A PROJECT REPORT ON

Theory of suicide by emile durkheim

Submitted to:

Dr. Ayan Hazra

(Faculty Sociology)

Submitted by:
Pranav Vaidya
Roll no:- 117
Semester II

Date of submission:- 24th February 2014

HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Acknowledgement
 Objectives
 Methodology
 Scope & Limitation
 Introduction
 Suicide- Analysis & Description.
 Types of Suicide & their explanation.
 Critical comments.
 Brief evaluation of Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide.
 Conclusion
 Major Findings
 References
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost I would like to thank Dr. Ayan Hazra, Faculty Sociology, Hidayatullah
National Law University, for creating opportunities to undertake such a valuable project. He
helped me in preparing the project through his aura and granting his precious time for the
consultation, discussion and giving suggestion over this project. He also helped me in
improving the perception regarding to the study of the topic in its vast resources and in a
broader way. Clearing all the doubts and uncertainty about this project. Therefore, I want to
thank him for all his efforts and cooperation which he conferred me.

I also owe my gratitude towards University Administration for providing me all kinds of
required facilities with good Library and IT lab, which helped me in making the project and
completing it. My special thanks to Library Staff and IT staff for equipping me with the
necessary data and websites from the internet.

I would also like to thank my dear colleagues who had helped me a lot creating this project with
their ideas and thoughts over the topic. They act as a motivating and guiding force to me during
the making of this project.

Pranav Vaidya
Roll No. – 117, Sec-C
Semester- II (B.A.L.L.B. Hons.)
Objective:

 To know about Emile Durkheim’s life and his works.

 To explain the Theory of Suicide by Emile Durkheim.

Methodology:

The project is descriptive and theoretical in manner. It is carried out in a philosophical

way. The notion of the project is completely related to speculative study. The mode of
writing in this project is analytical. The sources of data for this project are secondary in
nature i.e. including books, articles, journals and online resources.

Scope and Limitation:

The topic “Theory of Suicide by Emile Durkheim” had a vast area. It ranges from people
of different age groups & surroundings.. The project has been carried out in both the
study of the culture of India as well as universally. As the culture differs from place to
place it is difficult to study each and every aspect of the culture and cultural system.
 Introduction

Every human being in the society comes to this world when his/her mother gives her birth. After
coming to this world everyone whether a rich or a poor, young or old, everybody wants to live
their life. During the lifetime, people want to fulfil their needs and demands and try to achieve
one’s goal or aim of life. Nobody wants their life to get over early.

A question arises in mind that why do people then commit suicides? The social factors and
circumstances led individual to perform suicide. If someone is committing suicide then he/she
knows its consequences still they are so much pressurized or forced by the social conditions that
they had to end their life.

In this project, I shall be discussing about the life of Emile Durkheim, his Theory of Suicide, its
practical applications as well as its effects on the society in the present era and how the people
deal with this theory with their own ideologies.
Literature Review:
1. Black youth suicide: literature review with a focus on prevention1.

-By F.M. Baker

In this the national rates of completed suicide in the black population between 1950 and 1981 are
presented, including age-adjusted rates. Specific studies of black suicide attempters and
completed suicides by blacks in several cities are discussed. Methodological problems with
existing studies and national suicide statistics are presented. Proposed theories of black suicide
are reviewed. Based on a summary of the characteristics of black suicide attempters reported by
the literature, preventive strategies--primary, secondary, and tertiary are presented.

2. Suicide Amongst Gay and Lesbian Adolescents and Young Adults2.

-Journal of Homosexuality

This paper explores the issue of suicide among gay and lesbian adolescents and young adults, as
well as provides information to guide clinicians in working effectively with this population. The
theoretical perspectives on homosexual identity development by Troiden, Cass, and Lewis are
discussed in connection with Durkheim's Suicide Theory and various theoretical risk factors, as
well as implications for social work practice. This paper is intended to be utilized as a tool during
the assessment phase of treatment with an adolescent or young adult who may be questioning his
or her sexuality.

