Durkheim - Suicide

Question 1

Suicide Before Durkheim

Answer 1

family, church, nation in decline
weakening of social integration contributes to suicide
these have been institutions that lump ppl together
What can replace them as a source of social integration?*

Question 2

Durkheim’s treatment of gender:

Answer 2

Pg. 385 – contradictory take – sexist
Treats women more primitive - Not as much a product
On same pg argues in favour of gender equality

Question 3

Suicide Before Durkheim

Answer 3

Suicide violates certain principles in catholicism + illegal
Morally wrong, yet – he does not adopt a moralistic attitude
How society can be reorganize in order to address suicide
Acknowledges moral questions, but does not attempt to address these issues
Apt model of dealing with these kinds of issues
Treatment of moral injunctions

Question 4

catholic religion

Answer 4

wrong because it is disobedience
God gave us this gift of life, we are supposed to be here
It is His will to decide when we live
Leads to punishment in afterlife
Mortal sin: means one is enemy of God, will go to hell
Exception for martyrs: ppl killed for their religion

Question 5

in french law

Answer 5

born not for ourselves, for our country
not our own will or other individual can kill you
take upon ourselves an action outside our spirit

Question 6

in philosophy – michel montaigne (1533-1592), author of Essays (1580)

Answer 6

against suicide:
not worth it
all that matters is peace of mind
petty reasons
takes more courage to face problems of life head on
life is fickle, view on it can change

Question 7

in philosophy – michel montaigne (1533-1592), author of Essays (1580)

Answer 7

for suicide:
shows courage, resolve
ancients say death is something we can control
shows ultimate autonomy
death solution for suffering
choose death rather than suffering

Question 8

in philosophy – michel montaigne (1533-1592), author of Essays (1580)

Answer 8

tries out older theories then offers own opinions
fluent in latin, able to read classical latin, intellectual
montaigne’s conclusion: can be justification for suicide
alternative to suicide is an even worse form of death

Question 9

durkheim’s distinctive approach

Answer 9

moral judgements neither central nor clear
causes + outcome (rate) social, not individual
instead of blame to individual, societal blame

Question 10

why suicide?

Answer 10

• wants to make case for sociology where sociology wasn’t popular (france back then)
• seems like an asocial task: if he can show suicide is socially explained, then everything else can be socially explained
• taking hardest nut to crack
• ways in which social location (place of birth, gender, age) affects opportunities
• social location (religion, married, where they live) in relation to likelihood to committing suicide

Question 11

why suicide?: A test case

Answer 11

Sociology not discipline - Make a case for sociology
Sociology can explain things beyond psychology
If I can take this individualistic task and explain sociology

Question 12

why suicide?: An index of social solidarity (mechanical + organic)

Answer 12

Mechanical: traditional society, social integration because ppl lack individuality, same tasks
Organic: modern society, each worker is specialized, advanced division of labour, massive differentiation
Diff bases for integration

Question 13

why suicide?: An index of social solidarity (mechanical + organic)

Answer 13

Solidarity is possible in both, but bases are changing
In traditional society, solidarity based on our similarity
in modern, basis is interdependence, feel a sense of integration, team
suicide is an index of social solidarity
associate types of suicide with types* not degree of social solidarity

Question 14

Rates, race and imitation: Rates as social facts

Answer 14

interest is in global rates of suicide, not in idiosyncratic reasons
What is the likelihood of commiting suicide based on social location
In britain + france constant rate in suicide
Unit of analysis is superindividuals – social facts

Question 15

Rates, race and imitation: Race: theory and evidence

Answer 15

Certain races have innate propensity to commit suicide stronger than other races
does not believe that there is a pure race
Even if there were such a thing, he doubts that it would have fixed characteristics across time and place

Question 16

Rates, race and imitation: Race: theory and evidence

Answer 16

Variation across latin, germanic – laughable groupings because it is socially constructed
Tremendous variation in propensity to commit among germanic ppls spread out in europe
It’s the environment that explains the variation

Question 17

Rates, race and imitation: Imitation: theory + evidence

Answer 17

Disease that spreads - Ripple effect
Anecdotal evidence: ppl hanging themselves after a women, suicide by imitation in hospital + buckingham palace
He looks are maps of france: if theory is true, and maps show density of suicides, then should find heavy concentration then fade eventually

Question 18

Rates, race and imitation: Imitation: theory + evidence

Answer 18

Looks at map with suicide rates mapped out, he finds concentrations then drop off into nothing, then others are hollow spots, around a city
This is not a pattern we would expect
Imitation implies a process: to properly evaluate, we can’t look at snapshot, we would have to look at series of snapshots over period of time, one snapshot is not enough

Question 19

Social solidarity

Answer 19

Effects on suicide, by social category Egoistic suicide + organic solidarity: In modern society, too detached, lack social networks + supports
Altruistic suicide + mechanical solidarity: Too well integrated

Question 20

Social solidarity

Answer 20

Anomic suicide + rapid social change
Anomie: absence of norms
Too much social change
Disoriented – don’t know which rules to follow
Rapid social conditions change – war, economic depression, better conditions

Question 21

Social solidarity

Answer 21

Fatalistic suicide + over-regulation
Very little
Slave that has very little discretion
No prospect and so little freedom in deciding their future

Question 22

To think theoretically:

Answer 22

To each social feature, we assign low/high rate
Descriptors are easily graspable
Underneath diff dimensions, all of these people in higher rate have less social integration
He’s showing that a concept (solidarity) has a lot of mileage
To the uninformed, these variables, are diff
Underneath it all, there is something in terms of social solidarity that ties it all together
Elegance in explanation made possible through theoretical thinking

Question 23

Suicide

Answer 23

Egoistic: associated with organic solidarity; results from lack of social integration due to excess of individualism; commited by people cut off from society, reliant on self
Altruistic suicide: associated with mechanical solidarity results from high level of social discipline; committed when high value placed on society means the individual has little value

Question 24

Suicide

Answer 24

• Anomic suicide: associated with normlessness (confusion over action that is appropriate); die to rapid change (either societal/individual change) because a weakening of restraints leads to higher homes and thus greater disappointments
• Fatalistic suicide: results from too much social integration
• Typology of suicide has not endured: what has survived is the table

Question 25

Suicide

Answer 25

• Reason is that we have to engage in a flawed mode of thinking
• Tells us nothing about motivations of ppl commiting suicide
• Circular reasoning
• Durkheim talks about highly integrated ppl because they live in small town, in Catholicism, married
• Breaks down community into diff dimensions: religion, marital status, where they live