(we do not give the usual references here as there are many different versions and editions of the book varying in price significantly)
Durkheim's Suicide was one of the groundbreaking works in sociology. He wrote it at the end of the 19th century with the intention of demonstrating the analytical method of sociology. However, beyond this, most of his findings about suicide still stand firm.
While 'Suicide' is not a counselling book, there are many points (both in theory and in method) that may be interesting for students of counselling and counsellors.
Although Durkheim wrote 'Suicide' to demonstrate the use of sociological methods on a concrete social problem, many of his findings still stand. He asserted that suicide was a social phenomenon, the primary causes of suicide were social: the collapse of social relationships or (just the opposite) the overpowering of social relationships. The three main trends in suicide research (suicide and other deviant behaviours, status integration and role-conflicts, the ways in which social effects manifest themselves in psychological processes) derive from Durkheim's study.
There are, however, several key issues that are highly problematic in Durkheim's approach.
Firstly, in correspondence with the philosophy of his time, he asserted that humans have infinite desires that are constrained by social norms. Hence his conclusion, for example, that marriage protects against suicide as it constrains sexual desire. The theoretical background, though Durkheim did not state it, is the psycho-biologist explanation.
Secondly, Durkheim presented his findings in ideal types, which clearly do not exist in a concrete case (except for the exceptions) but in combinations with other ideal types. This leads to the question of the existence of mixed types and the characteristics of these.
Thirdly, Durkheim, on correspondence with the method of sociology, concentrated on correlations and measurable phenomena. As a result, causality was a problem (as correlations do not mean causality) and so were the deep, invisible relationships (the essence) among phenomena. Durkheim, however, was aware of the problem and the reader will be easily identify the points at which Durkheim went beyond the measurable, countable phenomena. This, among other factors, explains the huge, enduring influence of this book.
Let us now turn to Durkheim's analysis of suicide.
He first dealt with the extra-social effects: psychology, cosmic effects and imitation.
Suicide and madness
Psychiatrists at the time claimed that all suicide was related to mental illness. They classified four types of suicide:
Maniac suicide: caused by hallucinations, delirium. The patient kills himself to escape from such imagined danger, shame or accept some external order. The intention to commit suicide appears suddenly and if the attempt fails, he will not repeat the attempt (or the cause is different).
Melancholic suicide: related to extreme depression. The patient cannot determine his real relationship to others and the environment. The intention to commit suicide is very stabile. Such patients prepare the means of their death with great patience and repeat the attempt until success.
Nightmare suicide: caused by death wish: the patient wants to kill himself without any real cause. According to the psychiatrists of the era it was similar to kleptomania, serial murder and arson. They also called this form of suicide anxiety suicide. As soon as the patient decides to give up the struggle against death wish, his anxiety goes.
Automatic or impulsive suicide: similar to the nightmare suicide as there is no reason for it, but there is no struggle (hence it is impulsive).
Durkheim then investigated these types on the basis of statistical evidence. He found four pieces of evidence that clearly disproved the statistical relationship between suicide and mental illness.
Suicide and normal psychological conditions, heritance
Durkheim said that there was no systematic information on these causes, but anecdotal evidence suggested the existence of such causes. He cited a few cases in which the members of a family, at various times, killed themselves using the same method. But he also cited examples, where in a similar phenomenon could not be explained by heritage. For example in 1772 fifteen war casualties hanged themselves on the same hook in an inn. Once the hook was removed, there was no more suicide. In a military base in Boulogne a soldier shot himself in a guard hut. A few days later several more soldiers followed the example. Once the hut was burned down, the suicides stopped.
However, Durkheim stated, if heritage was a factor, it should have affected both sexes, but it was not the case. Also age should not then play a role in the factor of heritage, but he found that suicide was rare among children and was the highest among old.
Suicide and cosmic factors
Firstly, Durkheim demonstrated that there was no relationship between geography and suicide. While in the 19th century suicide was lowest in the south and north of Europe, it changed during history. Or, for example, while before 1870 suicide was the highest in North Italy, then Central Italy and then the South, by the end of the century it reversed to the opposite.
Secondly, it was a common wisdom that winter and autumn could cause suicide. But in fact 60% of suicides happened in the warm months and only 40% in the rest of the year. Moreover, there was no systematic relationship between temperature or sunshine (more suicide was committed at daytime than in the night, but there was no correlation between the length of day and the number of suicides). In terms of months, most suicide in France and Prussia were committed between April and July, but again temperature and number of suicide did not correlate. Furthermore, the suicide rate was higher in the middle of Europe (where it is cold in the winter and warm in the summer), while in the South the suicide rate was low (where the temperature is relatively stable).
Imitation
Durkheim stated that there was no doubt in that suicide could spread like an epidemic. However, if suicide was an epidemic, it should have been reflected geographically, but this was not the case.
After disproving the above causes, Durkheim turns to the social causes.
