Emile Durkheim's Theory Of Suicide Analysis

Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist wrote on Suicide in 1897, a work appreciated and created in the field of sociology. His work during that time revealed what the sociological monograph must look like hence, making a unique publication in the field of this social science. Among Protestants and Catholics, Durkheim explored the different suicide rates arguing that a stronger social control results in a lower suicide rate. His further studies claim that suicide rates were higher among men than women, higher among the people who are single than being married, lower among people who have children than the ones who do not and much higher among soldiers than civilians. (soc)

Emile Durkheim was a contemporary of Weber, and his lifetime overlapped

Hence, by explaining the “Theory of Suicide”, he proved that sociology can explain things in a way in which no other discipline could. He wanted sociology to be more than speculation by supporting its claims with evidence including empirical data and statistics. All sociological theories must go beneath the surface of phenomena and find hidden underlying causes of behaviour. As a sociologist, he focused not on why any given individual committed suicide, but rather on a more collective issue: suicide rates and why one group of people had a higher rate of suicide than another. Suicide rates are dependent upon the degree to which individuals are integrated into society and the degree to which society regulates individual behaviour. It was indeed an ideal example of power of sociological research. Using publicly available data, Durkheim found out that, suicide rates were not related to psychological and biological factors such as alcoholism or race or heredity. The cause of differences in suicide rates was not to be found within individuals. Rather suicide rates were related to social factors that exert pressure on the individual such as collective feelings of rootlessness and normlessness. Suicide literally destroys individuals but also constitutes a threat to society, since those who commit suicide are rejecting a key aspect of the collective

Durkheim in many ways incorporated, both egoism (detachment from structural relations in groups) and anomic (deregulation by symbols) into the true definition of anomie. Durkheim took the initiative to clarify the vagueness of the fact that deregulation of individual’s desires and passions resulted narrowly into suicide. The nature of the deficiency or disjuncture between society and individual differs, although anomic and egoistic suicide both, ‘are generated from the insufficient presence in the individuals of the society’. Anomic suicide basically is created when individuals are not regulated by the society sufficiently. As we move further into the category, we understand that rapid social change disrupts norms and values leading to uncertainty for behaviour becoming increasingly unclear. This kind of suicide basically increases during times of economic depression, boom and bust. An individual’s moral confusion and lack of social direction is reflected in anomic suicide which interconnects economic upheaval and dramatic social. A lack of definition of legitimate aspirations and moral deregulation result in anomic suicide, which could impose meaning and order on the individual conscience. (H.Turner,