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Sociological Theory Of Suicide Essay

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Sociological Theory
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Sociological Theory
Introduction
Scholars have defined suicide as death that results directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim (Dillon 2010). Often, the victim is aware that his actions will produce death as a result. Durkheim distinguishes between four subtypes of suicide including egoistic, altruistic, anomic and fatalistic. These types of suicide are based on the level of imbalance between two social forces (moral regulation and social integration). Durkheim highlights the impacts of different crises on social aggregates. The current paper discusses two types of suicide that are altruistic and anomic.
Altruistic Suicide
Altruistic …show more content…

The level of integration of persons in a society, and regulation of behavior are the key causes of suicide. Altruistic suicide is caused by excess integration while anomic suicide results from inadequate regulation. In this kind of suicide, individuals die for a reason. They are extremely dedicated to the norms and values of a group, to the extent that they view their lives as insignificant. On the other hand, anomic suicide occurs during a crisis or periods of rapid social modifications. These periods are characterized by the collapse or deterioration of norms. Lack of guiding behavioral standards results in confusion and lack of life …show more content…

Some critics argue that some factors Durkheim isolates and associates with suicide are mutual in urban living. Further, they state that in altruistic suicide, Durkheim does not offer sufficient operational definition of social integration.
Durkheim does not give sufficient considerations to how statistics on suicide are gathered. Critics of altruistic and anomic suicides report that the statistics contain gross inaccuracies. Apparently, when a person dies an official investigates and interprets the death to determine the cause. Thus, what ends up in the official statistics as an anomic or altruistic suicide is an end result of an interpretation and decision-making process.
Conclusion
The paper has focused on altruistic and anomic suicide as explained by Durkheim. While altruistic suicide is caused by integrating individuals excessively in a society, anomic suicide stems from inadequate regulation. Both suicides are social phenomena, which rise from the failure of the moral agency to balance its integration and regulation. These concepts have received various criticisms. The inability of Durkheim to offer sufficient definition, the methodology use, as well as interpretation of results has been

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