Durkheim On Suicide

'A social fact is the effect or creation of human activities and actions but not intended.' (University of Colorado). They 'are external to all individuals... and pressure individuals to act in established, predictable ways' (University of Colorado). As well as being outside of the individual control, social facts are constraining in the sense that the creation of acts or behaviours that direct an individual sub-consciously means that those individuals are under societal influence and not necessarily making personal choices. For example, being a religious person is something an individual is brought up into and doesn't necessarily choose the way in which they should think or act as part of this religion. So, Catholics believe that sex before marriage is wrong, which is an idea that they cannot control if they are to be part of this religion. In terms of suicide, Durkheim proposed to find out what social facts affect the rates of suicide in different places at different times. (Bolden et al 2003).
Suicide was a topic of interest for Durkheim in relation to his previous area on social facts …show more content…
The first being egoistic which is the idea that there is a lack of integration into the social group and so members of society have a weakened bond between themselves and others in the group (Appelrouth 2012: 100). This type of suicide suggests a link to the 'cult of the individual' which refers to Durkheim's view of the 'societal progression' towards the importance of the individual. (Criss, J. 1993: 1). Durkheim suggested that it is 'evident statistically' and that suicide rates are higher (Appelrouth 2012: 100) in modern societies, especially for single and/or divorced individuals. Not only this, but in Protestantism there is an emphasis of an individualistic relationship with God where followers are more spiritually and morally