Cetin, U. 2017. Cosmopolitanism and the relevance of ‘zombie concepts’: the case of anomic suicide amongst Alevi Kurd youth. British Journal of Sociology. 68 (2), pp. 145-166. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12234
| Title | Cosmopolitanism and the relevance of ‘zombie concepts’: the case of anomic suicide amongst Alevi Kurd youth |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Cetin, U. |
| Abstract | Against Beck’s claims that conventional sociological concepts and categories are zombie categories, this paper argues that Durkheim’s theoretical framework in which suicide is a symptom of an anomic state of society can help us understand the diversity of trajectories that transnational migrants follow and that shape their suicide rates within a cosmopolitan society. Drawing on ethnographic data collected on eight suicides and three attempted suicide cases of second-generation male Alevi Kurdish migrants living in London, this article explains the impact of segmented assimilation/adaptation trajectories on the incidence of suicide and how their membership of a ‘new rainbow underclass’, as a manifestation of cosmopolitan society, is itself an anomic social position with a lack of integration and regulation. |
| Keywords | cosmopolitanism, zombie concepts, anomic suicide, transnational migration, Alevi Kurds, rainbow underclass |
| Journal | British Journal of Sociology |
| Journal citation | 68 (2), pp. 145-166 |
| ISSN | 0007-1315 |
| Year | 2017 |
| Publisher | Wiley |
| Accepted author manuscript | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12234 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 25 Nov 2016 |
| Published | 25 Nov 2016 |
| Published in print | 2017 |