Durkheim's classic 1897 work on suicide was groundbreaking as it demonstrated suicide was a sociological phenomenon rather than solely an individual psychological matter. He showed suicide rates in societies remained remarkably stable, implying they were influenced by societal rather than individual factors. Durkheim developed a typology of suicide consisting of egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic types, defined by the degree to which society integrated and regulated individuals. Later positivist critiques found Durkheim overemphasized religion's role and lacked operational definitions, while his reliance on incomplete 19th century statistics limited verification of results.

2. Suicide
• Can we think of any famous suicides?

3. Thought shower POSITIVISM

4. Suicide
• Think about suicide for a second – no not
about doing yourself in but about the act
• In a way it is the singular most individual act
anyone can do – the decision to end your own
life

5. Durkheim
Durkheim’s classic work, first
published in 1897 is essential
reading in Sociology for one
major reason. It looks at an area
of behaviour which had always
been considered the province of
psychology – how can we
understand or describe the state
of mind that leads a person to
end their own life – and showed
that it was a proper area of
sociological study.

6. Durkheim – how did he show that
suicide was not an individual act?
By demonstrating that the annual rates of
suicides in different societies were
extraordinarily stable.
It was almost as though some sociological God
decreed every year that only so many people in
each country would kill themselves.
How, Durkheim argued, could this be explained
by reference to individual psychological
factors? ‘Why did a definite number of people
kill themselves in each society in a definite
period of time?’

7. Durkheim’s Typology of Suicide
EGOISTIC
Bonds
too
weak
Regulation
too weak
Regulation
too strong
FATALISTIC
ANOMIC
ALTRUISTIC
Bonds
too
strong

8. Durkheim’s four-fold typology of
suicides
Egoistic – integration Anomic – regulation
too low
too low
Altruistic –
integration too high
Fatalistic –
regulation too high

9. Durkheim’s Four types.
Key – modern industrial societies Traditional non-industrial
Egoistic – bonds which unite
groups weaken, and
individuality increases. Too
little integration
Altruistic – bonds between
groups too strong, so
individuals sacrifice
themselves.
Too much integration into
norms/values
Anomic – individuals are not
regulated by norms and
values of the group, or social
order.
Too little regulation
Fatalistic – norms of society
oppress too much and stifle
individuals.
Too much regulation by
rules of society

10. 1. Allocate each of the following cases of suicide to
one of the four types identified in Durkheim’s
typology of suicide:
a) A rural migrant who is bewildered by city life
b) A servant who kills himself on the death of his
master
c) A bravery stunt with a gun that works too well
d) A prisoner facing a life sentence in a tough labour
camp
e) A person’s attempt to make an ex-lover return
f) An educated person who has just lost his wife and
children but cannot turn to religion

11. Evaluation of Durkheim by later
positivist approaches
Seen by many as sociological classic and praised by many positivists and used for
over 70 years as an excellent example of positivistic research. However even inside
positivism his theory has been criticised:
1 Overestimated the role of religion, Halbwachs (1930) suggested that living in
urban, rather than rural areas was also a key factor
2 Gibbs & Martin (1964) argue that Durkheim’s concept of social integration is
too vague – to them he did not operationalise social integration (define it such a
way that it can be measured)
3 Relied on official statistics too much and these statistics may well have been
invalid and incomplete. In the 19th century knowledge of causes of death was still
limited. Also many countries lacked the organisational structures needed to
collect reliable statistics on suicides.
4 His results cannot be verified or classified as scientific sociology should strive to
do.