"Suicide"

Book Review # 115141

Literature
Sociology

"Suicide"

A review of Emile Durkheim's work "Suicide".

833 words () | 1 source | MLA | 2009 France

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how, despite being written more than a century ago, Emile Durkheim's "Suicide" is widely recognized as one of the classics of sociology because of the way in which the author addresses suicide by establishing empiricism in sociology that remains relevant in today's world. The paper also looks at how Durkheim identifies four types of suicide: egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, anomic suicide and fatalistic suicide, with all four categories being caused by the social forces found within societal structures.

Outline:
Introduction
Exploring Durkheim's Framework of Suicide
Conclusion

From the Paper:

" Durkheim defines Egoistic suicide as being caused by the inability of individuals to integrate into society. Such people do not have close and important ties with social groups, therefore resulting in them living on the fringes of society with little social support or guidance, and which, ultimately draws them increasingly closer to committing suicide. As an example, Durkheim shows that unmarried people, in particular males, have higher suicide rates than married people, which, he argues, is due to the significant pressure on them to conform to societal views of marriage and founding a family. This societal attitude is still very much present within contemporary times, as seen by the way in which older single men are often viewed with suspicion - as being either homosexual, a failure, or sexually inadequate."