Durkheim’s theory of suicide and deviance
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EMILEDURKHEIM.pptEMILE DURKHEIM
(1858-1917)
EMILE DURKHEIM
(1858-1917)
I. Biography
Born April 15, 1958 in Epinal, France
Jewish, came from a long line of rabbis
Studies Talmud; rejects religion as outmoded but recognizes the role is plays in creating solidarity in society and in regulating people
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Biography, Cont’d
Eventually becomes agnostic and decides on a secular career
Later studies religion from an agnostic perspective
Maintains ties to his family and religious community, despite agnosticism
1879-- Enters Ecole Normale Superieur in Paris (a very prestigious college)
Becomes interested in a scientific approach to studying society
–Goes against the philosophical approach of the college and the times
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Biography, Cont’d
1882–graduates Ecole Normale Superieur
Because his ideas differ from the dominant ways of thinking about society in France at the time, he can’t find a job
1885–Moves to Germany to further his studies in the scientific method and how to use it to study society
1887–Returns to Bordeaux, France and is appointed Head of Courses on Teaching and the Social Sciences, effectively becoming Chair of the first Sociology Department in France.
Advocates the use of scientific method to study and develop better teaching methods
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Biography, Cont’d
1887–Marries Louise Dreyfus, later has one son, Andre and one daughter, Marie.
1893–Publishes The Division of Labor in Society
1895–Publishes The Rules of Sociological Method
1897–Publishes Suicide: A Study in Sociology
1899–Establishes France’s first sociological journal, L’Annee Sociologique
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Biography, Cont’d
1902–Appointed Charge du Cours (Head of Courses) at the Sorbonne
1906–Made a Full Professor, appointed Chair of the department Science of Education and Sociology at the Sorbonne
1912–Published The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
1916–Son Andre is killed on the Belgian front in WWI
1917–Suffered a stroke and several months later died
EMILE DURKHEIM
II. Major Contributions to Sociology
Considered by many to be the founder of sociology
Established a positivist scientific method in sociology
Established sociology as an academic discipline
His work continues to be followed by scholars interested in deviance, crime, family, education, and religion
Seeks to understand what holds society together and how.
EMILE DURKHEIM
III. Biographical and Historical Influences
A. Religious influences:
Jewish, lived in Alsace-Lorraine region of France;
early in his life Jews were tolerated;
later, in 1870s, France entered the Franco-Prussian War, when Napoleon III invaded Prussia & lost,
Jews were scapegoated & persecuted
--Durkheim becomes interested in in-group solidarity and the conditions under which it becomes stronger
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III. Biographical and Historical Influences, cont’d
B. Political--the political unrest in France during his lifetime led Durkheim to question the moral foundations of society;
Durkheim asks: What holds society together, giving it a feeling of unity?
EMILE DURKHEIM
III. Biographical and Historical Influences, cont’d
C. Rapid Industrialization & Urbanization–breakdown of close social order of pre-industrial era;
urbanization displaced the moral unity and order of the small town communities of Durkheim's childhood
Durkheim concludes old moral order needs to be replaced by a new moral order;
--he distrusts self-interest (against Adam Smith) & believes that morality is based on a concern for the common good.
EMILE DURKHEIM
IV. Intellectual Roots
A. Enlightenment Philosophers–
Adopts ideas of individual freedoms, democracy, scientific rationality, and secularism.
Does not favor returning to a simpler time, as Rousseau did, but opposes rapid, revolutionary change, as Marx, Voltaire, and others did.
Today he is often considered conservative because he seeks to understand social problems, how to predict and control them
EMILE DURKHEIM
IV. Intellectual Roots
1. Immanuel Kant–what is moral?
Kant believed that moral decisions should not be based on “enlightened self-interest”
Instead “morality” meant first fulfilling one’s social obligations and only then pursuing one’s personal interests.
