Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics

Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics by Paul Marsden, Visiting Research Fellow, Graduate Research Centre in the Social Sciences of the University of Sussex

The phenomenon of suicide contagion is demonstrated experimentally. An interpretation of the results is proposed using an understanding of memetics as contagion psychology informed by selectionist thinking. Using the term `meme' to denote an object of contagion and `contagion' to denote a process of spread by exposure, a selectionist explanation of why certain people might be susceptible to a contagion of suicide is provided. Specifically, it is suggested that people who have become socially isolated and culturally disenfranchised, i.e. those with reduced residual cultural fitness (compromised access to the means of cultural reproduction), might be at particular risk from suicide contagion. Finally, public health policy implications of this memetic understanding of suicide are briefly outlined.