This paper aims at a sociological approach to suicide, on the assumption that suicide, though most individualistic and most asocial in appearance, is fundamentally a social phenomenon. Discussed in the introduction part are the importance of sociological studies of suicide as social problem, the definitions of suicide, the data and methods of suicide studies, and the problems of officially reported suicidal statistics.
In the second part, some important sociological theories of suicide are reviewed. Included here are Durkheim´s theory of socialintegration and suicide, and his typology of egoistic, altruistic, and gnomic suicide, Gibbs and Martin´s theory of status integration and suicide, Henry and Short´s theory of status and suicide, and Cavan and others´ studies of social disorganization and suicide.
In the third part, the social meanings of suicide are discussed. Here Douglas´ four meaning patterns of suicide and Schneider et al.s´ five patterns of viewing life among the suicides are crucial.
In the fourth part, the recent trends of suicide in Korea are reviewed by analyzing the officially reported suicidal statiatics. The numbers of suicide in Korea were 2,142 in 1980, 2,805 in 1981, 3,523 in 1982, and 3,184 in 1983. And the suicide rates per 100, 000 population were 22.62 in 1980, 20.76 in 1981, 22.00 in 1982, and 19.98 in 1983 which turned out to be the sixth highest in the world.
The suicide rates by sex and age show an interesting distribution. The total male suicide rate of 28.18(1981), 30.12(1982), and 26. 91 (1983) are more than two and a half times that of females, 12.78(1981), 13.21(1982), and 12.19 (1983).
The tendency for suicide to increase with age is also evident. Though suicide caused only 3. 77% (1982) and 3.48% (1983) of the deaths in Korea and ranked ninth among the leading causes of death, suicide among the youths aged 1524 caused 14.47% (1982) and 13. 14% (1983) of deaths of that age group and ranked second among the leading causes of death.
In terms of regional distribution, the findings were against our anticipation: more suicides are found to be distributed in rural than in urban areas. Furthermore, suicide rates turned out to be far much higher in rural areas. Though this may be due to the extrapolation formula, the seriousness of the social problems in rural areas should not be disregarded
Finally, as the characteristics of suicidal types in Korea, it was pointed out that "instrumental" or "achievement-failure" typesof suicide seem to be more common than "expressive" or "affection-failure" types of suicide. And as a phenomenon unique in Korea, the commonness of so called "accompanied suicide" was discussed.
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