--Society before the individual
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IV. Intellectual Roots
2. Utilitarians (e.g., Thomas Hobbes, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith)-- Society = the sum of individuals
Morality = the promotion of the greater happiness or good for the greater number of individuals (Bentham)
–Adam Smith promotes the idea of enlightened self-interest
--when people pursue their own self-interests, the result will be the greater good for the greater number, and this is good for society
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IV. Intellectual Roots
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) – Utilitarian, cousin of Charles Darwin
Adopts the idea that individuals competing in society result in the “survival of the fittest”
Overlooks the structural and cultural constraints that keep some locked in poverty
*Assumes wealthiest are “fittest,” even though most of the wealthiest did nothing to achieve their wealth
*Ignores the hard work that most poor people do
Note: Such beliefs are a foundation for fiscal conservatism in the United States.
EMILE DURKHEIM
IV. Intellectual Roots
-Durkheim is anti-utilitarian:
- Believes society exists sui generis –in a category by itself; is greater than the sum of individuals with an independent existence
b. Believes in individual rights as long as they do not conflict with societal needs
c. Agrees with Kant's idea that the rights of individuals are connected with their membership in society
--thus individual rights are connected with responsibility to the group
[Note: This idea is a foundation today for social conservatism and liberalism in the U.S.]
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IV. Intellectual Roots
3. Thomas Hobbes–society is based on a “social contract”–an agreement among individuals to limit some freedoms to gain others
(E.g., Agree to limit their freedom to take whatever they want to gain the freedom from fear of robbery, burglary, or assault.)
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IV. Intellectual Roots
--Durkheim says social solidarity must precede the social contract, since there are 2 elements of the contract
a. That we agree to enter a contract; and
b. That we first agree to abide by our agreement--that trust or solidarity must first exist
EMILE DURKHEIM
IV. Intellectual Roots
Solidarity as the basis of the social contract is created through social rituals and is reflected through totems--symbols of what is sacred to us
--Solidarity-- a sense of belonging to a group/society
–Solidarity is a foundation of our collective beliefs
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IV. Intellectual Roots
B. Psychology--developed the idea of individual consciousness & used scientific method to study it;
--From this Durkheim develops the idea of the common or collective consciousness— the collective beliefs of a society, greater than the sum of individual consciousnesses, and needs to be studied as a separate phenomenon
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V. Theoretical Framework: Positivism
- Ontology–Realism–The assumption that social order is an independent entity
- Society exists sui generis —is a category in its own right
Durkheim is interested in “social facts”—aspects of social life that are common throughout society and that influence behavior
e.g., law, demographic shifts, economy, division of labor
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V. Theoretical Framework: Positivism
2. Epistemology –Durkheim says study “social facts”–events, trends, and social forces that exist outside of individuals
Developed structural positivism, examining through empirical evidence the impact of institutions and forces outside the individual on group behavior
And the comparative method-- the researcher looks at the conditions under which a phenomenon occurs and then compares it with the conditions under which it rarely occurs; then draws inferences or conclusions about causality
3. Level of abstraction that is desirable–nomothetic--grand scale theories with high levels of abstraction
4. Goals–To predict and control social problems
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
Durkheim is credited for creating sociology as an academic discipline and for recognizing that the methods used in the natural and physical sciences could be used to study society.
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VI. Major Ideas:
- Defined society is a distinct form of reality--society forms a reality in and of itself, not reducible to its component parts or to its individual members.
- Society exists sui generis —in a category by itself
C. Society has an a priori existence– it exists independently of those living in the society or independently of the social institutions in a society
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
Three key points:
- Sociology is a distinct field of study that focuses on society and social facts to explain human behavior;
- The methods of the natural sciences can be used to study society;
- Sociology is distinct from psychology;
Sociology focuses on social facts —forces outside individuals and groups; psychology focuses on individual psyches and the brain
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
Sociology focuses on social facts —forces outside individuals and group psyches and the brain
social facts— identifiable by the following traits:
1.General or common throughout society, existing outside of individuals;
2. Capable of exercising control over behavior;
3. Usually pre-exist and outlive members of society
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
Some examples of social facts:
*Collective consciousness/beliefs—norms, folkways, mores;
*Language, which shapes how we understand the world
*Law—which codifies some of our collective beliefs
*Customs and traditions
*Religion
*Demographic trends
*Technology, which may open or close opportunities to us
*Levels and types of social solidarity
*Collective currents-- the “great movements of enthusiasm, indignation, and pity in a crowd” that do not start with any one individual
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
We are often completely unaware of how social facts control us until we try to defy their control.
