk factor for suicidality; however, we... more Current research indicates that exposure to suicide is a risk factor for suicidality; however, we know little about the mechanisms through which exposure confers this risk. In this study, we address this gap by examining the role of meaning-making after a suicide death in moderating individual's vulnerability to suicide. We draw on interview data with suicide bereaved individuals in the USA (N = 48), the majority of whom engaged in intense meaning-making processes after their loss. Many reported an increased awareness of suicide as a 'something that actually happens,' a realization that impacted their lives and relationships with others (N = 37). For 7 participants, all women, their loss appeared to trigger increased suicidality, as they not only felt overwhelmed by grief, but also came to see suicide as something they, too, could do. However, for 19 participants, witnessing the profound impact of suicide on others made them feel that suicide was something they could never do. Thus, in our data, how exposure impacted vulnerability was tied to how individuals made sense of and experienced their loss. For some, suicide was re-framed as more of an option, while for others it was re-framed as not just the killing-ofoneself, but as the harming-of-others through grief and trauma, which in turn diminished their view of suicide's acceptability. Collectively, our findings suggest that exposure to suicide itself is not inherently risky, though it may be inherently distressing; instead, whether it results in increased vulnerability depends on the meaning an individual makes of the experience and likely the context surrounding the death. We discuss the implications of our findings for theories of suicide contagion, suicide itself, and suicide prevention.
There may be no quote more befitting the unifying vision of Jonathan Turner's copious and diverse... more There may be no quote more befitting the unifying vision of Jonathan Turner's copious and diverse body of work than Herbert Spencer's (1873 [1961]) prescient (and ironically timeless) warning (in the epigraph) to sociologists in his oft-forgotten The Study of Society. It's not that Jon rejects or dismisses temporally and spatially bounded sociological work but rather that without grounding training and subsequent research in a general body of sociological theory, this work lacks cumulative power; and, consequently, practical or scientific utility. As such, Jon has spent a career trying to pull together a wide range of theoretical insight drawn from an equally diverse body of empirical sources. And while it is questionable how definitive, exhaustive, or, perhaps more critically, how "correct" his extraordinarily large set of "first" principles may be (Jonathan H. Turner 2010a, 2010b, 2011), the existence of these principles speaks volumes about his scholarship and the discipline's potential. 1 Each chapter in this volume is devoted to some aspect of this sprawling body of sociological theory, but what is missing is a much-needed evaluation of his macrosociology. In part, this is because Jon spent the last two or three decades mining exciting new ground in neurosociology (
The study of the various forms of differentiation among people, their interrelations, the conditi... more The study of the various forms of differentiation among people, their interrelations, the conditions producing them, and their implications is the distinctive task of sociology. No other discipline undertakes this important task, and sociologists too have neglected it, despite the theoretical emphasis on differentiation as a core sociological conceptever since Spencer. (Blau 1974
Much of the recent, renewed interest in the cultural evolution of religion has been driven by fin... more Much of the recent, renewed interest in the cultural evolution of religion has been driven by findings in experimental and cognitive psychology, and, as a result of disciplinary boundaries, sociologists have engaged very little with this new data and theory. In order to bring sociology formally back into this discussion, we provide in this paper five sociological sources for the birth and diffusion of 'Big God' ideation (with monotheism serving as a paradigmatic case). Agentically, we suggest that Big God beliefs assuaged existential anxiety, aided in elite legitimation and were useful for religious entrepreneurs hoping to establish new institutional fields. Structurally, we suggest that Big God beliefs may have been an epiphenomenal attempt by people to symbolically represent the centralization of political authority and the intensified use of new technologies. We conclude with a general theory of the cultural evolution of Big Gods that integrates these agentic and structural explanations.
Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have some... more Somehow or other [humans] must have as ense of the whole if they are to live;t hey must have somethingtobelieveinand to commit themselvesto. […Humans] must act in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability and consequentlyt hey must have faith; they must be willingt ot ake the gamble, the risk of faith. In this sense some symbolization of transcendent reality seems inescapable, whether religious in at raditional sense or not.
