Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Sociology - Social System, Social Structure, Class, Social Stratification, grade: 2.1 (B), Oxford University (New College), language: English, abstract: Durkheim in his book “Suicide: A Study in Sociology” (1897) stated that “the termsuicide is applied to every case of death which results directly or indirectly from apositive or negative act, carried out by the victim himself, knowing that it will producethis result. An attempt is an act defined in the same way, but falling short of actualdeath.” He used the study of suicide in order to illustrate his own methodologicalapproach and many studies that followed have been, at least in part, a reaction to hiswork. Durkheim, although acknowledging that there are individual conditions whichcan cause an individual to kill him/herself, emphasised that “every society ispredisposed to produce a certain number of voluntary deaths” and that “thesociologist studies causes that affect not the individual but the group”. He believedthat the suicide rate “constitutes an order of facts which is unified and definite” andthat it can reveal certain aspects of society especially when looking at the differenttypes of suicide that have been committed. I am going to explore Durkheim’s theoryof suicide and what he believed a suicide rate reveals about a society. I am furthergoing to look at some other theories of suicide and how these have supported orchallenged Durkheim’s views. [...]
