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... > social science subjects > sociology > aging and the life course > death and dying > death > suicide > mass suicide
... > social science subjects > health and social care > health sciences > death and dying > death > suicide > mass suicide
... > social science subjects > psychology > behavior mechanisms > human development > death and dying > death > suicide > mass suicide
... > social science subjects > counseling and psychotherapy > counseling > human development and life transitions > death and dying > death > suicide > mass suicide
... > social science subjects > psychology > behavior mechanisms > human development > death > suicide > mass suicide
... > social science subjects > sociology > sociology of organizations, institutions and structure > communities (sociology) > social life > death > suicide > mass suicide
... > social science subjects > sociology > social problems > social problems encyc > health (social problems) > suicide > mass suicide

Preferred term

mass suicide  

Definition

  • Mass suicide is defined as the death of a large group of people who wanted to die, sought to die together at a predetermined or approximate time, and acted in a voluntary and intentional manner to produce this outcome. These key features distinguish the mass suicide from other types of suicidal behaviors, such as unrelated anomic suicides during times of profound social change, or cluster suicides, caused by the Werther effect, where the lyrics of a song or a piece of literature depicting suicide allegedly promotes copycat behaviors among people who encountered the art work. [Source: Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience; Mass Suicide]

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URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/mass_suicide

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