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Causes of suicide by emile durkhem
Conclusion on the theories of suicide by Emile Durkheim
Conclusion on the theories of suicide by Emile Durkheim
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“Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the United States… In 2010, men had a suicide rate of 19.9, and women had a rate of 5.2. Of those who died by suicide in 2010, 78.9% were male and 21.1% were female.” (Parker-Pope, 2013)
Emile Durkheim had many theories about suicide in the role of society in terms of the direction an individual decides to take in life. To Durkeim, there are four different types of suicide; Egotisitic, Altruistic, Anomic, and lastly Fatalistic suicide. By learning about the categories of suicide we can better diagnose the types of those are more prominent in the United States of America. The most prominent types of suicide for women in the United States, whether young or old, are Anomic and Fatalistic.
According to Durkheim, Anomic suicideis type of suicide that comes about because of a certain breakdown of social equilibrium, such as, suicide after bankruptcy or after winning a lottery. In other words, anomic suicide takes place in a situation which has popped up suddenly. This type of suicide is visible in adults, not necessarily committing the act because of something good like winning the lottery, but rather any sudden change that can throw a life off balance.
“Over the last decade, the rate of suicide among adults ages 35 to 64 increased 28 percent, from 13.7 suicides per 100,000 people in 1999, to 17.6 suicides per 100,000 people in 2010.” (Rettner, 2013) A somewhat great example of this type of anomic suicide is country singer Mindy McCready. McCready was a famous country singer who rose to fame and then slowly fell after an abusive relationship drove her to drug addiction. Every time her life went out of balance; breaking up with a fiance, or being losing custody of her children, she attem...
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...tt’s peers deemed her unclean and cast her out. (Stebner, 2013)
Durkheim’s views on the Anomic and Fatalistic types of suicide may not be the only reasons of which a person may commit suicide. There are many factors that play a part in someone committing suicide and it is difficult to say whether these are the reasons. Durkheim did, however help in identifying some of the tell-tale signs for someone who is suicidal.
Works Cited
Bhatt, A. (n.d.). What are the types of suicide given by Durkheim? PreserveArticles.com.
Parker-Pope, T. (2013). Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S. New York: TheNewYorkTimes.com.
Rettner, R. (2013). Suicide rates spike among middle-aged US adults. FoxNews.com.
Stebner, B. (2013). Audrie Pott suicide: Details of online chats emerge a year after teen killed herself following alleged assault and cyberbullying. New York: TheDailyNews.com.
Durkheim’s concept of social integration refers to social groups with well-defined values, traditions, norms, and goals. These groups will differ in the degree to which individuals are part of the collective body, also to the extent to which the group is emphasized over the individual, and lastly the level to which the group is unified versus fragmented. Durkheim believed that two types of suicide, Egoistic and Altruistic, could stem from social integration. Egoistic suicide resulted from too little social integration. Those people who were not sufficiently bound to a social group would be left with little or no social support in times of crisis. This caused them to commit suicide more often. An example Durkheim discovered was that of unmarried people, especially males, who, with less to connect them to stable social groups, committed suicide at higher rates than married people. Altruistic suicide is a result of too much integration. It occurs at the opposite end of the social integration scale as egoistic suicide. Self sacrifice appears to be the driving force, where people are so involved with a social group that they lose sight of themselves and become more willing to take one for the team, even if this causes them to die. The most common cases of altruistic suicide occur to soldiers during times of war. Religious cults have also been a major source of altruistic suicide.
Durkheim, Emile. Trans. John A. Spaulding and George Simpson. Suicide; A Study in Sociology. The Free Press, New York. 1987. Pgs. 297-325
Kuhl wrote about how Emile Durkheims idea’s about suicide is connected with social intergation. The authors argue that individual factors may play in for youth sucide as well as the social intergation.
According to Durkheim, two types of suicide arise from the different levels social integration. One cause of suicide is extremely low social integration, which is referred to as egoistic suicide. Durkheim argues that this is the case because others give the individual’s life meaning, so without this support from the group the person may feel hopeless (Conley 188). The other type of suicide, altruistic suicide, reflects the opposite situation: when an individual is too socially integrated (Conley 189). This type of suicide occurs when members of a group or community become so totally engrossed by the group tha...
results. Accordingly, as the chemistry of suicide comes to light, there seems to be a
In the past decade, suicide rates have been on the incline; especially among men. According to the New York Times (2013), “From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent… The suicid...
The first type of suicide that can be correlated with abortion is egoistic. Durkheim labels egoism as the low end of the integration scale (Coser), for instance unmarried people. Egoistic or individualistic suicide transpires when conscience is weak, few common principles and sentiments are present, interaction is limited, detached from society, and commitment is to self-interests rather than to those of the collectivity (Coser). For example, an 18 year old is in her first trimester of pregnancy, the father has alienated himself from the equation, her peer group are continuing on with life without her and in her cognizance the only choice is to terminate the pregnancy and her standard way of living will again become normal. For some that may be of certainty, but for others not so.
In a study released by Brown University, their psychology department shed some light on common myths and facts surrounded suicide. These m...
A self-destruction Suicide is the act or an instance of intentionally killing oneself. Suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result. Suicide is a rarely ever a spur of the moment thing. The Susceptibility to suicide is lowest among those who have strong community ties. Today people continue to commit suicide for a variety of reasons: Love, insanity an...
This paper is a critical review of the French sociologist Emil Durkheim and his writings on suicide from his book titled ‘Suicide’ written in 1897. Durkheim was seen as a positivist and functionalist. In his book, Durkheim’s goal was to study people’s tendencies towards suicide and to determine the social causes behind them. Suicide, which Durkheim defined as ‘all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result’ (Durkheim, 1987).
Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide: A Study in Sociology. (J. A. Spaulding, & G. Simpson, Trans.)
... the evidence changed in his later works). He has been widely criticised for his use of official statistics, which are open to interpretation and subject to possibly systematic misreporting, and therefore may not represent the true pattern or rates of suicide. It is also argued that he was confused between the distinction between egoism and anomie, and that he failed to substantiate his claims of the existence of altruism and fatalism; this is argued to such an extent that it has even been suggested that there is only one cause of suicide (egoism) that Durkheim could claim to be true. However, whilst acknowledging some of Durkheim’s own contradictions or confusions, some sociologists have gone on to develop and substantiate the ideas that he developed, and there is no denying that his study of suicide is a far-reaching and legacy-building work of substantial value.
Dokoupil, Tony. A. The "Suicide Epidemic" Newsweek Global 161.19 (2013): 1 Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web.
Emile Durkheim, is the founder of sociology who conceived many theories, in the concept of suicide and its relationship with society. Durkheim’s book “Suicide” makes a distinction between suicide and suicide rate in relation with society. Durkheim conducted his research in a longitudinal study from various countries. He studied the suicide number and compared the mortality rate of different regions. His case study of suicide, explored the differences of suicide rates between social, economic and religious groups. He found people felt intertwine of social surrounding of social factors that produce suicide and, different social classes emerged from the discovery.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, scientific evidence has shown that almost all people who take their own lives have a diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder, and the majority have more than one disorder. In other words, the feelings that often lead to suicide are highly treatable. That’s why it is imperative that we better understand the symptoms of the disorders and the behaviors that often accompany thoughts of suicide. With more knowledge, we can often prevent the devastation of losing a loved one.