Was Durkheim right in his analysis of suicide?
Intro/ Definitions of suicide / Brief on Emile Durkheim/ Brief on his study in context, considering time period.
Emile Durkheim was a French sociologists whom studied the rate of suicide. Durkheim selected three countries in particular, these countries were England; France and Denmark. In his studies he states that “suicide was a solidary act, the causes had significant links to various social factors.” Durkheim’s aim was to find similar social links in the three different countries that would influence a higher suicide rate opposed to identifying and analysing personality traits of the individual that committed suicide. He did this by studying each countries beliefs; values; norms and traditions.
Emile Durkheim distinguished different types of suicide in his study.
Egoistic suicide – the type if suicide if often committed by individuals with fewer attachments characteristics of this sort of individual are described as ‘self-reliant, unmarried, no children’ etc. Individuals whom commit this type of suicide who aren’t strongly supported by membership. It is more likely for them to feel isolated and helpless in times of stress and anxiety. …show more content…
Coroners also look for secondary clues e.g. biography of the deceased. But coroners use different criteria in classing certain acts as suicide. An example would be the higher suicide rates in Denmark compared to the UK where Danish coroners are more willing to reach a suicide verdict on the ‘balance of probability’ whereas British coroners look for a ‘definite suicide intention’. Atkinson concluded that coroners are a major source of bias in official statistics on suicide as variations in suicide rates occur between and within societies that could reflect the different ways in which coroners go about categorising or labelling suspicious
Intro/ Definitions of suicide / Brief on Emile Durkheim/ Brief on his study in context, considering time period.
Emile Durkheim was a French sociologists whom studied the rate of suicide. Durkheim selected three countries in particular, these countries were England; France and Denmark. In his studies he states that “suicide was a solidary act, the causes had significant links to various social factors.” Durkheim’s aim was to find similar social links in the three different countries that would influence a higher suicide rate opposed to identifying and analysing personality traits of the individual that committed suicide. He did this by studying each countries beliefs; values; norms and traditions.
Emile Durkheim distinguished different types of suicide in his study.
Egoistic suicide – the type if suicide if often committed by individuals with fewer attachments characteristics of this sort of individual are described as ‘self-reliant, unmarried, no children’ etc. Individuals whom commit this type of suicide who aren’t strongly supported by membership. It is more likely for them to feel isolated and helpless in times of stress and anxiety. …show more content…
Coroners also look for secondary clues e.g. biography of the deceased. But coroners use different criteria in classing certain acts as suicide. An example would be the higher suicide rates in Denmark compared to the UK where Danish coroners are more willing to reach a suicide verdict on the ‘balance of probability’ whereas British coroners look for a ‘definite suicide intention’. Atkinson concluded that coroners are a major source of bias in official statistics on suicide as variations in suicide rates occur between and within societies that could reflect the different ways in which coroners go about categorising or labelling suspicious