3. The Role of Social Isolation in Suicide3.

By- Deborah L. Trout M.A.
This paper reviews the literature which relates to the role of social isolation in suicide. Major
areas reviewed include theories on suicide and social isolation, measures of social isolation, and
empirical studies which concern the relationship of social isolation to suicide. Social isolation

1
Journal of National Medical Association. 1990 July; 82(7): 495–507.- By F.M. Baker.

2 Journal of Homosexuality, Volume 40, Issue 1, 2000.

3
Article first published online: 31 DEC 2010. 1980 The American Association for Suicidology
seems to be related to suicidal behaviours in a direct and fundamental way. Implications for
helping contacts and the community are addressed.

4. A Review of the Literature on Rural Suicide4.

By-- Jameson K. Hirsch

Suicide is a major cause of mortality worldwide. Differences in rates of suicide exist between
urban and rural areas; however, little rigorous research has examined the phenomena of rural
suicide. This review examines the current body of literature on rural suicide and investigates
differences between rural and urban suicide, including socioeconomic, psychological, and
cultural variables. Prevention and intervention strategies specific to rural communities are
discussed. Although findings are mixed, research and epidemiological data indicate that suicide
is a public health concern in rural areas, with suicide rates often greater than in urban areas

5. Attempted suicide in adolescence: A review and critique of the literature5.

By- Anthony Spirito, Larry Brown,

James Overholser, Gregory Fritz

Attempted suicide among adolescents is a significant public health concern due to its frequency,
coexisting physical and psychiatric problems, and economic toll. Attempters are also a high-risk
group for eventual completed suicide. This review covers three major areas pertinent to
attempted suicide in adolescence: characteristics of the attempt (lethality, intent, and
precipitants), psychological factors associated with suicidal behaviour, and follow-up course.
Findings suggest there exists a significant degree of individual and family dysfunction among a
large proportion of adolescent suicide attempters. However, strong evidence for the specificity of
this dysfunction to suicide attempts, rather than to general emotional disturbance, was found only

4
Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention,
Volume 27, Number 4 / 2006
5
Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 9, Issue 3, 1989, Pages 335–363
for hopelessness, family conflict, and contagion. In addition, the ability to devise effective
interventions for adolescent suicide attempters is significantly compromised by limited
knowledge of the natural course following a suicide attempt. Therefore, the need for
comprehensive follow-up studies of suicide attempters should be the immediate focus of research
efforts with this high-risk group.
Suicide Analysis and Description
Definition of Suicide - According to Durkheim, suicide refers to “every case of death
resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative death performed by the victim himself
and which strives to produce this result.”

It is clear from the definition of Durkheim that suicide is a conscious act and the person
concerned is fully aware of its consequences. The person who shoots himself to death, or drinks
severe poison, or jumps down from the 10th storey of a building, for example, is fully aware of
the consequences of such an act.

Two Main Purposes behind his Study of Suicide :-

Durkheim used a number of statistical records to establish his fundamental idea that suicide is
also a social fact and social order and disorder are at the very root of suicide. As Abraham and
Morgan have pointed out, Durkheim made use of statistical analysis for two primary reasons.
They are stated below:

i) To refute theories of suicide based on psychology, biology, genetics, climate, and

geographic factors.
ii) To support with empirical evidence his own sociological explanation of suicide.

Durkheim Displays an Extreme Form of Sociological Realism

Durkheim is of the firm belief that suicide is not an individual act or a private and personal
action. It is caused by some power which is over and above the individual or “super-individual.”
It is not a personal situation but a manifestation of a social condition. He speaks of suicidal
currents as collective tendencies that dominate some vulnerable persons. The act of suicide is
nothing but the manifestation of these currents. Durkheim has selected the instance or event of
suicide to demonstrate the function of sociological theory.
Durkheim Chooses Statistical Method to Know the Causes of Suicide
Durkheim wanted to know why people commit suicide, and he chooses to think that explanations
focusing on the psychology of the individual were inadequate. Experiments on suicide were
obviously out of question. Case studies of the past suicides would be of little use, because they
do not provide reliable generalizations, about all suicides. Survey methods were hardly
appropriate, because one cannot survey dead people. However, statistics on suicide were readily
available, and Durkheim chose to analyze them.