“In the case of purely moral maxims; the public conscience exercises a check on every act which offends it by means of the surveillance it exercises over the conduct of citizens, and the appropriate penalties at its disposal. In many cases the constraint is less violent, but nevertheless it always exists. If I do not submit to the conventions of society, if in my dress I do not conform to the customs observed in my country and in my class, the ridicule I provoke, the social isolation in which I am kept, although in an attenuated form, the same effects as a punishment in the strict sense of the word.” (p. 102)
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
Durkheim sums it up this way,
“Here, then, is a category of facts with very distinctive characteristics: it consists of ways of acting, thinking, and feeling, external to the individual, and endowed with a power of coercion, by reason of which they control him.” (p. 102)
Where does the control come from? “…since their source is not in the individual, their substratum can be no other than society.” (p. 102)
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
Durkheim concludes that sociologists should study these “facts” that exist outside of individuals.
We should work to discover the external forces that shape and control our lives.
We should work to show correlations between two or more types of social fact.
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
The Normal and the Pathological (A subsection of The Rules)
Crime (and deviance) is inevitable in all societies because it marks the moral boundaries in a society and communicates to members of society what behaviors are acceptable and which are unacceptable
Crime asserts the collective beliefs on which its definition is based
Even in an idyllic perfect society, some behaviors will be defined as deviant
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EMILE DURKHEIM
VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
Crime and deviance are important facilitators of social change
As crimes and deviance become evident, the collective consciousness (shared beliefs) of a society can change
e.g., child abuse, spouse abuse, civil rights for people of color; same-sex sexual activity, expressions of gender
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VII. The Rules of Sociological Method
“Crime is, then, necessary; it is bound up with the fundamental conditions of social life, and by that very fact it is useful, because these conditions of which it is a part are themselves indispensable to the normal evolution of morality and law.” (p. 107)
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EMILE DURKHEIM
VIII. The Division of Labor in Society
Deviance includes everything from violations of norms (both folkways and mores) to acts committed that violate laws (crime and taboos)
The stronger the level of solidarity and the stronger the collective consciousness, the more acts will be considered deviant, with punishments swifter and harsher than in societies with lower levels of solidarity and weaker C.C.
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EMILE DURKHEIM
“If the collective conscience is stronger, if it has enough authority practically to suppress these divergences, it will also be more sensitive, more exacting; and, reacting against the slightest deviations with the energy it otherwise displays only against more considerable infractions, it will attribute to them the same gravity as formerly to crimes. In other words, it will designate them as criminal.” (p. 107) (From The Rules…)
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VIII. The Division of Labor in Society
Durkheim believes that societies’ level of solidarity progress from stronger to weaker.
To examine this he looks at the division of labor as a social fact and then correlates that with a level of solidarity and that to crime and punishment
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VIII. The Division of Labor in Society
The Division of Labor in Society
1. In pre-modern, horticultural and agrarian societies, there was a low division of labor—people all did essentially the same jobs, with divisions based primarily in gender and age
2. Societies with a low division of labor tend to have what Durkheim conceptualized as mechanical solidarity—a feeling that everyone was the same
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EMILE DURKHEIM
VIII. The Division of Labor in Society
The feeling of likeness or sameness resulted in a unified collective consciousness and very strong solidarity.
