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Category:Anomic Suicide

Anomic Suicide
"No living being can be happy or even exist unless his needs are sufficiently proportioned to his demands."-Suicide, Emile Durkheim. pg. 246

French sociologist Emile Durkheim refers to the term anomie when describing a period of social unrest. Regulations are broken down, and society is no longer controlling the individual. This leads to a feeling of being rootless. An individual can feel like there is no point, no guide to their life. The word anomie (or anomy) comes from the Greek, meaning lawlessness. Durkheim coined the term anomic suicide to describe what happens when people take their lives in the state of anomie. They have no idea what is expected of them, and the pursuit to find something more has yet proved unsatisfying. This concept first surfaced in Durkheim's third book, Suicide, first published in 1897.He is considered the first student that developed the correlation between suicide and social norms. Sociologist Robert K. Merton refers to the book as "perhaps the greatest piece of sociological research ever done" (Taylor 22), which may be the reason that he so doggedly conducted research involving Durkheim.

Since suicide has been largely considered an phenomenon that varies with the individual, it is interesting that Durkheim considers the causes for it to be largely social. Aside from anomic suicide, he also writes that there are three more types of suicide; egoistic,   altruistic, and fatalistic. Altruistic suicide seems to be the polar opposite of anomic suicide, where the suicide is accounted for because of overly strong regulations. The demands of society are so great that people are too well integrated in this collective consciousness and kill themselves because the group leads them to. Fatalistic suicide also happens because of excessive regulation--people are so depressed and upset by their lack of freedom that they take their lives. Some would consider egoistic suicide to be the most similar to anomic suicide. In this type of suicide, regulation is low and leads to aimlessness and dissatisfaction with themselves. In traditional societies that have mechanical solidarity, egoistic suicide is not too common.

Once Durkheim realized that he could use anomie to account for certain types of suicide, he found that he could use anomic suicide as a direct measurement to certain degrees of social integration. To him, suicide is a social phenomenon. His reasoning was that: suicides occur in every culture. When there are spikes in the rate of suicides, that must mean that there is a breakdown of sorts in the social structure. For example, an economic crisis can have an adverse effect on the population, causing a general sense of panic. People who were used to being the "breadwinners", or providers, for their families found themselves living without their previous means. In 1873, Durkheim found that a certain financial crisis caused suicides to rise a substantial fifty-three percent between the years of 1872 and 1874 (Durkheim 241-242). Economic progress has eclipsed religion, which lost most of its power. However, even in times of economic prosperity, suicide rates jump as well (Taylor 15). Even government is now a slave to the economic cause. He believed that every society had an affinity for suicide, and used statistics such as these to prove his case. Suicide provides its readers with well-documented statistics and arguments that even modern sociologist can still admire, as his findings were quite innovative for its time. With Durkheim's theory of anomic suicide, he is implying that human, as a whole, need moral constraints in order to maintain equilibrium. Their needs and wants cannot be met all the time, that would be way too much for any person to take at once. Society, in Durkheim's eyes, should provide the regulatory function needed in order to make sure that these restrictions are distributed as necessary. Why? For the reason that the individuals surely cannot handle this great task. . If constraints were released on the unknowing citizens, happiness would become next to impossible. After all, society is not just the sum of the individuals. When marriages collapse, it has been observed that the husband seems to fall victim to a higher divorce rate when the couple separate. The suicide rate for men far exceed that of the women involved in the marriage, although the rate for both divorcees are three times that of still married couples (Durkheim 261-262). Durkheim also believes that what religion one is during marriage has something to do with whether one gets divorced, and indirectly, ones chances of suicide. For example, Italy, a largely Catholic country, has quite a low rate of suicide. Conversely, France, a largely Protestant nation, has a considerably higher suicide rate. Durkheim then states, "The institution of divorce must itself cause suicide through its effect on marriage." What this means is that marriage itself cause the feelings of loss when/if one decides to get a divorce. Love is purely mental, it does not just spring from sexual impulse.

Some critics, have argued that the distinction between egoistic and anomic suicide is not enough. Some have even gone so far to argue that anomie was merely created to explain certain correlations that is lost on egoism. This was not Durkheim's intention. He states that egoism and anomie are "two aspects of one social state" (Taylor 16). What keeps individuals from suicide is the proper equilibrium that balances out the demands of the community along with the internal struggles. Durkheim believes that the social phenomena concerning suicide will give insight to the individual, troubled or not.

However, there are others that believe that Durkheim's theory has some holes in it. Author Kate Hoolu, questions his research methods. She writes that Durkheim wanted others to believe in his theory of anomic suicide so much, that he made the statistics that he obtained "fit" [www.occultebooks.com/essays/kh/suicide.htm]. There is not one religion that condones suicide, especially Catholicism. In fact, Catholics will not even acknowledge the idea of suicide. What is to say that these largely Catholic European countries that Durkheim did research on even reported suicides? Another critique of Durkheim is that of the authors Howard Kushner and Claire Stark, both of Emory University. They offer the argument that a closer look at Durkheim's research provides credence to the opposite conclusion that these "anomic" suicides occur to people who seem to be OVER integrated in society [www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/7/1139]. These critiques noted, Durkheim's famous piece on suicide and society are always up for interpretation for years to come, showing its true staying power as one of sociology's landmark writings.