preview

Contributions And Durkheim On Suicide

Decent Essays

Émile Durkheim on suicide.

Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist, social psychologist and philosopher. Durkheim had an important impact on the development of sociology. Durkheim's studies into suicide helped me in understanding it as an issue in contemporary society. His most significant contribution was his work defining suicide in social terms rather than individual terms. He was interested in how suicide might be influenced more by social context and have a broader interpretation beyond the individual.Durkheim wanted to prove that social situations, characteristics, activities, interactions etc, influence and control individual and person behavior rather than the other way around. Durkheim wrote a book called “Le Suicide” in 1897. This was a groundbreaking book in the field of sociology. In this book Durkheim explores the differing suicide rates that are among society. In the book Durkheim also distinguishes between four different types of suicide making is easier to understand. He talks about the different rates of suicides and how they differ …show more content…

Each of Durkheim’s hypothesis involve some aspect of social state or social gender, age, occupation, religion, marital status etc. He wanted to show that suicide was to be thought of in social terms not individual terms which it had been thought as. Durkheim was seen as one of the “Fathers of sociology” and his work is greatly admired. Durkheim's research and hypotheses have helped my understanding of suicide in social terms and has helped me in seeing the different types of suicide and the different rates. His work has shown me not only look at suicide from an individual point of view but to look at the individuals social setting and social influences around them and see how those influences have impacted the

Get Access