Emile Durkheim Suicide

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Durkheim’s Study of Suicide Beyond simply demonstrating the empirical methodology of sociological research, Durkheim’s study of suicide exposed private experiences as reflecting social structures, and in so doing designated them as public issues, which he further described as ‘echoes of society’ (Durkheim, 1897/1951, pp. 299-300). Though he acknowledged such individualized elements as biology and psychology, he stressed the need for those elements to be viewed within a sociological construct, and focused his work upon illuminating such constructs. More specifically, Durkheim concluded that each society has a specific inclination towards suicide that is made up of social currents which serve to influence individuals. It is important …show more content…

He labeled the combination of these variables as ‘dimensions of social solidarity’, which he held as being indicative of variations in the suicide rates. Degree of integration. Degree of integration is the continuous variable delineated as the strength of attachment individuals within a society have, including their sense of group identity. It was posited that degree of integration provided the foundation for social life, with higher degrees of integration associated with simple societies and altruistic type suicide; and lower degrees of integration associated with group fragmentation such as that found in complex societies, individual specialization, and egoistic type suicide (Pope, 1976, pp. 12-14; Ritzer, 2011, p. 200; Simmons, 2013, p. 249). Types of suicide on this continuum. Altruistic suicide type is defined as taking place when individual integration into a societal group is too strong, resulting in the individual feeling obligated to engage a self-sacrificial act in benefice of the larger community (Durkheim, 1897/1951, p. 255; Ritzer, 2011, p. 201). Contemporary examples of this suicide type include the suicide bombers of 9/11, and the Jones Town mass suicide in

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