Durkheim Rejects Extra-Social Factors as the Causes of Suicide

Durkheim repudiated most of the accepted theories of suicide:

i) His monographic study demonstrated that heredity, for example, is not sufficient
explanation of suicide.
ii) Climate and geographic factors are equally insufficient as explanatory factors.
iii) Likewise, waves of imitation are inadequate explanations.
iv) He also established the fact that suicide is not necessarily caused by the psychological
factors.

Social Forces are the Real Causes of Suicide

Suicide is highly individual act, yet the motives for a suicide can be fully understood only by
reference to the social context in which it occurs. In his attempts to substantiate this fact he came
to know that the incidence of suicide varied from one social group or set up to another and did so
in a consistent manner over the years. Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than
Catholics; people in large cities were more likely to commit suicide than people in small
communities; people living alone were more likely to commit suicide than people living in
families were. Durkheim isolated one independent variable that lay behind these differences: the
extent to which the individual was integrated into a social bond with others. People with fragile
or weaker ties to their community are more likely to take their own lives than people who have
stronger ties.
Durkheim’s Threefold Classification of Suicide
Having dismissed explanations of extra-social factors, Durkheim proceeds to analyze the type of
suicide. He takes into account three types of suicide:

a) Egoistic Suicide which results from the lack of integration of the individual into his
social group.
b) Altruistic Suicide is a kind of suicide which results from the over or excess integration of
the individual into his social group.
c) Anomic Suicide results from the state of normlessness or degeneration found in society.

Having analyzed the above mentioned three types of Suicide, Durkheim concludes that
“suicide is an individual phenomenon whose causes are essentially social.”

Suicide- An Index to Decay in Social Solidarity

Durkheim has established the view that there are no societies in which suicide does not occur. It
means suicide may be considered as a “normal”, that is, a regular, occurrence. However, sudden
increase in suicide rates may be witnessed. This, he said, could be taken as “an index of
disintegrating forces at work in a social structure.” He also came to the conclusion that different
rates of suicide are the consequences of differences in degree and type of solidarity. Suicide is a
kind of index to decay in social solidarity.
Types of Suicide and Explanations
Durkheim’s theory of suicide is divided into two explanatory parts. In the first, Durkheim
explained suicide on the basis of social integration. Integration refers to the degree to which
collective sentiments are shared or the strength of the social bonds between the individual and
society. Here, egoistic and altruistic suicide form opposite poles of social integration, i.e.,
altruistic suicide is associated with a high degree of integration and egoistic suicide with a low
degree of integration. In the second part of the theory, Durkheim explained suicide on the basis
of social regulation. Social regulation, in contrast to integration, refers to the restraints imposed
by society on individual needs and wants, i.e., the degree of external constraint on people. Here,
anomic and fatalistic suicide form opposite poles of social regulation, i.e., fatalistic suicide is
associated with high regulation while anomic suicide is with low regulation. Whitney Pope6
offered a very useful summary of the four types of suicide discussed by Durkheim. He did this
by interrelating high and low degrees of integration and regulation in the following way:

Social Integration

Low – Egoistic Suicide

High – Altruistic Suicide

Social Regulation

Low – Anomic Suicide

High – Fatalistic Suicide

Egoistic Suicide
The term ‘egoism’ originates from the nineteenth century and was widely used by Durkheim and
others at the time to indicate the breakdown of social ties. Egoism can be described as the
process by which individuals detach themselves from society by turning their activity inward and
by retreating into themselves.7 Egoism is characterised by excessive self-reflection on personal

