The Role Of Suicide In New York City

Living in one of the most crowded places, you would expect the suicide rates to be higher in New York City as opposed to other cities in the world. New York City has an astounding rate of 8% suicide rate per 100,000 people. Then there is Las Vegas with a surprising 34.5% suicide rate. Shouldn’t New York City, one of the most stressful cities to live in have a higher suicide rate? But why doesn’t it, you may ask? Emile Durkheim, a Functionalist has expressed his thoughts within his book, Suicide. He refers to social integration vs detachment as one of the main causes of suicide. Durkheim also expresses his opinions on social bonds and why we need them to function in life. One of the main causes of suicide is isolation. This proves that social bonds and isolation have a connection to suicide.

It discusses depression to even bullying as being causes of suicide. But then comes up the question; why does suicide occur where it does? If you look at the geography and landscape of New York and Las Vegas it is pretty similar. They both have crowded cities with people living stressful lives. But what makes the suicide numbers so different is it opportunities, or can it be isolation that separates these two cities. In the textbook Discover Sociology by William J Chambliss and Diana S. Eglitis, they explain in more debt why suicide occurs where it does. In the book Suicide by Emile Durkheim, he explains his theory on suicide. And in the vast list of websites there is more information about suicide and the unhappiness