Durkheim + Suicide

Durkheim + Suicide

1. Used positive methods (Official Statistics)

   • Positives - largely representative, relatively low cost, Longitudinal trends
   • Negatives - data quality can vary (Catholic countries may change suicide stats) - invalid, some data may be missing, data between countries not valid due to the different ways data is collected, not all data is recorded

2. Compared suicide rates over European countries

   • 1. rates varied between countries
     • 2. Rose during times of economic depression and prosperity (during times of war etc)
       • Consistent variations within groups in the same country

3. 4 types of suicide

   • Egotisitc - insufficient integration into social groups (individualism more common) - North American and Europe
   • Anomic - Too little regulation - disrupted norms and values - war/natural disasters
   • Altruistic - too much integration - based on beliefs - suicide bombers on behalf of society
   • Fatalistic - too much regulation - extreme oppressive societies - slaves/prisons - too much control

4. Positives

   • Foundation for people to build on
     • Quantitative data - representative and relatively reliable
       • Looking at causes can lead to solutions

5. Negatives

   • Relied on official stats - invalid and flawed
     • Overestimated the role of religion (Halbwachs said urban areas were a factor)
       • Analysis over 100 years old - society is more secularised