6
Pope, Whitney, Durkheim’s Suicide: A Classic Analyzed, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA, 1976, pp. 12-3
7
Durkheim, Suicide, op. cit., p. 279
matters and a withdrawal from the outside world. Egoism occurs, according to Durkheim,
because the tie binding “the individual to others is slacked and not sufficiently integrated at the
points where the individual is in contact with society.” Egoism results from too much
individualism and from the “weakening of the social fabric.”8 “When man become ‘detached
from society’, when they are thrown upon their devices and loosen the bonds that previously had
tied them to their fellows, they are prone to egoistic, or individualistic, suicide.”9 Egoistic suicide
is a product of relatively weak group interaction.

Hence, high rates of egoistic suicide are likely to be found in those societies, collectivises, or
groups in which the individual is not well integrated into the larger social unit. Societies with a
strong collective conscience and the protective, enveloping social currents that flow from it are
likely to prevent the widespread occurrence of egoistic suicide. In fact, strongly integrated
families, religious groups and politics act as agent of a strong collective conscience and
discharge suicide. Here is the way Durkheim puts it in terms of religious groups:

Religion protects man against the desire for self-destruction. What constitutes religion is the
existence of certain number of beliefs and practices common to all the faithful, traditional and
thus obligatory. The more numerous and strong these collective states of mind are, the stronger
the integration of the religious community, also greater its preservative value.

For example, regardless of race and nationality, Catholics show far less suicides than
Protestants. In this context, Durkheim stated “the superiority of Protestantism with respect to
suicide results from its being a less strongly integrated church than the Catholic Church.”

Family, like religious group, is a second powerful counter agent against suicide. Non-marriage
increases the tendency to suicide, while marriage rescues the danger by half or more. Family life
reduces egoism by ensuring that greater concentrations of commitment are focused within the
family rather than on individual, and this, in itself, acts to suppress the tendency to withdraw to
the self.

Political or national group is the third powerful counter agent against suicide. This is more
obscure category than either religion or the family and is less developed by Durkheim than the

8
Ibid., pp. 279-81
9
Coser, Lewis, op. cit., p.134
other forms of attachment. Political society, according to Durkheim, refers to the type of social
bonds, which occur between the individual and society at large, and encompasses the type of
links which develop between individuals and their national group. Durkheim reasoned that to the
extent that these social links exist, it is possible to look at the extent to which they are manifested
in the suicide rates during times of social crisis and political upheaval. On the basis of collected
facts, Durkheim outlined that instead of breaking of social ties, severe social disruption brought
about by a political crisis increases the intensity of “collective sentiments and stimulates
patriotism.” This, in result, increases social integration between the individual and the group and
“causes a stronger integration of society.” Durkheim generalised that the lack of integration is
the main cause of egoistic suicide.

Altruistic suicide
The second type of suicide discussed by Durkheim is altruistic suicide. This kind of suicide takes
place in the form of a sacrifice in which an individual ends his life by heroic means so as to
promote a cause or an ideal which is very dear to him. It results from the over-integration of the
individual into his social group. In simple words, altruistic suicide is taking off one’s own life for
the sake of a cause. It means that even high level of social solidarity induces suicide. Durkheim
first made his observations about altruistic suicide by looking at tribal societies. He observed that
social customs in these societies played a high degree of social honour on individuals who take
their own lives in the name of social purposes greater than they do. In this category, Durkheim
list three specific types of suicides:

i) The suicide of older men threatened with severe illness;

ii) The suicides of women on the death bed of their husbands; and
iii) The suicide of followers on the death of their chiefs.

