Suicide In Society : Causes And Consequences Of Suicide

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

“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” (Durkheim 34). Suicide is a phenomenon that has plagued our world since the beginning of time. It currently accounts for the second leading cause of death in people ages ten to twenty-four years old (Garni Powerpoint). This means of ending your own life is something we can prevent as a society. If we can eliminate societal pressures and stereotypes we can all be treated equally. All suicides during a certain time period are grouped together, when in all reality we should be treating each situation as it’s own. Durkheim states “...with it’s own unity, individuality, and consequently its own nature- a nature, furthermore, dominantly social”.

As I was reading through the different views on the causes of suicide, I thought that the sociocultural view made most sense for me. It made sense due to the claim that a person’s connections with social groups, religions, and communities can determine suicide probability (Comer, 2014). I imagine a sliding spectrum where people who are very invested in everything around them are on one end and on the other are people who don’t care about society. The two ends are the high suicide probability areas. Altruistic suicides where lives are sacrificed would fall on the invested end of the spectrum while the egoistic suicides which society has no control over a person and anomic suicides where a person’s social environment fails to provide structure

Most of the depression and problems in the brain are based on sociological denial from peers and others. Teen suicide as described by Emile Durkheim’s studies is mainly a focus on the social denial and rejection an individual may encounter in life. Social rejection, sociological disasters and group dynamics are important aspects that lead to teenagers committing suicide. These sociological issues are some of the leading contributions towards teen suicide and

Imagine, the entire province of New Brunswick committing suicide. That is approximately how many people take their own lives over the course of a year. Suicide: a word that has become mum in our society for fear of offence. However, looking at it in a sociological view proves it less personal for many. Suicide is a multi-faceted, prevalent issue engulfing and affecting many today.

Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess different sociological explanations of suicide. (21 marks)

Suicide is the act of killing yourself. It is the 11th leading cause of death in America (CDC 2009). I have never had any intentions on committing suicide and I never really understood why people commit suicide that’s why I chose this topic to help me understand what problems people go through that makes them do such a thing. Sociology is the study of social behavior and the culture of humans. There are numerous reasons like financial stress, family problems or mental health disorders that lead to suicide. The number one cause of suicide is untreated depression. The issues that were just listed are some social conditions from society that results in a suicidal

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

Suicide has historically been and continues to be a significant issue in the United States, for civilians as well as active duty military service members and veterans. While statistics surrounding suicide appear to be just numbers on a page, I personally implore the reader of the following paper to never lose sight of the fact that those numbers represent real people. Each one of those people, be they civilian or military, represent a loss of a father or a mother, a brother or a sister, a son or a daughter, a best friend, a comrade, …a person whose life, and that life’s potential, is now forever lost. The following statistics on suicide rates in the United States do not differentiate if the individual was a civilian, an active duty

Many researches have been done every year since 1970. Lots of volunteers try to put this area in control as well as make a great effort to prevent the person who wants to commit suicide there. However, the annual reports have been shown that only corpses were found and buried kindly. In recent years, the number of found deaths from researches has been decreasing. At the beginning of years in this decade, the number has gained from 70 to

Lives are slowly being lost due to suicide and not only is it affecting themselves but also the people who are around them. Suicide is defined as taking of one’s own life and it is an issue that should be given all attention to. Teen suicide has been talked about in every source of media and it still continues to have a harmful effect in todays generation. In the United States the eighth leading cause of death is suicide, within developing teens, suicide is the third leading cause of their deaths (NAMI). There are many signs of someone who is contemplating suicide. And there are many reason for someone to be driven to the point of suicide. Those reasons being if the teenager is dealing with depression, bullying, sexual abuse and abuse

Émile Durkheim in his book “Suicide” not only described different several distinct sociological profiles of suicide, but also made a variety of inductions based on his findings. He conducted various studies in Western Europe, used available statistics and data from existing research to argue for the hypotheses. A number of the conclusions may fit certain societies in Europe, or even the United States, as the work of Durkheim centred around the suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics in Europe (predominantly, the different cantons in Switzerland). Despite the drawbacks, Durkheim’s classic sociological study is to this day used by various scholars and media, as a basis for discussing the topic of suicide. Some of the major deductions that Émile Durkheim made (besides describing various suicide types) are:

Traditionally, suicide was thought to be a purely individual decision but French sociologist Emile Durkheim recognized that the phenomenon had a social dimension. He believed in the influence of society on the individual and that if anything can explain that relation, it is suicide. His use of the data of suicide, not specific cases and reports, to study the societal trends reveals his true subject of study: society as a whole and its role in the individual experience. Durkheim uses the study of suicide via the quantitative methodological approach as a tool to study society as a broader whole.

“In a classic sociological study, Durkheim (1966) identifies four types of suicide: “altruistic” and “fatalistic” suicides which he associates with pre-modern, traditional community and “anomic” and “egoistic” suicides characteristic of modern society.” (Kuhling, 2004) The ideas of sociologist, Emile Durkheim have undoubtedly helped my understanding of suicide of contemporary society. Durkheim has aided me in understanding the complexity of this topical issue and made me more aware of the roots of suicide.

I have chosen to do research on Émile Durkheim because of the fact that he is considered one of the "founding fathers" of modern sociology and, because of his research on how industrialized societies caused it’s people to become unhappy and resulted in higher suicide rates as compared to less industrialized societies. This work of his is called Suicide and it grabbed my attention from the moment I found out about it. To me Suicide is such an intriguing research study and I would have never imagined that a technologically advanced and modern society would play such a big part in contributing to the suicide rate increasing within a society. Aside from that, just the sheer fact that Durkheim is an important contributor to the discipline of sociology makes him quite interesting to want to research. In the end, the information I learn from this research can help me better understanding the discipline of sociology by exposing me to the theories and the work of a well known and important sociologist. By exploring Durkheim’s work, I am opening doors that will lead me into the sociological world, which will connect me to other sociological topics and theorists, furthering my knowledge on the subject.