PSYCHOLOGICAL VERSUS SOCIOLOGICAL-PERSPECTIVES ON SUICIDE - A REPLY

This article addresses three issues raised in Mauk et al.s (1994) arti cle on country music and suicide. First, Mauk et al.'s charge that sui cide is an individual act that cannot be assessed through group statis tics is a paradigmatic critique that can be leveled against the bulk o f sociological work on suicide. The position of Mauk et al. is precise ly that which Durkheim ([1897] 1966) polemicized against in order to l egitimate the discipline of sociology in the nineteenth century. Secon d, their notion that ''psychological autopsies'' constitute the only l egitimate methodology for studying suicide is an overstatement. Third, the noted ecological fallacy problems can, in fact, be remedied throu gh properly specified models. Many ecological relationships involving suicide have been replicated with individual-level data. Fourth, the c harges that our subcultural argument is ''barely implied' and that the notion of a country music subculture is a myth are inaccurate. We rei terate our subcultural theory as well as the evidence in support of su ch a subculture.