Examples:

i) In some primitive societies and in modern armies such suicide takes place.
ii) Japanese sometimes illustrate this type of suicide. They call it “Harakiri.” In this practice
of Harakiri, some Japanese go to the extent of taking off their lives for the sake of the
larger social unity. They consider that self-destruction would prevent the breakdown of
social unity.
 iii) The practice of “sati” which was once in practice in North India, is a another example of
this kind.
iv) The self-immolation by the Buddhist monks, self-destruction in Nirvana under the
Brahmanical influence as found in the case of ancient Hindu sages represent other
variants of altruistic suicide.

People take their own lives not because they take the personal right to do so, but because a social
duty is imposed upon them by society. Altruistic suicide is therefore at the opposite pole of
social integration to egoistic suicide. In egoistic suicide, there is an excess of individualism and
autonomy, whereas in altruistic suicide little or no individualism takes place. In egoistic suicide,
the bonds between individual and society grow weak and this takes its toll on individual life; in
altruistic suicide, by contrast, the bonds between the individual and society are developed to such
a extent that the individual acquires an aptitude for the renunciation of life.

Durkheim maintained that altruistic suicide takes several different forms and discussed three
distinct types:

i) Obligatory altruistic suicide;

ii) Optional altruistic suicide; and
iii) Acute altruistic or mystical suicide

In the first category, obligatory altruistic suicide, society imposes an explicit duty on
individuals to take their own life, but this duty may lack specific coercive pressure from the
community.

A second type referred to by Durkheim is optional altruistic suicide. In this category, the
demand placed on the individual by the community is less explicitly clarified or “less
expressly required” than in circumstances where suicide is strictly obligatory.

In the third category, acute altruistic suicide, the individual renounces life for the actual felt
“joy of sacrifice.”

Hence, altruistic suicide results from an excess of social integration and is at the polar extreme of
egoistic suicide. The cause of altruistic suicide is excessive social integration that leads to a lack
of development of individualism. Wherever altruistic suicide is prevalent, man is always ready to
sacrifice his life for a great cause, principle, ideal or value.

Anomic Suicide
The final major form of suicide discussed by Durkheim is anomic suicide, which is more likely
to occur when the regulative powers of society are disrupted. Anomic can be defined as he
decline in the regulatory powers of society. Durkheim first used the concept of anomic in
Division of Labour in 1893. Durkheim attributed anomic suicide to unlimited aspirations and the
breakdown of regulatory norms. The breakdown of social norms and sudden social changes that
are characteristic of modern times, encourage anomic suicide. When the collective conscience
weakens, men fall victim to anomic suicide. “Without the social backing to which one is
accustomed, life is judged to be not worth continuing.”

Durkheim believed that the causes of deregulation can be traced to two basic sources:

i) The development of industrial society; and

ii) The dominance of the economy over other institutions.

Anomic suicide is the type that follows catastrophic social changes. Social life all around seems
to go to pieces. According to Durkheim, at times when social relations get disturbed both
personal and social ethics become the causalities. Values of life come down and outlook of some
persons changes radically. There are then certain dangerous developments in the society. A
sudden change has its vibrations in both social life and social relationship, which paves away for
suicide. If the change is sudden, adjustments become difficult and those who do not get adjusted
to changes commit suicide. It is this social disruption, which leads to suicide. According to
Durkheim, not only economic disaster and industrial crisis but even sudden economic prosperity
can cause disruption and deregulation and finally suicide.

Fatalistic Suicide
There is a little mentioned fourth type of suicide-fatalistic that Durkheim discussed only in a
footnote of suicide. Durkheim stated that whereas anomic suicide is more likely to occur in
situations in which regulation is too weak, fatalistic suicide is more likely to occur when
regulation is excessive. Durkheim described those who are more likely to commit fatalistic
suicide as “persons with futures pitilessly blocked and passions violently chocked by oppressive
discipline. As an example of fatalistic suicide, Durkheim cited the suicide of slaves who, seeing
no alternative to enslavement under the master, takes their own lives.

