Durkheim studied suicide rates across different societies to understand its causes. He hypothesized that suicide was influenced by social, not individual, factors. His research found higher suicide rates among groups with less social integration, like Protestants and unmarried individuals. He concluded there were three types of suicide based on social attachment: altruistic from too much attachment, egoistic from too little, and anomic during times of social change and uncertainty.

1. Durkheim on Suicide
How do Sociologists Study
Problems?

2. Scientific Method
This involves…
 isolating the problem
 forming a hypothesis
 building a research design
 collecting the data
 analyzing the data collected
 making generalizations

3. Isolate the Problem
 In terms of the scientific method a
problem refers to any question for which
we seek an answer.
 It is simply some matter about which we
want to know the answer.
 Sociologists usually choose to research
problems that are related to their areas of
interest and their particular specialty in
the field of sociology.

4. Develop a Hypothesis
 A hypothesis is a tentative assumption, an
untested generalization.
 The hypothesis is essential because it sets
the stage for the research and gives it
direction.
 A hypothesis always states a relationship
between two or more situations, events,
or factors.
 The purpose of the research is to test the
hypothesis to see if this statement of the
relationship is accurate.

5. Build a Research Design
 A research design is a set of directions for
research.
 To set up a research design, the
sociologist must determine the variables
and how they will be measured.
 The sociologist must then decide what
sample will be used.
 Finally, the sociologist must determine
what tools and techniques to use in
collecting the data.

6. Collect the Data
 The collecting process must be done
carefully to avoid error.
 If the data is inaccurate, the results will be
useless.

7. Data Analysis
 On the basis of the data, the sociologist
decides whether to accept or reject the
hypothesis.

8. Make Generalizations
 What can we say about the population on
the basis of the sample actually
investigated?
 What conclusions can we draw about the
whole on the basis of examining a part?

9.  A classic example of
sociological research is
Emile Durkheim's study of
suicide, published by the
French sociologist in 1897.
Let's examine just what
Durkheim did, how he did
it, and what he concluded.
 But first, a little about
Durkheim…

10. Emile Durkheim (1859-1917)
 Sought to use sociology to explain the
many social problems plaguing Victorian-
era industrialized Europe.
 Believed that the application of scientific
methods could result in a more perfect
society.
 Considered to be the founder of the
functionalist paradigm of sociology.

11. Isolating the Problem - Suicide
 In Durkheim's France, as in societies
today, the question of suicide was one of
great popular concern.
 It raises not only specific questions for the
relatives and friends of the victims, but
also larger questions of causation.

12.  Why do people commit suicide?
 Why don't some people do it?
 Why does the rate of suicide vary from
place to place?

13.  Durkheim noted that suicide rates differed,
depending on the society and the
conditions.
 He felt that differences in the rates of
suicides suggested that more than indi-
vidual factors were operating.
 He thought that suicide must reflect
changes in social or environmental
circumstances. The problem was to
discover the nature of these circumstances
and their causes.

14. The Hypothesis
 Durkheim first explored the current
explanations for suicide. One explanation
was that suicide resulted from individual
psychological conditions.
 Another explanation assigned the cause of
suicide to factors in the natural
environment, such as the time of year, the
climate, or the temperature.

15.  After examining case histories and statistical
records, however, Durkheim concluded that
such explanations were not adequate.
 In investigating individual psychological
conditions, he found that although many of
the people who committed suicide were
mentally ill, many others were not.
 No one type of mental illness was always
associated with suicide.
 Neither could he find a clear relationship
between alcoholic consumption, age, race, or
gender and the suicide rate.

16.  Similarly, such forces as seasonal variation
and climate did not cause suicide.
 For example, if warm weather increased
the number of social interactions, and the
suicide rate was affected, the important
factor was the increased social interactions
and not the warmer weather.

17.  Durkheim arrived at his hypothesis that
the basic causes of suicide were social in
nature.
 It seemed to him that the main
determinants of suicide were such social
factors as religion, marital status, and the
pace of social change.
 He therefore hypothesized that the degree
of social attachment, or the lack of it,
explained the variations in the suicide
rate.

18. The Research Design
 To test his hypothesis, Durkheim reasoned
that he would need statistics on the
number of suicides in given areas at given
times.
 To be able to talk about the rate of
suicide, he would also need accurate
figures for the total population of these
areas.

19.  He would also need all these statistics
from a variety of places.
 Then he could make comparisons between
the suicide rate and different social
conditions.
 He found that most of the European
countries, as well as the United States,
had relatively accurate statistics on the
number of suicides, who committed them,
and the total population. All Durkheim
had to do was to get at these already
existing sources of information.

20.  By comparing the suicide rates of
Protestants and Catholics, of urban and
rural areas, and so on, Durkheim could
test his hypothesis.
 He could find out if the degree of social
attachment determined the rate of suicide,
and if suicide was, therefore, a social
phenomenon.

21. Data Analysis
 What Durkheim found was that the data
he collected did seem to fit a pattern, and
that this pattern confirmed his hypothesis.
 He found, for example, that the suicide
rates were higher among Protestants than
among Catholics.
 This was so even when he allowed for
other differences in the social climate that
may have affected the suicide rate.

22.  Similarly, taking other factors into account,
he found that single people had higher
suicide rates than married ones.
 Married but childless people had higher
suicide rates than people with children.
 City dwellers had higher suicide rates than
people living in rural areas.
 Men had higher suicide rates than women.
 Soldiers had a higher suicide rate than
civilians.

23. The Generalizations and Conclusions
 From his evidence, Durkheim concluded
that the suicide rate was determined by
the degree of social attachment.
 He discovered, however, that the
relationship was a complex one.
 Suicide seemed to result from both
unusually high levels and unusually low
levels of social attachment.

24. The 3 Types of Suicide
 From his findings, he was able to
generalize that there were three basic
types of suicide: altruistic, egoistic, and
anomic.

25. Altruistic Suicide
 Altruistic suicide occurs when the degree
of attachment of the individual to the
society is very great.
 It is not always defined by the society as
suicide.
 This would be the case with soldiers who
volunteer for a dangerous mission, in
which they are likely to lose their lives, out
of zeal for and devotion to their country.

26. Egoistic Suicide
 Egoistic suicide, on the other hand, results
from a lack of attachment of the individual
to the society.
 The less integrated into society individuals
are, and the more they must depend on
their own egos or selves, the more likely
they are to commit suicide.

27.  He found Protestants, who make more
theological decisions on their own than
Catholics and are therefore less attached
to their society, have a higher suicide rate
than Catholics.
 In the same manner, single people, city
dwellers, and men have higher suicide
rates than married people, rural people,
and women. They tend to have fewer
attachments and responsibilities, more
social freedom, and more dependence on
their own egos.

28. Anomic Suicide
 Anomic suicide, like egoistic suicidal
occurs because the individual is forced to
make decisions without any strong social
attachments. However, in anomic suicide
the individual is unattached because the
whole society is undergoing rapid change
and the old rules no longer seem to apply.
 Anomic suicide occurs during periods of
uncertainty, such as times of crisis,
revolution, or economic depression.