Suicide (book)

Suicide (Le Suicide) was one of the groundbreaking books in the field of sociology. Written by French sociologist Émile Durkheim and published in 1897 it was a case study of suicide, a publication unique for its time which provided an example of what the sociological monograph should look like.

Findings
Durkheim established that:
 * Suicide rates are higher in men than women (although married women who remained childless for a number of years ended up with a high suicide rate)
 * Suicide rates are higher for those who are single than those who are married
 * Suicide rates are higher for people without children than people with children
 * Suicide rates are higher among Protestants than Catholics and Jews
 * Suicide rates are higher among soldiers than civilians
 * Suicide rates are higher in times of peace than in times of war (the suicide rate in France fell after the coup d'etat of Louis Bonaparte, for example. War also reduced the suicide rate, after war broke out in 1866 between Austria and Italy, the suicide rate fell by 14% in both countries.)
 * Suicide rates are higher in Scandinavian countries
 * the higher the education level, the more likely it was that an individual would commit suicide, however Durkheim established that religion was more important than education; Jewish people were generally highly educated but had a low suicide rate.

Types of suicide

 * Egoistic suicide reflects a prolonged sense of not belonging, of not being integrated in a community, an experience, of not having a tether, an absence that can give rise to meaninglessness, apathy, melancholy, and depression.
 * Altruistic suicide: is characterized by a sense of being overwhelmed by a group's goals and beliefs.
 * Anomic suicide: reflects an individual's moral confusion and lack of social direction, which is related to dramatic social and economic upheaval.
 * Fatalistic suicide: the opposite of anomic suicide, when a person is excessively regulated, when their futures are pitilessly blocked and passions violently choked by oppressive discipline.