Examples-: Suicide by Farmers in Maharashtra- Farmers took loan from the banks and could not
pay back. Bank has its own limits so banks started listing them as defaulters and black listed
them and also were forced to pay back the taken money in spite of their poor condition and
heavy losses in agriculture.
Brief Evaluation of Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide :

Comments in Appreciation of the Theory

i) As L.A. Coser stated, Durkheim’s study of “suicide” could be cited as a monumental

landwork study in which conceptual theory and empirical research are brought together in
an imposing manner.
ii) As Abraham and Morgan have said “the larger significance of suicide lies in its
demonstration of the function of sociological theory in empirical science.”
iii) A successful attempt is made in this theory to establish logically the link between social
solidarity, social control, and suicide.
iv) Durkheim has thrown light on the various faces of suicide. He is, indeed, the first person
in this regard.
Critical comments :
i) Durkheim has given importance only to social factors in suicide. In doing so, he has
neglected the role of other factors, especially the psychological. Hence, this is a one-sided
view.
ii) The theory is based upon a very small sample of data concerning suicide.
iii) As criminologists have pointed out, economic, psychological and even religious factors
may lead to suicide. But the Durkheim did not give any importance to these factors.
Major Findings :
 Suicide is a social fact and social order and disorder are at the very root of suicide.
 Suicide is caused by some power which is over and above the individual or “super-
individual.” It is not a personal situation but a manifestation of a social condition.
 Suicide is caused by mainly two reasons:-
i. Social Integration
 Excess Integration (Altruistic Suicide)
 Lack of Integration (Egoistic Suicide)
ii. Social Regulation
 Excess Regulation (Fatalistic Suicide
 Lack of Regulation (Anomic Suicide)
 Suicide takes place because- “Without the social backing to which one is accustomed, life
is judged to be not worth continuing.”
 Suicide prevention depends not only on an understanding of how to prevent psychiatric

disorder, but also on knowledge concerning how other social, economic and medical

factors affect suicide risk.

 To overcome these problems, parents, friends and schools, society all have a significant

role to play and make the person overcome the urge to commit suicide and rather develop

a healthy thinking which is beneficial for the society.

Conclusion :
In brief, Durkheim put forward three concepts making up a social theory of suicide: egoistic,
altruistic, and anomic. The first two suicides, egoistic and altruistic, explain suicide by looking at
the framework of social attachment to society which Durkheim called social integration. The
third concept, anomic suicide, on the other hand, belongs to framework, which explains suicide
by looking at the changes in the regulatory mechanism of society. Egoistic suicide results from
the lack of integration of the individual into his social group. The first type of suicide occurs due
to over-developed individualism, while second is due to a lack of development at the level of
individual. Anomic suicide, in contrast, occurs because of the reduction of the regularity
mechanism of society. In fact, fatalistic suicide has little more relevance in the real world.
Durkheim in his study of “suicide” has been successful in establishing a social fact that there are
“specific social phenomena which govern individual phenomena. The most impressive, most
eloquent example is that of the social forces which drive individuals to their deaths, each
believing that he is obeying only himself.”10

10
Raymond Aron in “Main Currentd in Sociological Thought.” Vol.II. Page – 45.
References:
Bibliography:

 C.N. Shankar Rao, Principles of Sociology (S.Chand & Co. Ltd, New Delhi, 7th ed.)
 Dr. Francis Abraham & Dr. John Henry Morgan, Sociological Thought (Macmillan
Publishers, India, 1st ed. 2011).
 “The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology”
 “Oxford Dictionary of Sociology”
 “Collins Dictionary of Sociology”

Webliography:

 Journal of National Medical Association. 1990 July; 82(7): 495–507.- By F.M. Baker.
 Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, Volume 41, Issue 1, pages 14–21, January 2005.
 Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour, Volume 36, Issue 3, pages 255–262, June 2006.
 The official journal of The American Association of Suicidology.
 Journal of Homosexuality, Volume 40, Issue 1, 2000.
 Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, Volume 27, Number 4 /
2006.
 Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 9, Issue 3, 1989, Pages 335–363.