Within this category, Durkheim created the following ideal types of suicide
Egoist suicide
First Durkheim examined the role of religion. In Catholic countries suicide was low, in Protestant countries it was high. Among Jews (while the Jewish belief does not forbid suicide), the suicide rate was even lower, though it started to increase around 1870. Considering that most Jews lived in towns and had white-collar jobs (both cases suggest a higher suicide rate), Durkheim concluded, Jewish religion had to be an important factor. In addition, he found that in cases when any of these religions were in minority in a particular geographic area, the suicide rate was even lower. Durkheim argued that the greater freedom given in Protestantism had to be related to the higher suicide rate, but only in relationship with the type of Protestant church. In England, the suicide rate was only about the fifth of the German protestant states, but, argues Durkheim, the Church of England (and the English society) was much more integrated and regulated than in Germany. In addition, the ratio between believers and priests was the highest in England (908), while in Germany 1600. In Catholic areas the ratio between believers and priests was even lower: in Italy 267, in Belgium 1050. Furthermore, among Protestants the value of learning was much higher than among Catholics (and among learned people suicide was more common). The fact that among Jewish communities the suicide rate was lower while education was higher, however, contradicted the proposition. Durkheim argued that higher education causes suicide not by itself, but only if it represents the shaking of traditional values. Consequently, Protestants did not commit more suicide because they believe in God or the eternity of soul less than Catholics, but because the cohesion of the Protestant Church was weaker.
Secondly, Durkheim examined the role of marriage. Figures showed that married men committed more suicide than bachelors. However, a proper analysis (exclusion of men unlikely to get married - children) showed that suicide is higher among bachelors than among married men. But if the fact that the suicide rate increased with age and bachelors were younger than married men accounted for, Durkheim argued, being a bachelor increased the likelihood of suicide by 160% (or marriage reduced it by 50%).
Similar problems emerged about widows. Among one million 65 years old widows 628 committed suicide, while among one million 65 years old men only 461. However, the fact was that this age consisted almost exclusively married men (about 90%), therefore, the sample was very good. Durkheim's analysis showed that although widows were more likely to kill themselves than married people, they were less likely to do so than bachelors or maidens. Again Durkheim argued that although the family is factor behind the figures, but a simple conclusion would have been problematic. Firstly, because the number of marriages barely changed in his period, while suicide tripled, secondly, because it was clearly influenced by age. Importantly, Durkheim points out, that not simply marriage was the factor, but marriage with children. If there were children in the marriage, the suicide rate was lower than in the infertile families. Therefore, not marriage, but the family as a social unit (with its cohesion) is the factor.
Thirdly, Durkheim investigated the role of crises and wars. He demonstrated that in social crises (e.g. revolutions) and wars the number of suicide dropped.
All in all, the more religious a society was the less likely it was to have high suicide rate, the stronger the family was in a society the less likely it was to have high suicide rate, the more integrated a society was, the less likely it was to have high suicide rate.
Altruist suicide
Durkheim argued that less 'civilised' societies also knew suicide and cited examples (Inuit, native Americans, Germans in the Roman era, Indians, etc.). He differentiated between three groups of people committing suicide in these societies: 1) old or ill people; 2) Women after their husband's death; 3) suicide of servants after the leader's death. In all these cases people did not choose suicide, he argued, but it was their obligation. Thus, these suicides happened because of the higher superiority of the values and interests of the community compared to the values and interests of the members of the community.
Then Durkheim turned to the armed forces. He pointed out that the suicide rate was very high in military service and he considered it to be a surprising result. It was surprising, because military (similarly to religions and cohesive societies) there was a strong solidarity and the individuals were physically fitter than the rest of the society. Furthermore, the cause of the suicide could not be attributed to the hatred towards the service or inability to adjust to the routines of the military service, because the suicide rate was proportionately increased with the length of service. Also, suicide rates among NCOs and officers were much higher than among privates. Furthermore, suicide was higher in elite units than in normal units. Finally, the weaker the military spirit was in a unit the lower the suicide rate was. Thus, Durkheim argued, NCOs and officers had to give up so much of their individuality to adjust to the requirement of the service that made them vulnerable to suicide.
Anomic suicide
Durkheim classified social suicide in this category.
Statistics showed that during economic crises (recessions) suicide rate increased. However, fast growth periods also correlated with high suicide rates. Therefore, Durkheim concluded, it was not poverty that created suicide. Essentially, Durkheim argued, these periods weakened social norms or at least made them uncertain and this reduced the cohesion of the society, which in turn, led to higher suicide rates. Durkheim also stated that social changes could create such a situation. In his time there was a strong correlation between divorce and suicide: divorcees were three times as likely to commit suicide than married people.
From all these Durkheim concluded: there were different types of suicides and the causes of committing suicide could contradict to each other.
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Individual forms |
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Principal characteristics |
Secondary characteristics |
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Basic types |
Egoist suicide |
Apathy |
Lazy melancholy tied with self-love |
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Disappointed cold-bloodedness of the sceptic person |
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Altruist suicide |
Energy of passion or will |
Calm feeling of responsibility |
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Mystic enthusiasm |
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Calm bravery |
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Anomic suicide |
Despair, disgust |
Passionate blaming life in general |
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Passionate blaming somebody in particular |
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Mixed types |
Ego-anomic suicide |
Mixture of excitement and apathy, action and day-dreaming |
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Anomic-altruist suicide |
Internal despair |
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Ego-altruist suicide |
Melancholy limited by moral strength |
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© Dolores James
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