Dannah Card

February 24, 1999

Suicide – Quiz #1 

In observance of sociological method, Durkheim states the primary principle that "social facts must be studied as things, that is, as realities external to the individual" (37-38). Furthermore, Durkheim asserts that the research of social facts must move beyond mere metaphysical reflection on social themes to the actual use of circumscribed, definable, limitable facts; which subsequently may yield objective and authoritative documentation (36). Durkheim’s study of suicide was of utmost importance because he was the first individual to quantitatively operationalize a theoretical perspective. In Book One of this study, Durkheim focuses on extra-social factors broadly categorized as psychopathic states, normal psychological states (which specifically include race and heredity), cosmic factors, and imitation. The following arguments demonstrate the use of data to prove/disprove Durkheim’s hypotheses approximately 100 years ago and/or those of our present-day society.

Durkheim offers evidence from which he discounts the argument that the fundamental causes of suicide are alcoholism and insanity. Regarding alcoholism, Durkheim compared the French map of suicides with those of alleged alcoholism. The primary contaminated centers in the Ile-de-France and on the Mediterranean reflected the following toward suicidal propensities: "the Rhone is not above the average, most of the Norman departments are below it and Brittany is almost immune" (78). These large differences account for the inability to correlate the two phenomena. Durkheim subsequently investigated the potential correlation between suicide and the nervous and/or mental diseases that result from alcoholism. The French departments were ranked according to their suicidal ranking into 8 classes. Durkheim discovered that "whereas suicides increase sixfold and over, the proportion of alcoholic insane barely increases by a few units and the growth is not regular; the second class surpasses the third, the fifth the sixth, the seventh the eighth" (78). Alcohol may be an attributing cause to suicide, rather than a fundamental cause, through the potential mental disturbances that it may cause.

Regarding insanity, Durkheim first discounts the concept of monomanias. "The different sorts of conscious activity are no longer regarded as separate forces," he wrote, but "interdependent functions" (61). One stress in an individual’s life does not affect solely one part of that person; rather, the person’s entire being may be affected. Durkheim states, "On the whole it appears that there are many suicides where the insane and idiots are numerous, and that the inverse is true. But there is no consistent agreement between the two scales which would show a definite causal connection between the two sets of phenomena" (75). In one study, Norway is ranked as #1 of 9 European countries for accounts of insanity. Norway is #4, however, in accounts of suicide. Scotland, the 2^nd ranked country for insanity, has a much larger gap. This country is ranked #8 out of 9 countries for accounts of suicide. The ranking continues. Saxony, at #8 of 9 regarding insanity, is ranked as #2 in terms of the occurrence of suicide (74). This empirical data supports Durkheim’s assertion that there is no direct correlation between the two phenomena. This is not to say that insanity, too, is not an attributing cause. It, however, is not a fundamental cause of suicide. The roots of many insanities may be found in societal factors.

In order to prove or disprove that heredity is the cause for the relatively low suicide rate among Afro-Americans in comparison to whites in the United States, a researcher would need to examine this racial group outside of the United States. This research would be modeled off of Durkheim’s study of the "German organism" (87). Durkheim studied the propensity of suicide among the German race in Austria, a country completely outside of Germany (87). Similarly, African-Americans could be studied in another country such as England. Through this study, it could be determined if the low suicidal levels among African-Americans in the United States is accurately attributed to the civilization and society of the United States; or if these levels remain low in other countries, thus suggesting a hereditary link. This cross-cultural examination is imperative.

The following hypothesis, "more homicides occur on nights with a full moon because its abnormally strong gravitational pull alters the biochemistry of the body," can be disproved by empirical data included in Suicide. Durkheim explores the effects of cosmic factors, including climate and seasonal temperature, on the progression of suicide. A firm starting point in the study of homicide may begin by a parallel to the physical environment’s effects on one’s inclination to commit suicide. After scrutinizing his data, Durkheim inducted that suicides do indeed increase from January to July. This is a result of social factors such as the more intense social life during these months, not a direct result of the physical environment. The homicide level could subsequently not be directly correlated to the full-moon. The physical effects of the moon could not be named as the direct reason for increased homicides. Rather, the influential social factors in this situation must be determined as in the given example.

The "Heaven’s Gate" suicides were not the result of imitation. Imitation occurs when an action is transferred from one individual to another. The action can be as simple as a dance-motion, a type of sneeze, or a handshake. The individuals do not need to have any type of connection to one another prior to the transfer, nor will they necessarily be any more connected after the transfer. This definition focuses on individuals. Durkheim states that mass suicides, such as that of the 39 individuals who committed suicide in association with Heaven’s Gate, "seem to spring from a collective resolve, a genuine social consensus rather than a simple contagious impulse" (131). The idea of the group "Heaven’s Gate" did primarily evolve in the mind of an individual, Marshall H. Applewhite ("Do"), and that of his colleague, Bonnie Lu Trusdale ("Ti"). The mass suicide, however, was a collective effort of the group under the common pressure they felt of "the close of the Age;" the period of time in which we currently are situated. This collective effort of 39 individuals may not be deemed a result of imitation.