Purpose-In recent decades, some sociologists have turned to evolutionary biology, neuroscience, a... more Purpose-In recent decades, some sociologists have turned to evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and cognitive science to support, modify, and reconfigure existing social psychological theory. In this chapter, we build on this momentum by considering the relevance of current work in affective and cognitive neuroscience for understanding emotions and the self. Our principal aim is to enlarge the range of phenomena currently considered by sociologists who study emotion while showing how affective dynamics play an important role across most outcomes and processes of interest to social scientists. Approach-We focus on the ways external social objects become essential to, and emotionally significant for, the self. To that end, we draw on ideas from phenomenology, pragmatism, classic symbolic interactionism, and dramaturgy. We show how basic affective systems graft on, build from, and extend current social psychological usages of emotions as well as the important sociological work being done on self, from both symbolic interactionist (SI) and identity theory (IT) perspectives. Finally, we turn to the promising directions in studying emotional biographies and various aspects related to embodiment. Findings-Affective systems consist of brain networks whose connections deepen when activated, with interesting variations observable at the neural, individual, and social levels in which one or more system is more salient than others. Affective systems may come to saturate the construction and maintenance of an autobiography or collective biography, with consequences for self-projection, self-other attunement, and embodied action. In turning to embodiment, however, we consider aspects of cognitive neuroscience that can contribute to ongoing work in neurosociology building on symbolic interactionism.
Despite efforts to identify risk factors following exposure to completed suicide, research has pa... more Despite efforts to identify risk factors following exposure to completed suicide, research has paid less attention to the associations between exposure to non-fatal suicide behavior (NFSB)
By leveraging the case of Hindu sati, this paper elucidates the ways in which structure and cultu... more By leveraging the case of Hindu sati, this paper elucidates the ways in which structure and culture condition suicidal behavior by way of social psychological and emotional dynamics. Conventionally, sati falls under Durkheim's discussion of altruistic suicides, or the self-sacrifice of underindividuated or excessively integrated peoples like widows in traditional societies. In light of the fact that Durkheim's interpretation was based on uneven data, nineteenth century Eurocentric beliefs, and a theoretical framework that can no longer resist modification and elaboration, by reconsidering sati it is possible to sketch a new model that strengthens Durkheim's theory by making it more robust and generalizable. The following model is built on five principles. First, integration and regulation are not distinct causal forces, but overlapping contextual conditions. Second, to better explain the variation in suicidality across time and space, we must also pay attention to culture as it provides the underlying meanings of suicide that can increase the odds a person or class of persons become suicidal or are protected against suicidality. Third, structure still matters, but in many cases, the role power and power-differentials play must be considered. Fourth, understanding why and how people choose suicide depends on incorporating identity and status processes. Fifth, because the expression of social emotions like shame are patterned by structural and cultural
Modern suicidologists have noted a dearth of qualitative research on suicide. The first author co... more Modern suicidologists have noted a dearth of qualitative research on suicide. The first author conducted 20 in-depth interviews with formerly suicidal adults to understand how they accounted for their experiences contemplating or attempting suicide. According to participants, stigma necessitated impression management, which contributed to the production of silence and misunderstanding. Silence and misunderstanding reinforced stigma. This complex, dialectical, belief system about stigma yields insight into the interpretive culture of surviving suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt. These beliefs about suicide may serve as a barrier to individuals seeking help, recovering from suicidality, and larger social change regarding attitudes toward suicide.
Despite its enduring insights, Durkheim's theory of suicide fails to account for a significant se... more Despite its enduring insights, Durkheim's theory of suicide fails to account for a significant set of cases because of its overreliance on structural forces to the detriment of other possible factors. In this paper, we develop a new theoretical framework for thinking about the role of culture in vulnerability to suicide. We argue that by focusing on the cultural dynamics of excessive regulation, particularly at the meso level, a more robust sociological model for suicide could be offered that supplements structure-heavy Durkheimian theory. In essence, we argue that the relevance of cultural regulation to suicide rests on the (1) degree to which culture is coherent in sociocultural places, (2) existence of directives related to prescribing or proscribing suicide, (3) degree to which these directives translate into internalized meanings affecting social psychological processes, and (4) degree to which the social space is bounded. We then illustrate how our new theory provides useful insights into three cases of suicide largely neglected within sociology: specifically, suicide clusters in high schools, suicide in the military, and suicides of "despair" among middle-aged white men. We conclude with implications for future sociological research on suicide and suicide prevention.
