Durkheim - Suicide Flashcards
Suicide Before Durkheim
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?*
Durkheim’s treatment of gender:
Pg. 385 – contradictory take – sexist
Treats women more primitive - Not as much a product
On same pg argues in favour of gender equality
Suicide Before Durkheim
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
catholic religion
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
in french law
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
in philosophy – michel montaigne (1533-1592), author of Essays (1580)
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
in philosophy – michel montaigne (1533-1592), author of Essays (1580)
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
in philosophy – michel montaigne (1533-1592), author of Essays (1580)
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
durkheim’s distinctive approach
moral judgements neither central nor clear
causes + outcome (rate) social, not individual
instead of blame to individual, societal blame
why suicide?
- 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
why suicide?: A test case
Sociology not discipline - Make a case for sociology
Sociology can explain things beyond psychology
If I can take this individualistic task and explain sociology
why suicide?: An index of social solidarity (mechanical + organic)
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
why suicide?: An index of social solidarity (mechanical + organic)
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
Rates, race and imitation: Rates as social facts
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
Rates, race and imitation: Race: theory and evidence
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
Rates, race and imitation: Race: theory and evidence
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
Rates, race and imitation: Imitation: theory + evidence
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
Rates, race and imitation: Imitation: theory + evidence
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
Social solidarity
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
Social solidarity
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
Social solidarity
Fatalistic suicide + over-regulation
Very little
Slave that has very little discretion
No prospect and so little freedom in deciding their future
To think theoretically:
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
Suicide
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
Suicide
- 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
Suicide
- 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
