Austerity and suicide : evaluating the claims and evidence

Since the hit of the economic recession, many sociologists and media outlets have speculated upon the relationship between suicide and austerity and in many cases make unnuanced claims to direct causality. This paper discusses the claims of two pertinent research papers on the topic of ‘Austerity Suicides’, and ultimately attempts to provide a multi-factorial model that illustrates the extent to which extent government response to economic downturn may impact rates of individual suicides whilst also acknowledging phenomenological and cultural influences