The suicide theory of Durkheim
Emile Durkheim, a French theorist, focused on various aspects of human beings, including suicide. Durkheim came up with several factors on the topic of death. He concentrates on the global factors like the climate and the season. The French theorist believed that the rate of suicides in the times of summer is high in every nation Durkheim also found that suicide is more likely to be caused by depression rather than high temperatures in the summer or overexcitement. Among the many factors that Durkheim considered, he also argued about the four distinct forms of suicide that are found in all the societies in which they are based on two main social facts that are social integration and social regulation. Durkheim strongly believed that modernization is the root cause of the high suicide rates in our societies today. Therefore, the purposes of suicide according to Durkheim lie of the sociological perspective and not on an individual’s psychological state.
The suicide theory of Durkheim is based on two scales that include social integration and social regulation. At the end of these scales, there result from four independent methods of suicide. These four theories of suicide, as discussed by Emile Durkheim include the egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic theories of suicide. Emile Durkheim explains that the selfish suicide theory takes place in societies or in groups where the individual(s) level of social integration is low. Their level of integration into the enormous social unit, make the individual feel as if they are not part of the society and the society is not a part of them. Durkheim believes that community is the place in which the human beings originate from in terms of their morality, values, and the sense of purpose. Therefore without these essential life elements from the society, and the lack of feeling of being part of the community, an individual tends to be liable to suicide at the smallest of the frustrations from the everyday troubles. Durkheim describes the primary protectors against the selfish theory of suicide to be a membership in a well-integrated group, most preferably a religious group more likes the catholic roman church group of Christians. A well-integrated family, as well as a unified nation, are god protectors against egoistic suicide.
Altruistic suicide, on the other hand, is the opposite of selfish suicide. This type of suicide takes place where there is too much or powerful social integration. A good example is the military or individuals who commit suicide due to the death of a political leader they liked in the altruistic type of suicide; the individuals believe that they must do so or that they are doing so for the greater good.
On the scale of social regulation, which results in two types of suicides. First is the anomic suicide in which Durkheim believes that it is caused by little social regulation. Anomie is defined as the reduction of the regulatory authority as a result of industrialization. In a society where the needs of the people are dissatisfied due to little care and control of their social wants and needs, then there will be frustrations. Durkheim believed that people aspire always to achieve goals that their capacity is not able to get to. Motivations generally lead people to strive hard for their dreams and goals, which in reality cannot be met due to failure of the societal powers in limiting and regulating the wants of a society. The rate of anomic suicide is besides, seen in both times of positive disruption and negative disruption. This is based on the fact that these changes put people in new situations whereby the old norms do not apply, and yet no new ones are met. This frustration causes people to commit suicide. Then there is the fatalistic suicide. This is caused by too much regulation in society. An example given by Durkheim is the suicide committed by the slaves as they take their own lives due to the hopelessness that is as a result of oppressive regulations in their lives.
Although society today is very much different from that of the time of Durkheim, suicide remains to be a great epidemic despite the difference in eras. Durkheim believed that suicide could be perceived from the societal point of view as well as the effects of suicide on different social groups. Durkheim based his theories on two social facts of social regulation and social integration. Among the arguments of suicide presented by the French theorist, the selfish form of suicide proves to be more severe compared to the other suicides.
References
Breault, K. D. (2001) ‘Was Durkheim Right? A critical survey of the empirical literature on Le Suicide’ in Pickering, W.S.F, and Walford G. (Eds.) Emile Durkheim: Critical Assessments of Leading Sociologists. Third Series, Volume IV. London: Routledge.
Durkheim, E (1897) Le Suicide: étude de sociology. Paris: Alcan.
Ritzer, G. (2008) Sociological Theory (7th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.