Emile Emile DurkheimDurkheimLe suicide 1897Le suicide 1897

Why did Durkheim study Why did Durkheim study suicide?suicide?

• To establish sociology as an academic discipline.

• To demonstrate that suicide could not be explained by psychology alone.

Synoptic link is with Synoptic link is with methodsmethods

• Durkheim’s study is an exercise in positivism.

• He uses the suicide statistics from several European countries

• Durkheim regarded statistics as ‘social facts’.

• He would establish correlations & reveal the casual relationships which led to suicide.

Durkheim’s theory is grounded Durkheim’s theory is grounded in two key conceptsin two key concepts

• 1. Social integration

• The degree to which individuals were integrated into society.

• Eg: part of a family, at college/work, religious practises etc.

2. Social Regulation2. Social Regulation• Social regulation• The degree to

which society regulates (controls) an individual’s behaviour

• Eg: the laws in society, religion, socialisation etc...

BalanceBalance• Durkheim believed

that if the level of social regulation or integration was too strong OR too weak then suicide is more

likely to occur.• He links each possibility to four types of suicide

1.1. Egoistic SuicidesEgoistic Suicides(more common in industrial (more common in industrial

societies)societies)

• Social integration is too weak.

• Results from the individual not being sufficiently integrated into society.

• Compared suicide rates amongst Catholics & Protestant’s as evidence.

2. Anomic Suicide2. Anomic Suicide (more common in industrial (more common in industrial

societies)societies)• Social regulation is too

weak• Results from the individual

not being sufficiently regulated by society.

• Where traditional norms & values are disrupted by rapid social change producing ‘uncertainty’ in the minds of individuals.

• Durkheim pointed out that suicide rates increase in economic booms and busts as evidence.

3. Altruistic Suicide3. Altruistic Suicide (more common in pre~industrial (more common in pre~industrial

societies)societies)

• Social integration is too strong

• Where the individual sacrifices their life out of a sense of duty to others.

• Eg: Hindu wives, Japanese kamikaze pilots, elderly Inuits etc..

4. Fatalistic Suicide4. Fatalistic Suicide (more common in pre~industrial (more common in pre~industrial

societies)societies)• Social regulation is too

strong• Common among

slaves & now rare in industrial societies.

• “ the suicide of persons with futures pitilessly blocked & passions violently choked by opressive discipline”.

• Durkheim said these were of ‘historic interest’.