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SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
GILMORE
Emile Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide
1. Durkheim’s approach.
--Durkheim sought to use the deviant behavior of suicide as a dramatic

demonstration of the salience of social facts in behavioral analysis. He
reasoned that most analysts in the late 19 th century saw suicide as an
intrinsically individual behavior, dependent upon specific aspects of mental
illness of individual origin (which he characterized as “neurasthenia”),. He
further reasoned that if he was able to establish the significance of social
factors with this kind of individual deviant behavior, then behavioral
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analysts from psychology and philosophy would be more receptive to
looking at social factors in the domain of normative “everyday” behavior.
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--To start, Durkheim began his analysis by looking at rates of suicide for
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specific social groups, not incidence of suicide for individuals, (i.e., he was
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conducting a nomothetic analysis). First, he sought to control for
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individual factors by examining rates of neurasthenia (i.e., mental illness)
among social groups. In his analysis of religious groupings, Durkheim
compared the rates of neurasthenia to rates of suicide. He established
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that:
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1. Jewish groups had the highest rates of neurasthenia, but

the lowest rates of suicide.
2. Protestants had the lowest rates of neurasthenia, but the
highest rates of suicide.
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3. Catholics had moderate rates of neurasthenia, but

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moderate to high rates of suicide.

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Therefore Durkheim argued that it made sense to look for non-individual

factors, that is, social facts, that could help explain variation in rates of
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suicide among religious groups.

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2. Durkheim’s model.
--Durkheim theorized that there were differences in the social context of

these three religious groups. He explained that these differences were a
function of two dimensions:
1. Social integration—which can be regarded as simply the
number of people you know and with whom you have
social relationships.
2. Social regulation—which he defined as the number of

norms or constraints in a culture, and the extent to which
those norms regulated behavior.
Durkheim argued that these dimensions varied in different religious groups
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and developed a “u-shaped” model to help explain variation in types and rates of
suicide.
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I. Egoistic suicide II. Altruistic suicide
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Protestant (rates of suicide) Catholics
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High Moderate to High
Social Integration I----------------------------------------------------------------------------I
Low High
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Social Regulation I----------------------------------------------------------------------------I

Low High
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Jews
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Low (rates of suicide)
III. Anomic suicide IV. Fatalistic suicide

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3. Types of suicide.
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Durkheim saw the relationship of social context and rates of suicide as

curvilinear. Suicide rates were high when you had either low social integration
or low social regulation. Suicide rates were also high (or moderately high) when
you had either high social integration or high social regulation. Only when social
integration and social regulation was moderate did the suicide rate go down.
Durkheim explained this relationship by defining four different types of suicide,
each of which corresponded to the extreme of one of the social dimensions he
analyzed.
I. Egoistic suicide was a function of a lack of social integration.

Durkheim argued that when people felt they had few friends or
social relationships, people would have feel as if they were not
connected with society. This social isolation would increase the
propensity for suicidal behavior.
II. Alternatively, Altruistic suicide was a function of being too deeply
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embedded in the social fabric, where the individual felt they were
constantly socially supervised and directed, and thus losing a
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sense of individual control. This degree of social embeddedness
would also increase the propensity for suicidal behavior.
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III. Anomic suicide was a function of a lack of social regulation. Where
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people felt a loss or significant change in social norms or social
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values, a sense of meaninglessness would intrude and individuals
would lose the constraints and direction of cultural forces. The
sense of “anomie” would increase the rate of suicide.
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IV. Fatalistic suicide, (of which Durkheim said very little) was a function
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of extreme social regulation. In this social situation, social norms

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and values are so rigid and all encompassing that people lose their
sense of individuality. With few behavioral options, the propensity
for suicide increases.
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Durkheim then applied the social dimensions and types of suicide

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to the three religious groups. Protestants tended to have low levels of

social integration in comparison to the other groups, and low levels of
social regulation. Therefore, when individuals of the Protestant faith had a
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predisposition towards suicide, the sense of social isolation and anomie

produced a supportive environment for Protestants to commit suicide. On
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the other extreme, Catholics had a very high rate of social integration and
social regulation. Thus when Catholics had a predisposition towards
suicide, the sense of total social embeddedness and lack of normative
options also produced a supportive environment for suicide. It is only
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where there is a balance between social isolation and collective

domination, that is, a moderate level of integration and regulation, that the
individual is socially protected from suicidal predisposition. Jewish groups
had this level of social moderation, a better balance of individualism and
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collectivism, and thus despite having higher levels of individual

predisposition towards suicide, had lower group rates of suicide.
In sum, Durkheim is not saying that extreme social integration and

regulation cause suicide. Rather he is arguing that where the individual
tendencies for suicide preexist, these social factors can protect the
individual from deviant behavior. Thus social facts can explain variation in
psychologically based behavior.
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aC s
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1

Emile Durkheim’s Theory of Suicide

--Durkheim sought to use the deviant behavior of suicide as a dramatic

1. Jewish groups had the highest rates of neurasthenia, but

3. Catholics had moderate rates of neurasthenia, but

moderate to high rates of suicide.

Therefore Durkheim argued that it made sense to look for non-individual

suicide among religious groups.

--Durkheim theorized that there were differences in the social context of

2. Social regulation—which he defined as the number of

Durkheim argued that these dimensions varied in different religious groups

Social Regulation I----------------------------------------------------------------------------I

Low (rates of suicide)

III. Anomic suicide IV. Fatalistic suicide

Durkheim saw the relationship of social context and rates of suicide as

I. Egoistic suicide was a function of a lack of social integration.

of extreme social regulation. In this social situation, social norms

Durkheim then applied the social dimensions and types of suicide

to the three religious groups. Protestants tended to have low levels of

predisposition towards suicide, the sense of social isolation and anomie

where there is a balance between social isolation and collective

collectivism, and thus despite having higher levels of individual

In sum, Durkheim is not saying that extreme social integration and

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