3. In modern societies there is a high division of labor— people carry out numerous jobs and roles and are very different from one another
4. Societies with a high division of labor tend to have a more diverse collective consciousness and organic solidarity— where each person is interdependent though the feeling of solidarity and belonging is weaker
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VIII. The Division of Labor in Society
5. Societies with mechanical solidarity are very exacting about crime and deviance.
Everyone is to respect the group, and those who deviate or offend the group are punished quickly and severely
Durkheim called the system of justice “repressive law”—crimes are considered to be against the group, and punishments are swift and severe
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VIII. The Division of Labor in Society
6. Societies with a high division of labor and organic solidarity still have criminal codes, but deviance is more tolerated, and crimes are considered to be against individuals, not the entire society.
Restitutive law —designed to restore justice to the victim of crime is practiced
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IX. La Suicide
La Suicide— Durkheim’s study, Suicide
People think of suicide as an intensely personal act.
Durkheim wanted to study how social facts affected rates of suicide between societies, historical periods, and groups of people within a society
He demonstrates that individual pathologies (e.g., depression) are often rooted in social conditions
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IX. La Suicide
La Suicide— Durkheim’s study, Suicide
Suicide rates are highest in places or eras where people lack or have too much integration and moral regulation.
Durkheim argues that there is a balance between the individual and society that must be kept
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IX. La Suicide
Variations occur in correlation with two variables:
Level of integration—membership of individuals in social groups; identification with social groups
Level of regulation—the ways in which individuals are bound to the group through rituals and routine expectations
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IX. La Suicide
Egoism occurs when individuals are not well-integrated into society
e.g., are not married, don’t have children, aren’t employed, don’t belong to groups
The individual self has too much freedom and becomes self-destructive
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IX. La Suicide
Anomie—a sense of normlessness—occurs when individuals are not regulated by society
People may be integrated (e.g., belong to a church; have a job) but lack the regulation that comes with routine and ritual demands
e.g., I may belong to a church but only go on high holidays; I may have a job but work from home and have few demands on me
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IX. La Suicide
Durkheim argues that both egoism and anomie are chronic in modern societies
We are not well-integrated; we put individual needs before societal needs; we don’t join in
We lack the moral regulation that comes from rituals that are common in some religions; we lack
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IX. La Suicide
Egoistic suicide rates are higher among people who lack integration into society—people feel isolated and morally adrift
When people are poorly integrated, they do not have society to sustain them
Suicide rates are higher among single, divorced, and widowed people than among married people
Higher among unemployed than employed people
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IX. La Suicide
Anomic suicide rates are higher among people who lack regulation
Regulation comes from rituals, routines, and other constraints
*Jews—highest rituals, lowest suicide rates
*Catholics—mid-level of ritual, middle suicide rates
*Protestants—lowest rituals, highest suicide rates of the three groups
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IX. La Suicide
You might think about what hypothesis you would offer regarding the suicide rates of Muslims or Atheists if all other factors (e.g., marriage, employment, etc.) were controlled
What hypothesis would you offer regarding people who have been married and divorced several times?
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IX. La Suicide
Durkheim is also interested in what happens when people are overly-integrated into a society
--When they identify with the society and place its needs before its own
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IX. La Suicide
Altruism is an unselfish regard for or devotion to others
e.g., jumping into a rushing river to save a drowning person
Altruistic suicide rates are higher in small societies where there is mechanical solidarity
e.g., among Native Americans or First Nation people (e.g., Inuit) who are known to commit suicide when they are no longer useful; suicide bombers
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IX. La Suicide
Fatalism is an acceptance of the inevitable, a belief in fate
Fatalistic suicide rates are higher in groups where regulation of individuals is oppressive
Durkheim mentioned this only in a footnote
e.g., Rates of suicide among slaves, oppressed people (e.g., suicide attempts by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay)
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IX. La Suicide
He wants to know why suicide rates are lower in small rural communities and higher in large urban centers.
Small societies tend to have mechanical solidarity with adequate integration into the social order and adequate moral regulation
Large urban societies have organic solidarity and lack adequate integration and moral regulation
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IX. La Suicide
High Regulation------------------Low Regulation
Fatalistic Suicide Anomic Suicide
High Integration-----------------Low Integration
Altruistic Suicide Egoistic Suicide
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VI. Major Ideas:
In times of financial crisis, it is not poverty, per se, that results in higher rates of suicide, but the anomie—lack of norms to guide and regulate behavior—that occurs
Durkheim argues that poverty and limited means are buffers against suicide because they regulate our aspirations.