Sociologists have long argued that institutions like religion or the economy can become relativel... more Sociologists have long argued that institutions like religion or the economy can become relatively distinct spheres that facilitate and constrain action, goal setting, and decision-making. But few empirical studies have looked closely at how institutions become relatively distinct cultural and structural domains. This paper examines how institutional entrepreneurs-in this case, Major League Baseball (MLB) sportswriters-build and sustain institutional boundaries by considering how they create a distinct cultural discourse that infuses baseball places, times, and events with culturally distinct meanings. Drawing from sportswriters' columns, documentaries, and monographs written on baseball I show that MLB entrepreneurs have developed and disseminated a discourse oriented around the generalized medium of sport exchange, interaction, and communication: competitiveness. Using these data, this article examines how baseball writing becomes quantified and embodied in tangible and intangible forms. Additionally, the paper draws on sport columns that illustrate how MLB entrepreneurs protect the autonomy of a sacred core (the Hall of Fame) from internal threats (gambling and performanceenhancing drugs) and external corruption (the influence of money). The paper ends with a discussion of implications for the applicability of the findings to other sports and institutional domains.
Sociology can no longer avoid engagement with biological ideas, but it can incorporate them where... more Sociology can no longer avoid engagement with biological ideas, but it can incorporate them where they are useful. Most biologically inspired explanations of sociological processes from outside the discipline are simple and, moreover, too reliant on biological rather than sociological models of social processes. Yet, it is possible to engage these efforts by developing sociological concepts and theories that meet those using evolutionary theory from biology. This paper argues that the heavy reliance on Darwinian natural selection limits sociological explanations, although this approach can help sociologists understand the evolved behavioral propensities of humans as evolved apes. These behavioral propensities cannot, however, explain the evolution and dynamics of the layers of sociocultural phenomena studied by sociologists, and efforts to do so with Darwinian notions of natural selection on individual organisms will always be inadequate. As an alternative, we propose that there are other types of natural selection inherent in the organization of what Herbert Spencer termed superorganisms. We label these Durkheimian, Spencerian, and Marxian selection, and they explain what Darwinian selection cannot: the dynamics and evolution of sociocultural phenomena.
There may not be a concept so central to sociology, yet so vaguely defined in its contemporar... more There may not be a concept so central to sociology, yet so vaguely defined in its contemporary usages, than institution. In Revisiting Institutionalism in Sociology, Abrutyn takes an in-depth look at what institutions are by returning to some of the insights of classical theorists like Max Weber and Herbert Spencer, the functionalisms of Talcott Parsons and S.N. Eisenstadt, and the more recent evolutionary institutionalisms of Gerhard Lenski and Jonathan Turner. Returning to the idea that various levels of social reality shape societies, Abrutyn argues that institutions are macro-level structural and cultural spheres of action, exchange, and communication. They have emergent properties and dynamics that are not reducible to other levels of social reality. Rather than fall back on old functionalist solutions, Abrutyn offers an original and synthetic theory of institutions like religion or economy; the process by which they become autonomous, or distinct cultural spaces that shape the color and texture of action, exchange, and communication embedded within them; and how they gain or lose autonomy by theorizing about institutional entrepreneurship. Finally, Abrutyn lays bare the inner workings of institutions, including their ecology, the way structure and culture shape lower-levels of social reality, and how they develop unique patterns of stratification and inequality founded on their ecology, structure, and culture. Ultimately, Abrutyn offers a refreshing take on macrosociology that brings functionalist, conflict, and cultural sociologies together, while painting a new picture of how the seemingly invisible macro-world influences the choices humans make and the goals we set.
