Suicide:
Durkheim and Anomie
Society is
a stable system.
- Balance
- Equilibrium
- All parts work
together to promote stability and order
Essence of
a society==> Moral order==> "Collective Conscience" (and perhaps
"consciousness")
Study of Suicide:
Focus on "Social Currents" that can sweep through the "collective
conscience." These currents push people in different directions and determine
patternings of behavior.
Critical elements
of moral order: The Social Bond (issue of "solidarity")
- Normative
structure (regulatory function: expectations, responsibilities; role structures
for self and others.
- Integrative
function (relation/connection between individual and the group/society).
- Each forms
a continuum, "Normal" society is in balance.
- Mechanical
versus Organic Solidarity
- Society characterized by Mechanical Solidarity: strong normative order (repressive law) and tightly knit group structure (segmentary).
- Society characterized by Organic Solidarity: weaker normative order (restitutive law) and loosely knit group structure (differentiated).
- Significant issue: shift from Mechanical to Organic Solidarity ("dynamic density").
Types of Suicide and Social Currents
Additional
Resources:
- Breakdown of
normative structure, rules/norms weak, unclear, indistinct.
- No "guidance"
for the individual, no limitations. Society lacks the regulatory constraints
necessary to control the behavior of its members.
- A product of
change, rapid, uncontrolled, and unpredictable. A temporal transition.
- Sweeps (flows)
across an entire society.
- Unleashes the
"essence" of the individual--passion for unlimited growth, greed,
unquenchable thirst--which can only be contained within the boundaries of
a stable social system.
- Without boundaries,
limits, norms, individual life (Self and Other's) becomes meaningless-behavior
becomes uncontrollable==>Deviance
-
Egoism:
Social control is functional, but bond between individual and group is weak.
Norms become ineffective in controlling behavior.
-
Altruism:
Group needs and significance override individual existence, norms may actually
support self-destructive behavior.
-
Fatalism:
Rigidity and inflexibility. Individual (and group) stagnates.
The
Sociological Perspective
The
Functionalist Perspective
Social
Disorganization Theory
URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/suicide.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and
Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated:
Tuesday, December 29, 2015 10:29 AM
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