Durkheim's Work in Sociology Essay

Durkheim proceeded to distinguish suicide into four different groups that related to the individual’s integration into society and in turn the social regulation of society over its members. ‘Consequently, we shall be able to determine the social types of suicide by classifying them not directly by their preliminarily described characteristics, but by the causes which produce them…. We will first seek the social conditions responsible for them; then group these conditions in a number of separate classes by their resemblances and differences, and we shall be sure that a specific type of suicide will correspond to each of these classes.’ (Durkheim, 1897) The four suicide groups were identified as Egotistic, Anomic, Altruistic and Fatalistic.

Susanna Kaysen once said, “Suicide is a form of murder - premeditated murder…you need the means, the opportunity, the motive. A successful suicide demands good organization and a cool head, both of which are usually incompatible with the suicidal state of mind.” Being the 10th leading cause of death in the world, Suicide is a serious public health problem that many people know about but will never fully understand. The never-ending question tied to this phenomenon is what can cause a person to take his or her own lives. With the help of Emile Durkheim’s theory I can finally somewhat understand that it is not just an individual factor but also based on the society around the individual.

Durkheim does not see egoism, altruism, anomie and fatalism as types of suicide, but types of social structure that highlight the presence or lack of integration and regulation. It must be stressed that this excess/lack of integration and regulation are not seen as direct causes of suicide, rather Durkheim sees a number of voluntary deaths in society as inevitable; integration and regulation are merely prophylactic to suicidal impulses, which when taken to excess or dramatically reduced, fail to act as a preventative, and so suicides occur. This clarification is an important strength of Durkheim’s theory: it allows the biography of the individuals who kill themselves to vary, while still explaining underlying pressures/lack of to explain their deaths, and the varying suicide rates between groups.

The first sociologist to research into suicide was Ėmile Durkheim; he “wished to show that sociological factors were ‘capable of explaining much about such anti-social phenomena’” (Gingrich). Durkheim’s research allowed for him to understand how society connected to the rates of suicide and, more detailed, the importance of social integration on the rates of suicide across the country. He found a correlation between the rates of suicide and the seasons because the amount of social interactions increased as the seasons became longer and people were more likely to interact with the more accommodating temperatures (Gingrich). His views on suicide can all relate back to the degree to which society plays a role in one’s life due to the amount of interactions one has with society and the regulations that society imposes on the individual (Gingrich). Along with this view Durkheim also created four different reasons for committing suicide. The first type of suicide is egoistic suicide is when social integration in very limited, and people have the feeling of being normless. Next is altruistic suicide where societal pressures were too great and where suicide is forced upon a person, like the ritual suicides found in Japan that will be discussed later in this text. Anomic suicide is when there is a change in society, and the norms and

Durkheim had multiple types of suicides and their causes. Two of these types of suicides include egoistic and anomic suicide. Egoistic suicide is when social integration is too weak that it causes suicide (cite; notes 2015). This can happen when religious, domestic, and political social groups disintegrate with an individual and leaves that person

In his study he found that certain social groups where more likely to commit suicide than others; for example, Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than Catholics; as ‘the Catholic Religion integrated its members more strongly into a religious community’ (Haralambos and Horlborn, 2000: 975). Durkheim based this upon the

Emile Durkheim defines suicide as “…the term suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result.”Emile Durkheim, in his book, Le Suicide (1897)gives the types of suicide he advocate. In this book he discusses four types of suicide. He talks about Egoistic, Altruistic, Anomic and Fatalistic suicide.Egoistic according to Durkheim, is caused by lack of social integration of society in the religious sphere, domestic, and the political sphere.Altruistic Suicide is characterized by a sense of being overwhelmed by a group's goal and beliefs.Anomic Suicide is due to certain breakdown of social stability. Fatalistic suicide is caused when a person’s future actions are stopped by

David Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist who was born on the 15th of April 1858. His mother was a merchant’s daughter and his father, Moise, has been rabbi of Epinal since the 1830s. Emile Durkheim grandfather and great grandfathers were also rabbi’s so everyone assumed he would follow that path. He dismissed this ambition early on when he left rabbi school and went to College of Epinal where he was an outstanding student. Durkheim was so good he skipped two years easily obtaining his baccalaureates in letters and sciences. He then decided he wanted to become a teacher so he decided to go to Paris to train to become a teacher. Durkheim failed his first two attempts at the examination but finally got in on his third try.