In this chapter, we make the case that cooperation is at the center of moral behavior by presenti... more In this chapter, we make the case that cooperation is at the center of moral behavior by presenting insights on youth morality from neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary science. First, we discuss the gaps in the sociological literature concerning youth morality. Instead of studying youth morality explicitly, sociologists often use proxies for morality such as norms, values, and socialization that underplay both youth’s agency in shaping their moral worlds and their innate cooperative abilities. As such, we argue that sociologists’ neglect of youth morality obscures our understanding of the interaction between the socialized and the innate aspects of moral development and behavior. Next, we review existing bio-psychological research that points to the innate aspects of cooperation and why cooperation may have been evolutionarily adaptive. In looking at the moral behaviors of infants, we see that moral judgment, a preference for pro-social versus anti-social others, and the abil...
Structure and Dynamics: eJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences
As a general Sociological Theorist, he has long been interested in macrosociology, institutions, ... more As a general Sociological Theorist, he has long been interested in macrosociology, institutions, and sociocultural evolution, which has culminated in a book due out this fall: Revisiting Institutionalism in Sociology. Recently, his research interests have moved toward the sociology of suicide that includes examining the processes by which suicides can spread as well as how these processes relate to and expand Durkheim's classic thesis; he has a paper due out in American Sociological Review on suicide and several more under review.
In this paper, we attempt to rehabilitate the notion of role by linking sociological role theory ... more In this paper, we attempt to rehabilitate the notion of role by linking sociological role theory to recent work on motivational, affective, and cognitive neuroscience specifying the internal mechanisms behind motivated action. We argue that there is nothing inherently problematic or retrogressive in the idea of “role,” once its link to a purely normative account of motivated action is severed. Instead, by conceptualizing roles as emerging and persisting around structured reward systems, we are able to incorporate contemporary motivational science such that rewards become the proximate causal mechanisms currently missing in role theory. Consequently, a key implication of our argument is that the best way to link role, action, and structures is by reviving the idea of institutions as literal reward systems, which allows us to envision roles as the mechanisms via which the pursuit and delivery of rewards and goal‐objects are routinized. Implications for a motivational theory of roles, ...
By leveraging the case of Hindu sati, this paper elucidates the ways in which structure and cultu... more By leveraging the case of Hindu sati, this paper elucidates the ways in which structure and culture condition suicidal behavior by way of social psychological and emotional dynamics. Conventionally, sati falls under Durkheim's discussion of altruistic suicides, or the self‐sacrifice of underindividuated or excessively integrated peoples like widows in traditional societies. In light of the fact that Durkheim's interpretation was based on uneven data, nineteenth century Eurocentric beliefs, and a theoretical framework that can no longer resist modification and elaboration, by reconsidering sati it is possible to sketch a new model that strengthens Durkheim's theory by making it more robust and generalizable. The following model is built on five principles. First, integration and regulation are not distinct causal forces, but overlapping contextual conditions. Second, to better explain the variation in suicidality across time and space, we must also pay attention to cultur...
A central and long-standing theoretical problem in sociology concerns how differentiated social u... more A central and long-standing theoretical problem in sociology concerns how differentiated social units are integrated. This problem, however, has been peripheralised since the decline of functionalism, while legitimation and regulation/power-differentials have moved to the forefront. This article argues that by reconceptualising the concept, generalised symbolic media, a robust theory of integration can be posited that does not sacrifi ce the importance of regulation (control) or legitimation (meaning). This paper extends both the Simmelian and functionalist versions of media by: (1) precisely defi ning the concept; (2) examining its two forms-a specialised institutional language and an external referent of value; (3) elucidating the three modes of orientation various media impose; and (4) extending the function of media beyond (social) exchange to include other institutional processes such as communicative action, performance, and ritualised interaction. Ultimately, a reconceptualised theory of generalised symbolic media offers sociology a mechanism that simultaneously highlights the diversity found across institutional spheres, as well as the limits humans have in dealing with the problems posed by differentiation.
