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A review by ilybinaya
On Suicide by Émile Durkheim
4.0
i firstly came to know of Durkheim's anomie theory in my sociology course last semester. and so, out of pure curiosity i purchased the book and it is till half a year later that i finally flip it open as i am working on a group project concerning suicide.
as a sociology book, it is surprisingly very easy to read and the logical flow is very lucid, although at times the latter parts of the book seem a bit muddy and repetitive, and it is mostly due to the extensiveness in explaining and interpreting the data collected in the charts and tables, the same for the elongated passages about what determines suicide, how it happens, the correlation of suicide with external factors, i.e. temperature, seasons, male and female, demographics of it... to admit, i really had little patience to go through every word of those paragraphs, so my main focus would be the theoretical implication of his work.
to start with, we have 3 main types of suicides, they are: egoistical, altruistic and anomic. as for anomie is the most salient part of the book, because it mostly laid the groundwork for the theory itself- that drastic social changes lead to increase in suicide rates. so with the idea that industrialisation and globalisation, capitalism all indirectly leads to an increase in suicide rates, Durkheim explains that it is due to a sickness found in the basis of socialisation. to solve the problem of not integrating melancholy correctly or aptly, it is best to solve the issue between egoistical and altruistic suicide, that being, a society has to be socially integrated to provide a social identity for the individuals to attach to, while not too collectivist to avoid sacrificing oneself for a social goal.
i personally hold no grudges with Durkheim's theory, but i find his more of a rightist view on social change and to only increase social support to avoid suicide a bit too naive. theoretically it is possible, but as he wrote in the book, it is hard to put religion back to regulating people and society, the same is for corporations and groups to fill the vacancy.
as a sociology book, it is surprisingly very easy to read and the logical flow is very lucid, although at times the latter parts of the book seem a bit muddy and repetitive, and it is mostly due to the extensiveness in explaining and interpreting the data collected in the charts and tables, the same for the elongated passages about what determines suicide, how it happens, the correlation of suicide with external factors, i.e. temperature, seasons, male and female, demographics of it... to admit, i really had little patience to go through every word of those paragraphs, so my main focus would be the theoretical implication of his work.
to start with, we have 3 main types of suicides, they are: egoistical, altruistic and anomic. as for anomie is the most salient part of the book, because it mostly laid the groundwork for the theory itself- that drastic social changes lead to increase in suicide rates. so with the idea that industrialisation and globalisation, capitalism all indirectly leads to an increase in suicide rates, Durkheim explains that it is due to a sickness found in the basis of socialisation. to solve the problem of not integrating melancholy correctly or aptly, it is best to solve the issue between egoistical and altruistic suicide, that being, a society has to be socially integrated to provide a social identity for the individuals to attach to, while not too collectivist to avoid sacrificing oneself for a social goal.
i personally hold no grudges with Durkheim's theory, but i find his more of a rightist view on social change and to only increase social support to avoid suicide a bit too naive. theoretically it is possible, but as he wrote in the book, it is hard to put religion back to regulating people and society, the same is for corporations and groups to fill the vacancy.