Durkheim on Suicide
Emile Durkheim (April 15, 1858- November 15, 1917) was a French sociologist, social psychologist and philosopher. Durkheim’s influential study, Suicide (1897), was a study of suicide rates in different social populations including Catholics and Protestants. This study pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy.
Emile Durkheim was the first to use the term social integration .Durkheim wanted to understand why some people were more likely to commit suicide than others, and he found that when there was a lack of social integration (anomie) a person was more likely to commit suicide. Durkheim was the first to argue social factors were the causes of suicide …show more content…
He found that Catholics and Jews were more social integrated and had developed stronger connections to the community than Protestants. People who do not have close ties to others are more likely to commit suicide.
• Gender: Durkheim found that men were more likely to commit suicide than women. This is because men were significantly more independent and free than women at the time of this study and some men saw getting comfort and bonding with other individuals as a sign of weakness. This resulted in a feeling of social isolation and of being cut off from the community.
• Marital status: Durkheim found that single people were more likely to commit suicide than married people. Married people had strong connections to individuals (their spouse or children) and had many connections within their community. This refers back to the problem of social integration, or lack thereof, as single people were less connected to individuals and their …show more content…
• Fatalistic suicide: Suicide due to overregulation in society. For example, when a slave or servant commits suicide.
• Altruistic suicide: Is suicide that occurs when individuals and groups become too close and intimate. This kind of suicide is a result of over integration of the individual into a social group, for example, Japanese kamikaze fighters.
Critics have highlighted statistical problems in Durkheim’s work such as, the fact that the coroners’ different definitions of suicide influenced the number of deaths recorded as suicides, and so the suicide statistics are variable across societies because of the different practices used by coroners in recording unexplained deaths. Also objections have been raised to his use of official statistics, classifying all types of suicide together and his dismissal of non-social influences. Despite the critics Durkheim’s study is a classic and has allowed us to understand that the personal act of suicide has a wider sociological explanation rather than it being just rooted as personally
Emile Durkheim (April 15, 1858- November 15, 1917) was a French sociologist, social psychologist and philosopher. Durkheim’s influential study, Suicide (1897), was a study of suicide rates in different social populations including Catholics and Protestants. This study pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy.
Emile Durkheim was the first to use the term social integration .Durkheim wanted to understand why some people were more likely to commit suicide than others, and he found that when there was a lack of social integration (anomie) a person was more likely to commit suicide. Durkheim was the first to argue social factors were the causes of suicide …show more content…
He found that Catholics and Jews were more social integrated and had developed stronger connections to the community than Protestants. People who do not have close ties to others are more likely to commit suicide.
• Gender: Durkheim found that men were more likely to commit suicide than women. This is because men were significantly more independent and free than women at the time of this study and some men saw getting comfort and bonding with other individuals as a sign of weakness. This resulted in a feeling of social isolation and of being cut off from the community.
• Marital status: Durkheim found that single people were more likely to commit suicide than married people. Married people had strong connections to individuals (their spouse or children) and had many connections within their community. This refers back to the problem of social integration, or lack thereof, as single people were less connected to individuals and their …show more content…
• Fatalistic suicide: Suicide due to overregulation in society. For example, when a slave or servant commits suicide.
• Altruistic suicide: Is suicide that occurs when individuals and groups become too close and intimate. This kind of suicide is a result of over integration of the individual into a social group, for example, Japanese kamikaze fighters.
Critics have highlighted statistical problems in Durkheim’s work such as, the fact that the coroners’ different definitions of suicide influenced the number of deaths recorded as suicides, and so the suicide statistics are variable across societies because of the different practices used by coroners in recording unexplained deaths. Also objections have been raised to his use of official statistics, classifying all types of suicide together and his dismissal of non-social influences. Despite the critics Durkheim’s study is a classic and has allowed us to understand that the personal act of suicide has a wider sociological explanation rather than it being just rooted as personally