Motivation, defined as "the energy that drives individuals to behave in certain ways&... more Motivation, defined as "the energy that drives individuals to behave in certain ways" (Turner, 2010, p. 193), is central to social psychology, the sociology of emotions, and cultural sociology, among other fields. Without a coherent theory of motivation, sociologists cannot understand what makes people "tick" and what allows them to sustain consistent lines of action, sometimes at a high cost. More specifically, without a theory of motivation, sociologists can only understand these sustained action patterns as the result of external structures and constraints, ignoring and under-theorizing internal affective drives. Nevertheless, despite its importance in understanding the drivers of action and in linking affective drives and action, theorizing motivation in sociology, with some exceptions, remains an underdeveloped affair. Naturally, this leads to the question: How do contemporary sociologists understand motivation? The answer is that the primary model of motivation in sociology today, more explicitly developed in the work of Jonathan Turner (1987, 2010), sees motivation as primarily driven by need states. Motivation via need satisfaction works similarly to how people are motivated and instigated to "reduce" physiological drives like hunger and thirst. Specifically, people have a "preset" level for hunger or, more relevant to sociologists, trust or ontological security (see Giddens, 1984), and they compare the environmental input to these presets. Like a thermostat, a mismatch, especially one signaling a deprivation, between the environment and their expected standard "turns" the system on. Alternatively, mismatches and discrepancies motivate them to engage in purposive, goal-directed actions designed to bring their cognitive appraisal of something, like an identity or set of situational meanings, into alignment with their internalized expectations (Burke, 1991).
Motivation, defined as "the energy that drives individuals to behave in certain ways" (Turner, 20... more Motivation, defined as "the energy that drives individuals to behave in certain ways" (Turner, 2010, p. 193), is central to social psychology, the sociology of emotions, and cultural sociology, among other fields. Without a coherent theory of motivation, sociologists cannot understand what makes people "tick" and what allows them to sustain consistent lines of action, sometimes at a high cost. More specifically, without a theory of motivation, sociologists can only understand these sustained action patterns as the result of external structures and constraints, ignoring and under-theorizing internal affective drives. Nevertheless, despite its importance in understanding the drivers of action and in linking affective drives and action, theorizing motivation in sociology, with some exceptions, remains an underdeveloped affair. Naturally, this leads to the question: How do contemporary sociologists understand motivation? The answer is that the primary model of motivation in sociology today, more explicitly developed in the work of Jonathan Turner (1987, 2010), sees motivation as primarily driven by need states. Motivation via need satisfaction works similarly to how people are motivated and instigated to "reduce" physiological drives like hunger and thirst. Specifically, people have a "preset" level for hunger or, more relevant to sociologists, trust or ontological security (see Giddens, 1984), and they compare the environmental input to these presets. Like a thermostat, a mismatch, especially one signaling a deprivation, between the environment and their expected standard "turns" the system on. Alternatively, mismatches and discrepancies motivate them to engage in purposive, goal-directed actions designed to bring their cognitive appraisal of something, like an identity or set of situational meanings, into alignment with their internalized expectations (Burke, 1991).
Recent research estimates that one in five adolescents has been exposed to the suicide death of a... more Recent research estimates that one in five adolescents has been exposed to the suicide death of a family member, friend, or acquaintance during their lifetime (Andriessen et al., 2017). Understanding how youth cope with suicide loss is important since grieving early in the life course may come with unique challenges. In this review, we discuss the characteristics of adolescent suicide bereavement, research on the potential for suicide contagion, and recommended postvention practices in school settings, which can be crucial in addressing concerns about bereavement and contagion and thus help in future youth suicide prevention. We begin by characterizing suicide loss along a continuum which contains three main categories (Cerel et al., 2014). Bereavement sits at one end of this continuum and applies to anyone who experiences long-term, significant psychological distress in response to the loss. Those affected by suicide but not bereaved may experience psychological distress, but typically less than bereaved youth. Finally, at the other end of the continuum are those who know or identify with a person who has died by suicide. The suicide loss may impact them meaningfully; however, their distress is noticeably less than those affected or bereaved. These definitions acknowledge the effects of suicide on individuals beyond the family unit, as well as variation in types of exposure and responses to suicide, and help in our understanding of appropriate assessment, support, and intervention for those who are grieving.
Ready or not, American schools facing increasing rates of youth suicide must actively manage ment... more Ready or not, American schools facing increasing rates of youth suicide must actively manage mental health crises and work to prevent suicide. Using insights from district-based fieldwork, we offer a sociological vision for building sustainable, equitable, and effective suicide prevention capacities across school communities.
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Books by Seth Abrutyn