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IX. La Suicide
He wants to know why suicide rates are lower in small rural communities and higher in large urban centers. Why modern societies have higher suicide rates than traditional societies
Small societies tend to have mechanical solidarity with adequate integration into the social order and adequate moral regulation
Large urban societies have organic solidarity and lack adequate integration and moral regulation
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IX. La Suicide
Durkheim has been criticized for over-simplifying modern and traditional societies
There is also co-linearity (overlap) between regulation and integration
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Travis Hirschi: Social Control Theory
Sidebar:
In Durkheim’s theory of suicide, we can see how being involved in groups and following routines buffers us against suicide.
Durkheim thought that participating in religious rituals created solidarity and made people want to go along with the conscience collective of their society.
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Travis Hirschi: Social Control Theory
Sidebar:
Travis Hirschi (1935- ) developed “social control theory” by building on some of Durkheim’s ideas
In 1969, Hirschi theorized that there are four social factors that insulate people from becoming involved in criminal behavior.
(See https:// lumen.instructure.com/courses/199939/pages/Section7-17 )
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Travis Hirschi: Social Control Theory
Sidebar:
Those four factors are as follows:
- Attachment—our connections to others. When we are attached to people who follow the rules of society, we worry about what they will think of us.
- Commitment—the investments we make in the community. If we’re known in the community by the work (or volunteer work we do), we have more to lose than someone who doesn’t.
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Travis Hirschi: Social Control Theory
Sidebar:
3. Involvement—participating in groups and organizations. Kids who belong to clubs or play sports are less likely to commit crimes than those who don’t.
4. Belief—if we believe in the legitimacy of the rules and laws we’re more likely to follow them, even when no one is looking
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Travis Hirschi: Social Control Theory
I see strong connections between Durkheim’s theory of suicide and its focus on integration, regulation, rituals, and the conscience collective and Hirschi’s theory.
The connections between rituals, solidarity, and the collective consciousness and Hirschi’s theory will become clearer.
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EMILE DURKHEIM
X. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Durkheim sees religious (and secular) ceremonies as ways of worshipping social life and what people in a society hold to be sacred (i.e., beyond the everyday world)
Religion goes beyond the worship of supernatural deities; it worships society itself
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X. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
He divides religion into rituals and beliefs
Rituals are highly routinized acts that provide a common focus that unites people despite their differences
e.g., Communion, Friday Prayers, Marking the Sabbath, Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem
Rituals build solidarity—they are common experiences that bind us together
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X. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Symbols are objects that stand for or represent something else
Symbols show membership in a group
e.g., Cross, Crucifix, Star of David, Crescent moon and star
“Without symbols, social sentiments could have only precarious existence.” (123)—They solidify the conscience collective.
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X. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Through ritual interaction, aspects of the group become sacred –those aspects of the group that are extraordinary and “above and beyond” the everyday life world
Durkheim refers to the everyday aspects of life as profane—the mundane aspects of day to day life
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X. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Religion emerges as groups feel the collective current of interaction and feel it as something exterior to themselves.
Collective current —a surge of emotion that runs through a crowd
The collective current then turn the sacred aspects of the community into symbols that represent the group and their membership in it
Put simply: God is in the gathering and is nothing more than the sacred essence of society
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XI. Other Major Ideas:
Durkheim theorized that getting children and adults integrated into schools and later work, into religious organizations, and other groups, in addition to belonging to their families, would provide the integration and regulation needed to prevent them from engaging in deviant and criminal acts.
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XI. Other Major Ideas:
In these groups, children would learn the conscience collective of their culture.
Through ritual interaction, they would build the solidarity and moral cohesion with the group that would make them want to follow the rules.
Only when that fails, Durkheim argued, should a society need to turn to punishment
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