Emile Durkheim Suicide

Reading Response: Emile Durkheim

Question3:

There are four types of suicide: the first is Altruistic- which is when there is too much integration, which in turn, leads to an individual’s loss of identity as an individual. Instead, he or she is acknowledged through what group he or she is a part of as a collective. This then leads one to commit suicide, because of their willingness to sacrifice oneself for the collective, since they have no individualism.

The second is Egoistic, which has the opposite problem; there is not enough integration. This leads an individual to feel isolated from society. The individual is unable to connect to the collective leading them to believe their life is not valuable nor will they be missed. A great example would be suicide among the elderly. Once, an elderly person no longer feels connected to the people or the world around them, they often

As Durkheim puts it “we may offer society everything social in us, and still unable to control our desires; one may live in an anomic state without being egoistic and vice versa” (Durkheim 111). From previous readings it is clear Durkheim’s views, were centered within the economic sector, which in his opinion is where the most visible social sphere in which anomic imbalances could be found. He witnessed and examined the correlation between economic changes and levels of suicide, he was able to show how disruptions or changes in the economy push one to commit suicide. The disequilibrium brought on by rapid societal changes caused people to commit suicide more frequently. Aside from economic changes, as society continues for modernization, there is also a change in the family structure, another potential source of anomie. Divorce brought about a state of disequilibrium, because it interrupted the regulative functions of marriage, the regulation of