Men, Masculinity and Suicide in Jhenaidah District, Bangladesh

Abstract

Emile Durkheim’s Le Suicide (1897) laid the foundation for theoretical and methodological innovation in sociology. Within the framework of the positivistic paradigm, Durkheim viewed suicide as a social fact–caused due to social influences/forces. Nonetheless, Le Suicide later received several criticisms on theoretical and methodological grounds. In Social Meaning of Suicide (1967), Jack Douglas, a post-Durkheimian sociologist, emphasizes that sociological analysis must uncover and interpret the range of motives and meanings associated with each act of suicide. Suicide is a serious but under-researched public health problem in Bangladesh. Every year more than 10000 people die by suicide in Bangladesh. Sociological work (both Durkheimeian and post- Durkheimian) on suicide is almost absent in Bangladesh. Drawing on the interpretive methodological paradigm as suggested by Jack Douglas, the current research attempted to explore the social meanings/motives of male suicide from various rural settings of Jhenaidah district. In this connection, the theoretical embodiment of hegemonic masculinity propounded by sociologist Raewyn Connell was used to explicate/understand the social context/meanings of suicide. For the study, 15 male suicide cases were selected based on referrals from a local non-governmental organization named Society for Voluntary Activities (SOVA), which works to reduce suicide in the district. For each case, three separate interviews of the participants (15x3=45) were conducted. Data were collected in two phases in 2020. Each case was treated separately and analyzed in descriptive and reflexive ways. Findings disclosed that the deceased men encountered serious difficulties in achieving/retaining the hegemonic or culturally most exalted versions of masculinity in their real lives. Eventually, they considered suicide as the only way to escape from shame and defeat which stemmed from the crises of their masculinity. Based on the findings, the study suggested some protective actions to minimize the socially embedded risk factors of male suicide in Bangladesh.