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")
- Mechanical versus
Organic 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.
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:
Saturday, August 30, 2008 11:03 AM
