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Classical Theory Durkheim

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The Sociological Method and Suicide “Collective life did not arise from the individual life; on the contrary, it is the latter that emerged from the former” (Durkheim in McIntosh 1997:197). This might be hard to understand because we are an individually motivated society, but what Durkheim is saying is that individual life occurs as a result of the collective life, that society is not made up of individuals. Through theories based on observation, society is treated as a fact. Each person has a function in order to keep society together. Durkheim calls this the Sociological Method, and explains this method through social facts. These social facts are the collective phenomena existing independent of us individually. Collective conscience is spread throughout society delivering solidarity through common beliefs. With everyone playing a role Durkheim is telling us that everyone is necessary. People end up doing things in relation to one another and act on their duties and roles such as a citizen. What drives the individual to conform with the rest of society are the social forces outside of them. It is instilled in us to pay attention to the patterns in society. The degree to which an individual is a part of society tells us about their social integration, whereas the degree of an their actions and wants are controlled by their society tells us about their social regulation. Durkheim uses social integration and social regulation throughout his study of suicide to describe the four types, egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic. (Durkheim in McIntosh 1997:214) “Suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result.”
Four types of suicide Egoistic suicide is described as retreating from the outside world with little to no social

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