Suicide and Homicide
Suicide and Homicide: Some Economic, Sociological and Psychological Aspects of Aggression proposes that both suicide and homicide are acts of aggression that flow through different channels based on either external or internal constraints. There are others who have held – and do hold – this perspective. Karl Menninger spoke of suicide in Man Against Himself as murder in the 180th degree. More recently, Thomas Joiner in The Perversion of Virtue highlights the common component of killing in both suicide and homicide.
Aggression as a Consequence of Frustration
There are three theories about where aggression comes from. Freud’s theory places aggression as an outcome of “Thanatos” – death instinct. Konrad Lorenz challenged Freud’s perspectives based on his observations of how animals controlled their aggression. The second theory is that aggression comes from frustration. The third theory is Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. He proposes that we learn aggression by seeing it in others. (See Moral Disengagement – The Cases for more.)
Given Lorenz’ criticism of Freud’s theory and mine of Bandura’s, we’re left with the theory that aggression comes as a result of frustration. One might conceptualize this as “Nothing else is working (or can work), so I’ll try the risky thing.” Aggression is risky. Certainly, at a physical level, one can get hurt while attacking another; but at a societal level, even non-physical attacks can backfire. One can become labeled as difficult to get along with or problematic.
However, this sense that what is being tried is being blocked or is simply ineffective leads to an escalation through aggression. We’ve been taught not to back an animal – particularly a wild animal – into a corner, because the behavior that we’ll see out of the animal in those conditions – when they feel as if they have no other options – can be harmful to us.
Business Cycles and Status
Much has been made of how suicide relates to business cycles. It turns out that when business cycles are down – and things are more challenging – we do tend to see a rise in suicide deaths. While there is some disagreement on the specific timing, the general relationship is generally well accepted. Conversely, when the business cycle is at its peak, we tend to see more homicides.
We also see that upper and lower ends of the socioeconomic scale tend to be more and less sensitive. In the low times of a business cycle, suicides increase in the higher socioeconomic status (SES) more than in the lower. The theory is that those in the higher socioeconomic status are more greatly impacted. During the peaks, we tend to see greater homicide rates but initiated by those in a lower SES.
Restraints
The fundamental theory is that weak external restraints drive suicide and strong external constraints drive homicide. In the case of suicide, those who are most at risk as those who are the most affluent. In terms of homicide, it occurs mostly in those who are at lower SES and therefore have greater external constraints.
Conceptually, those who have fewer external constraints need to impose more internal constraints to function. If these internal constraints become too tight or difficult, the aggression felt is self-directed.
Perfectionism
The internal constraints that drive suicide may come in the form of perfectionism and the constant failure to meet impossible standards. (See Perfectionism.) It could be that we’ve become exhausted on our way to peak performance, realizing that we’ll never reach the goals we set for ourselves. (See Peak.) Even in the general form of maximizing rather than satisficing, we know that we’ll be less happy. (See The Paradox of Choice.)
These are the kinds of constraints that we can impose on ourselves. It’s not the outside world setting our standards. It’s our own drive and determination that sets goals that we can’t meet and therefore suicide is a concern.
Social Ties that Bind
Social ties and strong communities are important protectors against suicide that may function in part due to their strong social conformity bond. Robert Putnam described the erosion of social capital in Bowling Alone. He later revisited how the decline of social capital wasn’t occurring evenly, with upper-middle class families finding ways to work together and insulate their children from some of the challenges of the world. (See Our Kids.)
Perhaps if we pay attention to what and who binds us, we’ll realize how little difference there is between Suicide and Homicide.