Chapter 1, Problem 1RA-P8

Summary Introduction

Introduction

Sociology helps us study social ties between individuals and society. When a society’s social ties are weakened, people feel more stress and may become hopeless. This stress from a weaker social fabric is compounded when one feels anxiety on the job and pressure to do well and take care of the family back home. The aggregate effect of these stressors can lead people to feel that ending their lives would be an option preferable to continuing to live and face the challenges, particularly when solutions are hard to appreciate.

Explanation of Solution

Answer and explanation

Emile Durkheim said that the bonds between people get slack when the social fabric of society is weakened. Having to move to the city to get a job, even in boom times, is a stressful choice and a person may feel detached from their social support system. Sociology provides the means by which this phenomenon can be studied and hopefully remedied. A worker who leaves home for work may feel pressure to do very well in order to make the family proud and earn enough money to help support the rest of their relatives who stayed home. The worker may send money home and still face escalating expectations from family, if the family perceives that the economy is doing well and their money demands increase accordingly. Feelings of failure, a sense that one has let their family down, and an inability to see solutions to very real and frightening problems can lead to an increase in suicidality. The protective factors that can insulate one from suicidal impulses may also erode as social support systems become less present and reliable.