Durkheimss Study of Suicide

Durkheim
Le Suicide 1896

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

(1858 1917)
Widely
Wid l regarded
d d as a POSITIVIST
Some aspects of Durkheims work will be used to
illustrate the positivist approach
This classic study is seen as a model of positivist
research and methodology
REMEMBER Positivism?!
This is the view that sociology should be studied
scientifically in the same way as the natural sciences
Hypothetico-deductive method?!! (cause and effect
relationships)

Why Suicide?
1. Sociology in late 19th Century was becoming
established and Durkheim wanted to show
how his approach was superior to others
2 Thus showing that sociology can explain
2.
things in a way in which no other discipline
could
ld
E.g. psychological explanations

Why Suicide?
3. According to Durkheim, suicide can occur for
personal reasons, but it cannot account for the
p
suicide rate
4 Availability of suicide statistics from Europe (to
4.
be seen as rigorous as other sciences)
5. To show cause and effect relationships

Durkheimss aims
Durkheim
Action is shaped by society
Sociology must be more than speculation (it
must support its claims with evidence e.g.
statistics)
Sociological theories must go beneath the
surface of phenomena and find hidden
underlying causes of behaviour

Types of suicide
Determined by relationships between individuals
and societyy
Main Pattern
S i id rates are d
Suicide
dependant
d upon the
h d
degree to
which individuals were integrated into society
and the degree to which society regulates
individual behaviour

Types of suicide
1. Altruistic - Excess/integration
2. Anomic - Insufficient regulation
3. Egoistic insufficient integration
4. Fatalistic excess regulation

Egoistic Suicide
Individual being insufficiently integrated into
p and societyy
the social ggroups
E.g. explains difference in suicide rates of
Protestants and Roman Catholics (Catholics
more strongly integrated)
Unmarried and childless less integrated,
therefore higher suicide rate

Anomic Suicide
Took place when society did not regulate
individuals sufficientlyy
Where norms and values are disrupted by rapid
social change leading to uncertainty /guidelines
for behaviour increasingly unclear
Anomic suicide increases during times of
economic depression/boom/bust

Altruistic (pre-industrial
(pre industrial society)
Individual so well integrated into society that
theyy sacrifice their own life out of a sense of
duty to others
E.g.
E g Hindu
Hindu'ss kill themselves at their husbands
funerals

Fatalistic suicide (pre-industrial)

(pre industrial)
When society restricts the individual too much
Durkheim thought this type was less important
in modern society
But
B historically
hi i ll iinteresting,
i e.g. hi
high
h suicide
i id
rates among slaves

Response to the 4 types

The balance of these 4 types of suicide create
a suicide rate
In modern society there are 2 major forms of
suicide
1. Increasing detachment from others (leading to
egoistical suicide)
2 Dissatisfaction in relation to expectations
2.
(leading to anomic suicide)

In conclusion
conclusion
Durkheim accepted that there may be an
placed in
occasional suicide which could not be p
any category
Generally suicide has some relationship with
social rules or values and the individual
The causes of suicide are not individual
Suicide is structural in origin