According to Durkheim’s theories, suicide is the result of disturbances in the balance of social integration and regulation for an individual. Social integration can be defined as one’s connection to a social group, and moreover as the purpose and meaning provided to an individual’s life through said group. Common sources of social integration include: religion, domestic groups, political groups, and ethnic groups. Often social integration can be associated with social regulation. Social regulation can be understood as the social and moral rules that regulate what is right or wrong; and good or bad. Durkheim uses these terms to understand suicide as a social fact, or a result of a force that is beyond the individual. He sees social integration

When it comes to suicide often as individuals we describe suicide as something that is caused by an individuals experience that may include how someone lives, personalities, and religion. While also including that there are no biological influence that may be passed on from genetics, genes, and heredity. However, Durkheim argues against suicide being caused by social factors and how involved or integrated the individuals is in connection to society. Usually when asked why someone decided to kill himself or herself we usually think of what he/she was thinking about in their mind. Almost pertaining to the individuals decision we wouldn’t be thinking about society as something that could have caused suicide but instead we would shift our focus on the individual. However, it seems as if the individuals decision is not the sole focus of suicide. Though the acts are committed by a single person there are various reasons someone would commit this act.

There are many reasons why people should still learn about Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber Even though they lived long ago they were the three founding fathers of sociology. Karl Marx was more of an angry man he always wanted to have conflict or commotion; while Emile Durkeim thinks that everyone is a part of one whole but yet they are all different; and bringing it all back together was Max Weber. He proposed that the three things in life are power, wealth, and prestige. Even though they all had fairly different theories they all seem to have become fairly accurate. Which is why people today should still learn about these scholars even though they aren’t around anymore.

Durkheim views suicide as a marker for the health and well being of society, if the suicide rates begin to start changing then that means there is a major change going on in our culture. Suicide is all how you about how well or not well you feel connected to society and the social norms of society. Every different type of suicide says and shows different things about that individual and the society they are in and what society is going through. Anomie, is a when society has little to no standards or norms. Egoistic suicide is one who has low social interaction with others in society and they feel lonely and feel as if they are an outsider and take their own life. Altruistic suicide is when someone gives up their own life for the good of the

Suicide by Émile Durkheim is well known text in sociology that is extensively taught to students within the field. Suicide was published in 1897, the work is considered cutting-edge both for showing detailed research of suicide that revealed there can and is social causes to suicide. Based on Durkheim’s research he said that suicide can be caused by social factors, not just individual psychological ones. Durkheim reasoned that being apart of society and integrated into groups in particular is a main factor. The more involved in society and connected to others the less likely they are to commit suicide. As this sense of belonging decreases suicide increases. Durkheim’s theory is formulated by four types of suicide (Egoistic, Altruistic, Anomic,

Suicide denotes a situation where an individual intentionally ends his/her own life. Psychologists often seek to find out the answer to “What drives individuals to committing suicide?” The French psychologist Emile Durkheim claimed that one way to understand suicide incidences is observing societal factors. Durkheim felt that social integration especially plays a role in suicidal behavior. The more socially integrated the individual become – feeling connected to the society and that one belongs – the less likely the individual would possibly commit suicide. Durkheim also noted that regulation is another factor that contributes to suicide. This means examining the extent to which an individual’s actions or desires are controlled

There are many different theories surrounding suicide. This essay shall briefly describe Durkheim 's Sociological Theory of suicide and Freud 's Psychoanalytic Theory. Psychological autopsies shall then be discussed which have contributed to Shneidman 's shared characteristics of suicide. Suicide victims and prevention will also be discussed.