Emile Durkheim- Suicide
In my reading of the research of Emile Durkheim I have studied many of his theories and thoughts on suicide through social cohesion and control. Durkheim carried out one of his most famous research explorations in European countries such as France, Denmark and the United Kingdom in order to find common social links between these countries which influenced both high and low rates of suicide and the reasoning behind these trends. He decided to look at the social factors of an individual’s life which may push them to consider committing suicide. He studied the beliefs, values and social norms of each country. Durkheim strongly believed that suicide rates differed enormously due to gender, religion, financial conditions, marital status and many other social factors. (Nicki Lisa Cole, 2017).He established that there are no societies in which suicides do not occur and concluded that social factors, not just psychological factors, were often to blame when it came to higher rates of suicide in the countries he had studied. Although choosing to commit suicide is an act carried out by one person, Durkheim argued that suicide is not an individual act. He believed it was a social fact tied to social structures and strongly linked to the social life, group and surroundings that an individual finds himself/herself in. (Simpson).
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It is claimed that untreated depression is the largest cause of suicide, or that genes or biology play a role in developing such an illness. Durkheim believed that the environment or external stimuli had a strong impact on a person’s state of mind. It is possible that this theory links greatly with how the individual deals with emotions and the quality of their social relationships as well as how they make sense of not only themselves but of the people around them and the world as they encounter it. (Peters,