Critically Evaluate Durkheim's Sociological Approach to the Analysis of Suicide
Critically evaluate Durkheim’s sociological approach to the analysis of suicide
Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, is often acclaimed as being one of the key pioneers of the academic discipline, sociology. Durkheim is perhaps most renowned for his publications of controversial monographs, which conveyed the methods and subjects of, in his time the new science of sociology. His work was translated into English and is still in print today, this displays just how fundamental his studies are in the field of today’s sociology. Durkheim is also well known for the establishment of social theory, which can view sociological subjects in an empirical manner like natural sciences.
Durkheim was seen as a positivist, he believed that human society follows laws the same as how science does using empirical evidence and testing. After his text on the rules of sociological method, he tackled the subject of suicide as an example of how a sociologist can study any subject that seems personal without a social aspect. Durkheim’s aim was to examine and explain people’s tendency toward suicide. Suicide, which Durkheim defined as ‘all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result’ (Durkheim 1952:44) is a prime example of how an individual can relate and react to society as a whole.
Durkheim chose the topic of suicide to prove that sociology, could explain acts which seemed to be the very opposite of social. Durkheim hoped that by providing a well-documented and largely cerebral study he could secure the status of sociology within sciences. He decided on suicide as it showed the necessity for and value of sociological explanation. Suicide was seen to be subject to external social factors (even though it may be seen as an individual and private act) and therefore required a sociological explanation.
Durkheim begins his theory of society with an overal perspective of the whole
Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, is often acclaimed as being one of the key pioneers of the academic discipline, sociology. Durkheim is perhaps most renowned for his publications of controversial monographs, which conveyed the methods and subjects of, in his time the new science of sociology. His work was translated into English and is still in print today, this displays just how fundamental his studies are in the field of today’s sociology. Durkheim is also well known for the establishment of social theory, which can view sociological subjects in an empirical manner like natural sciences.
Durkheim was seen as a positivist, he believed that human society follows laws the same as how science does using empirical evidence and testing. After his text on the rules of sociological method, he tackled the subject of suicide as an example of how a sociologist can study any subject that seems personal without a social aspect. Durkheim’s aim was to examine and explain people’s tendency toward suicide. Suicide, which Durkheim defined as ‘all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result’ (Durkheim 1952:44) is a prime example of how an individual can relate and react to society as a whole.
Durkheim chose the topic of suicide to prove that sociology, could explain acts which seemed to be the very opposite of social. Durkheim hoped that by providing a well-documented and largely cerebral study he could secure the status of sociology within sciences. He decided on suicide as it showed the necessity for and value of sociological explanation. Suicide was seen to be subject to external social factors (even though it may be seen as an individual and private act) and therefore required a sociological explanation.
Durkheim begins his theory of society with an overal perspective of the whole
Bibliography: -Atkins, J.M. (1971) ‘Social Reactions to Suicide: The role of coroners definition’s’, in S. Cohen (eds) Images of deviance, Harmondsworth: Penguin. -Douglas, J.D. (1971) The Social Meaning of Suicide, Princeton, N.J: Princeton university press. -Durkheim, E. (1952) Suicide: A study in sociology, London: Routledge Kegan Paul. -Durkheim, E. (1982) The Rules of Sociological Method, New York: Mc Graw-Hill. -Durkheim, E. (1984) The Division of Labour in Society (English translation by W.D. Halls), UK: Macmillan publishers Ltd. -Jacobs, J. (1967) ‘A Phenomenological Study of Suicide notes’, Social Problems, vol. 15, no. 1, pp 60-72. -Kushner, H. And Sterk, C. (2004) ‘The limits of social capital: Durkheim, Suicide and Social Cohesion’, American Journal of Public health 2005, vol. 95, no.7, pp 1139-1143. -Lukes, S. (1985) Emile Durkheim, his life and work, Stanford: Stanford university press. -Pope, W. (1976) Durkheim’s Suicide- A Classic Analyzed, United States: University of Chicago press -Ritzer, G. (1992) Emile Durkheim, London: Tavistock publications.