Book review on Emile Durkheim Book associated with Suicide.

1. Presentation on Emile Durkheim’s book on Suicide
By:Efa Tadesse Debele
Department of Sociology, Addis Ababa University
February 15, 2019

2. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

3. Introduction
Suicide is intentional self-homicide, self destruction
suicide caused by social factors
Book I:Extra social factors
Chapter 1:suicide and psychopathic states
1. Organic psychic disposition-mental alienation,
insanity
2.Nature of physical environment-temperature (heat
temperature

4. continued
Suicide by delirium or troubled mind/mental
disorder/restlessness/nervous/agitation/illusion
1. Maniacal suicide-hallucination/delirious
2.Melancholy suicide-depression/sadness
3.Obsessive suicide-desire to die/anxiety
4.Impulsive/automatic-abrupt swift
Alcoholism and suicide rate- there is inconsistent
finding

5. Book I; Chapter two
Suicide and normal psychological states; race
and heredity
Race-resemblance and filiations or kinship that is
from common background and share traits
Race-the total of similar individuals of the same
species that transmit characteristics of a primitive
sort by sexual propagation
Heredity-transmission from ancestor to new
generation
Heredity-from family to children
Suicide rates vary with different races

6. Book I: Chapter 3
Suicide and Cosmic factors
climate and seasonal temperature
Suicide with variation of temperature;
summer→spring→autumn→winter(warm/heat to
cold)
Suicide strike hottest country
suicide is higher in day time than night
Cosmic either intensity of social life or intensity of
heat or warmth

7. Book I:Chapter 4
Imitation-psychological factors
It is reciprocal /mutually/ influence in union
It is conformity to social moral or model
It is a copy just to copy-ape like
Imitation does not play much role in posing suicide
rate
Contagion-transmissible impulses
But individual fact cannot be social fact

8. Book II
Social causes and Social types
Ch-1. How to determine social causes and social types
 Aetiological and morphological characteristics of suicide
 resemblance and differences
 social causes should be seen from whole to parts
 presumed causes are not faithful but social concomitant
Ch-2.Egoistic suicide-relate to confession
 integration, surveillance, freedom
 knowledge –scientific culture
 traditional decline and moral individualism
 marital status-early marriage, married, unmarried, widowed, sex
differences
 Age differences
 Coefficient of preservation-a degree to be secured/saved
 Political turmoil and suicide rate

9. Egoistic Continued
 suicides vary with religious, domestic and political society
 suicide vary with degree of integration inversely
 individual need to live supra-physical life or societal life
 man is more social being than woman
 excessive individuation led to society
Ch-4.Altruistic suicide-excessive integration
 Primitive suicide 1.suicides of men on the threshold of old
age or stricken with sickness
2.suicides of women on their husbands 'death
3.suicides of followers or servants on the death of their chief

10. continued
There are obligatory, optional and acute suicide
impersonality to its higher pitch
chronic suicide-army or disgrace at defeat
moral constitution and altruistic suicide
Traditionalism and heroic suicide
Ch.5.Anomic suicide
regulative action and suicide rate
crisis lead to suicide
disturbance of collective order
Insatiability or unsatisfaction within existing lots

11. Ch.5.continued
 unlimited desire of individual and moral issue
 spirit of unrest and discontent
 moral restraints govern individuals
 conscience is superior to individuals
 self restraint is the best school
 religion lost its power
 individual’s unlimited ambition and passion
 Unending passion and sensation lead to suicide
 this leads to crisis/ anomy
 anomic suicide is from lack of regulation
 domestic anomy-divorce/widow
 Both egoistic and anomic shared basis in society

12. Chapter6. Individual forms of the
different Types of suicide
Stoicism-creates self alienated
consciousness lead to self destruction ,question
everything and deny all realities
egoistic and anomic –infinite
egoistic suicide-apathy
Altruistic suicide-energy of passion/will
Anomic suicide-irritation/disgust
ego-anomic-agitation and apathy
anomic and altruistic-
Ego-altruistic-exasperated effervescence

13. Book III:General nature of suicide as a
social phenomenon
Ch.1. The Social element of suicide
 suicide depend on; external factors and intrinsic factors
 suicide exist in moral constitution of group
 suicide through collective tendencies
 social facts are actively created by individuals via externalization and
materialization
 society is not purely made from individuals but material things or external
world-social facts/reality
 social conscience is stronger than individual conscience
 ontologically society is just a union or combination of its parts just as a
real
 suicidogenetics-inclination to commit suicide
 tendencies depend on-nature of individual, nature of social organization
and transitory condition

14. Book III:Chapter two
Relations of suicide with other social
phenomenon
 suicide and morality issue
 Suicide and religion-christianity-penal law
 in 1789-erased from criminal law
 with proscription norms and purpose of law
 rationalist and suicide
 personal need and mankind aim
 moral sanction and reprobation minor wrong
 suicide and moral as well as dismeanous
 suicide and offenses or suicide
 suicide-sex, age,temperature,etc
 egoism is the product of society or collective conscience

15. BookIII:Chapter 3,practical consequences
Is present day society practice suicide?
Is it normally or abnormally?
Is there any reform ?or as if its
Immoral implies abnormal
Public conscience offense then social pathology
Immoral as morbid in turn disease
Abnormal and immoral for theological
Science –sociology-its function
Individualism not necessarily egoism
Moral progression-perfection-anomy

16. continued
Abnormality is relative in reference to sth
Suicide taste as new progress normal
Suicide and civilization or intelligence
Suicide and penalty
Suicide and moral education
Political society and suicide
Religious society and suicide
Family domestic society and suicide

17. continued
Remedy
 Identity of origin, culture and occupational life
 Labor division and morality
 Cooperative work
 Cooperative egoism
 New moral discipline
 City and family life
 Family from societal base to private life
 City and state
 Individual and state
 Occupational Decentralisation and national unity

18. Commentary on Durkheim
Book I: Intentional?
 psychopathic? Labeling
Ch-2.are race, heredity and psycho related?
Ch-3. any experimental? In temperature
Ch-4. Imitation and rationality?
Book II. Egoistic and responsibility? Ego or social
Ch.5. anomic and fragile society
 unending passion and yoke?
-questioning and philosophers?
 Individual and social fact –mutually creations/onto
 Paradoxes in self restraint?
 Where is stance creationist or evolutionist
 Moral or immoral by scholar how?
 How cooperative bond preferable?