Durkheim 's Suicide And Suicide

Both Suicide and Modernity and The Cultural Logic of Collective Representations by Emile Durkheim have a focus around people and their relationship with religion and their way of thinking about the world around them. In Suicide and Modernity, Durkheim talks about people and their goals and how goals and desires effect them, while The Cultural Logic of Collective Representations talks about where different ideas and desires originate from. Durkheim starts off Suicide and Modernity by talking about humans and the fact that no one can be happy without having their desires match what their real means are. If a person’s desires are greater than what they are actually able to have and achieve, no one is going to be happy. Humans are different from

Suicide is defined as the action of killing oneself intentionally. This act of self-harm has been present in every culture in the world since the beginning of the human race. There are many different views concerning the topic on whether the action is justifiable or a selfish act. In order to understand how the world has perceived suicide, one must dig into the reactions of different times. As time progressed, views went back and forth on the idea 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

Egoistic suicide which is when individuals are not integrated well enough into society for example people who live alone compared to those who live with family. Secondly Altruistic suicide which is when individuals are felt to be too integrated into society causing suicide, for example members of the armed forces were said to have greater suicide rates than civilian personnel as they were too strongly integrated into a united body. Durkheim also put forward the idea of Anomic suicide, this is when the norms and values in society become unclear or confused in times of great social change and an individual is not taught to adapt to changes well enough. For example an unexpected death of a family member is sudden social change which can cause Anomic suicide. Lastly, he suggested Fatalistic suicide. Fatalism is the excessive amount of regulation which leads to one committing suicide.

“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”.

These types are known as egoistic (too little social integration), altruistic (too much integration), anomic (too little moral regulations) and lastly, fatalistic (too much moral regulations). Egoistic suicide is the most common form in modern societies and is defined as the type of suicide as those individuals who are not bound to other social groups such as religion, who share values, norms and goals. An example Durkheim found was that of unmarried males with less to connect them to social groups - this is typical of European and North American societies. This means that suicide rates are undoubtedly different across cultures, for example, in Item A, it is suggested that there is more chance of suicides in Denmark than in England, if coroners base their verdicts of cause of death on the probability of suicide. In contrast, altruistic suicide occurs at the opposite end of the integration scale of egoistic suicide. The most common cases of altruistic suicide occurred amonf the members of the military, for example, kamikaze fighter pilots and suicide bombers. Anomic suicide, according to Durkheim, was when people were naturally selfish and will only look after their own interests unless society restricts them. This is mainly linked to suicide rates to periods of social change. Lastly, is the fatalistic type of suicide where an individual believes

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.

Durkheim’s findings suggested that suicide rates vary between societies but do show regular patterns over time. He concluded that this was evidence that there are consistent social forces that influence the rate of suicide in society. In sum, Durkheim believed that for society to maintain a state of equilibrium there needs to be an appropriate degree of integration and regulation; a consequence of any imbalance is an increased rate of suicide. However, despite Durkheim’s study of society being viewed by many as a classic, it has been met

To break down why people commit suicide, in a social aspect, sociologist David Emile Durkheim, broke it into four different terms of situations that are called: egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic. Durkheim says, “Egoistic suicide occurs in a society where there is excessive individualism, that is, low social interaction” (“Altruistic”). This means there is little interaction between the individual and a cohesive social group that could give the individual a feel of purpose in their life. People with more interaction create goals, values, and bonds with people around them in a social group that increases their

Sociologist Emile Durkheim believes that “the bond between one’s self and his or her country are crucial factors in suicide.” Others sociologist believe people commit suicide to escape from intolerable pain, feelings of hopelessness or depression and other mental disorders. After studies were completed, it was concluded that most people who think about committing suicide never actually try to kill themselves. Studies show that for every one person who attempts suicide, three consider it, but never act upon it. Soldiers kill themselves because military training following by combat, makes them sensitive to pain and finality. From 2009-2012, military suicides have increased from 18.5 to 22.7 out 100,000 active-duty service members. But, in 2013,

2. Summarize the four types of suicide in the sociological model postulated by Émile Durkheim.

How frequent do suicides occur? Worldwide, a suicide occurs every forty seconds, making it the 3rd leading cause of death in people ages 15-44 (Suicide Facts). With statistics as horrifying as these, it is to be expected that most people have an opinion on the matter. While beliefs, ideologies, religions, and cultural norms may shape personal preference on the subject, it can be argued that, from an ethical point of view, suicide is a valid and appropriate action. Through utilitarianism, deontology, and egoism with support from historical, cultural, and literary examples, I will show that suicide is an ethically sound choice, despite personal preferences.

Suicide is growing as one of the most common causes of death. Suicide is “a self-inflicted death in which the person acts intentionally, directly, and consciously” (Comer, 2009, p.209). There are many theories to what contributes to suicide and each model has its own view. The psychodynamic theorists believe that suicide stems from depression and self-loathing. They believe that victims will take their anger for others and place it on themselves. When a person is absorbed in that much anger and sadness then they will redirect their death instinct by placing it upon themselves. “Emile Durkheim’s sociocultural theory defines three categories of suicide based on the person’s relationship with society: egoistic, altruistic, and anomic suicides” (Comer, 2009, p.221). Egoistic suicides occur by people who are isolated and are not concerned with the norms of society. Altruistic suicides are committed by people who believe that are sacrificing themselves for a greater causes. This could be a person that lays on a grenade to save everyone, to a suicide bomber that kills others on the belief that they are preserving their honor. Anomic suicides are down by people that are let down by their society or religious group. The biological theory is that the activity of the

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