AUTHOR=Ozbilgin Mustafa F. , Erbil Cihat , Demirbağ Orkun , Gündoğdu Nur , Şimşek Demirbağ Kübra 

TITLE=Institutional suicide as anomie: decedents speak out for work-related suicides through a Durkheimian exploration of suicide notes in a context without institutional responsibilization for suicide prevention

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sociology

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sociology/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1309119

DOI=10.3389/fsoc.2024.1309119

ISSN=2297-7775

ABSTRACT=Drawing on Durkheim's historical theorisation of suicide, we extend his concept of anomic suicide, which is suicide due to lack of social regulation, to introduce the concept of institutional suicide. We define institutional suicide as suicide due to the absence or decline of institutional policies, practices, and discourses for prevention. In this study, we explore the mechanisms for institutional suicides based on suicide notes in a context without institutional responsibilisation for prevention. Drawing on publicly available suicide notes and narratives in Turkish media outlets, we analyse 17 suicide notes and responses of their institutions of work and friends, family, and colleagues. Turkey provides a significant context for studying institutional suicides as policies, practices, and discourses for suicide prevention have been declining for some decades. We identify two mechanisms that lead to institutional suicides: (1) dehumanisation due to lack of recognition and (2) misrecognition through a devaluation of potential. Drawing on the last wishes in suicide notes and institutional responses, we extend the theory of anomie to institutional settings and offer social policy suggestions to improve institutional responses based on co-design based on suicide notes to prevent institutional suicides and call for institutional responsibilisation for preventing work-related suicides.