2014
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CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF EMILE DURKHEIM'S THEORY ON SUICIDE
SUBMISSION DATE: 30st August 2014
Submitted by:
Mathiudimliu Gonmei
1313641
II EPS
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The main objective of this critical analysis is to study Emile Durkheim's theory of suicide, its importance and contemporary relevance. Durkheim began his study of problem of suicide in the year 1888 while working on an article related to suicide and the birth rate. After seven years he published a formal study entitled SUICIDE which is one of his major work in sociology. He started studying the problem of suicide because suicide was a growing problem in Europe in 1850 which people believe that is the cause of industrialization, …show more content…
The individual's focus is usually on himself which leads to egoistic suicide. He stated this relation clearly "suicide varies inversely with the degree of integration of social groups of which the individual forms a part. ”Therefore when an individual belongs to a weak group in the society he tends to be less attached to the group and less dependent on it which results to depending on himself and recognize no other rules of conduct other than the ones he found within himself and his interest which in turn will create a situation where his personal ego will exceed the social ego. It is more common in the modern society where there is high degree of …show more content…
Altruistic Suicide:
In this type, the individual is so attached to the social group that he place the group's interest and goals above his personal interest and goals to the extent that he commit suicide for the betterment of the group.
Durkheim further distinguished three types of altruistic suicide
A. "OBLIGATORY altruistic suicide" where an individual under certain circumstances is
B. "OPTIONAL altruistic suicide" where an individual is not obliged but it is a custom for him to commit suicide under certain conditions.
C. "ACUTE altruistic suicide" is where individuals commit suicide simply for the pleasure and joy of sacrifices even with no particular reason with the believe that it is praiseworthy.
Altruistic suicide is more prevalent in traditional systems. To conclude, egoistic and altruistic suicide is the result of either over integration or under interaction into a collective group.
3. Anomic Suicide:
This type of suicide arises as a result of deregulation of individual's desires and passions. This is also caused by under integration of individual in a social group but it is different from egoistic suicide in nature of disjuncture or deficiency.
4. Fatalistic