Emile Durkheim Suicide Summary

Emile Durkheim was one of the most influential people to write about suicide and its causes. Suicide had previously been thought to be a moral and psychological problem whereas Durkheim related suicide to sociological problems in modern society. He believed and worked to prove that suicide was not related to individualism but linked to the effects of the external influences of modern society. External social influences upon an individual covered the broad and varied aspects such as culture, religion and family. Durkheim believed that suicide was directly related to the level of social integration and/or regulation of a person in society. He developed groups into which an individual was categorised according to their level of integration

Feelings of isolation have been linked to higher suicide rates. Durkheim’s study on suicide during the industrial revolution supports this theory as he states that, “people were increasingly disconnected from their communities and that this social upheaval had a greater effect on suicide rates than other factors like wealth” (Winner & Collishaw, 2011). Interestingly enough, despite the increase of media attention on suicide, no studies have been published that explain why suicide rates vary among different groups. However, various factors are involved in the decision to commit suicide. As a result, suicide rates vary according to race, gender and age.

For many the concept of teenage suicide is almost always correlated with the psychological mindset of the individuals. However, there is a lot of the factors behind these horrifying events that actually are more sociologically related. These catastrophic events are directly correlated with interactions with the world. The loss of teenagers across the world is increasing and it is a subject that should be touched on in both sciences. Throughout this paper the study of teen suicide in the sociological view will be discussed by going through Emile Durkheim’s studies and the sub groups in which it can occur. These events are related back to such things as social rejection, religious beliefs and social situations. This paper will also touch on the different types of suicide and what the suicides correlate with. The main purpose of this paper is to show how teen suicide is not only a psychological problem with students but to breakdown the areas in which cause these feelings.

The first sociologist to theorize on suicide and its sociological interpretations was Emile Durkheim. Durkheim worked during the late 1800’s identifying social structures as the key determinant in self-destructive behaviour. In his work Suicide: A study in Sociology, Durkheim stated that “suicide rates increase when a society’s value system breaks down.”2 Durkheim believed that the shared values of a society and the mechanisms in place that ensure that its members adhere to these values, is interpreted as a person’s “social structure.” Durkheim suggested two basic factors in social structure that heavily influence the incidence of suicide. These are regulation and integration. He believed that an individual needs to become part of, and find direction in his own society. Without these factors in place, suicide becomes a common substitute. Teens are often anxious about fitting in to their society (especially among peer groups) so it is clear that integration is essential to adolescence. Durkheim also suggested that it is these two factors

Durkheim’s theories and work on suicide classified the phenomenon into four types; Egoistic, Altruistic, Anomic and Fatalistic (Ritzer Pg 200-202). Durkheim’s concept of social integration ties into egoistic suicide as it

Suicide is defined as “The action of killing oneself intentionally” within both South Korea and Wales. Suicide is seen as a huge social issue in both Wales and South Korea, both countries have seen a huge rise in suicide rates in the last decade but South Korea disproportionately sees a higher rate of suicide. Both countries are experiencing a rise in suicide rates and so, suicide is seen as a huge social issue, with government and non governmental bodies aiming to combat it. In my investigation I will not only be researching who this issue affects and what issues seem to be the main cause for the growth in suicide rates, but also responses and ways people have tried to tackle this problem. To do this I will have to follow my aims, which

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.

Finally, we have Fatalistic suicide, which occurs in societies with high levels of social regulation. This is only briefly discussed in Durkheim’s work, as he saw Fatalistic suicide, “as a rare phenomena in the real world.� (I1) An example might be someone with an overregulated and difficult life, like a slave.

Furthermore, social scientists have not been too involved in the topic of suicide. Since 1990-2009 there have not been many article on the topic and the disinterest can derive from the presumption that suicide is a lonesome act. The article “Suicide and the Creative Class,” states that, “Durkheim ([1897] 2006) illustrated that suicide is a social phenomenon by stating that levels of integration and

In this chapter, Kanal (2011) focuses on Suicide, Homicide, and Psychotic Crises. It appears the overall theme of this chapter is the examination of extremes associated with physiological or crisis issues in a person’s life. The chapter begins with a discussion on suicide. The author emphasizes that in many instances the act of killing one self is driven by a sense of isolation. Kanal (2011) examples veterans, returning from Vietnam and after the prolonged disconnect from this society, had extreme issues of re-assimilation. Sadly, many who commit suicide may feel isolated but in reality often have family and do not realize the ramifications of their actions, especially if they are successful. In examining the symptoms associated with suicide, the author claims that in many instances,

Emile Durkheim sought to examine the phenomena that is suicide as a social matter, rather than as an individual act. In his pursuit to distinguish sociology as a field of its own, he employed the methods of the natural sciences to the social sciences, with the intent of setting sociology as a distinct field from psychology. His work remains prevalent and can be used to explain suicide that occurs in today’s time. Dave Philipps article, In unit stalked by suicide, Veterans try to save one another he highlights the suicide that continues to take place within veterans, upon their return from war. It is through the work of Durkheim that members of society are able to gain an insight at the forces that are at play and drive an individual to such predicaments. Throughout the article the major forces that are at play in regards to veterans committing suicide are distinct social solidarity as a result of their specialized work, as well as anomie from a lack of moral regulation, and finally egoistic suicide from a lack of integrating veteran individuals into society.

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

Introduction The primary source that will be discussed in this paper is Suicide written by Emile Durkheim. Durkheim was a French sociologist who was most famous in the 19th and 20th century for his work on the structure of society. During the time of his writings, he analyzed different social institutions and the roles in which they play in society. As a result, his work was associated with the theoretical framework of structural functionalism. The 19th century was most known for the Industrial Revolution.

Emile Durkheim was well –known sociologist famous for his views on the structures of society. During his theory development, He discovered four kinds of suicide committed by people in the society in which they are living in. Durkheim developed a theoretical typology of suicide to explain the differing effects of social factors and how they might lead to suicide. They are as follows:

Suicide, to Durkheim, is “an exaggerated form of ordinary practices,” and they arise from “comparable states of mind” in people, with the only difference between daily and suicidal behavior being the “chance of death” (Durkheim 20-21). Durkheim spends the majority of the work dissecting the “apparent motives” for suicide (Durkheim 151) and observing the varieties of suicide, a feat made difficult by the inaccurate reporting and misunderstandings of investigators. Thus, to understand the types of suicide, we must “reverse the order of our research” for “There can only be as many different types of suicide as there are differences in the causes from which they derive,” (Durkheim 149). He says “if they were all found to have the same essential characteristics, they would be grouped in one class” but “observations that we would need to have are more or less impossible obtain” (Durkheim