Durkheim, Mills, & Suicide: Practicing Medical Sociology

Emile Durkheim Emile Durkheim 1858-1917

The Shift in Social Integration Anomie Social Integration

The basic scientific method Theoretical DEDUCTIVE Empirical INDUCTIVE

From the Theoretical to the empirical More Integration: Less Anomie Less integration: More Anomie: [Operationalization] Empirical: Religion Suicide Rates Jews Low Catholics Medium Protestants High

And back to theory…. Egoistic suicide: Suicide as a means to escape facing the consequences of actions. Altruistic suicide: Suicide as a means to contribute to the social group.  Anomic suicide: Suicide from a loss of social contacts and sense of belonging. Fatalistic suicide: Suicide to escape the rules of a social group.

C C. Wright Mills The Sociological Imagination

The Sociological Imagination Biography History Society " No social study that does not come back to the problem of biography, of history and of their interactions within a society has completed its intellectual journey." Mills-p.3 " No social study that does not come back to the problem of biography, of history and of their interactions within a society has completed its intellectual journey." Mills-p.3

MACRO / ISSUES MICRO / TROUBLES

VALUES & THREATS Awareness of Values Perception of Threat YES NO CRISIS  ANXIETY MALAISE  WELL-BEING  INDIFFERENCE 

Suicide rate table handout Suicide rate (per 100,000 persons in each age group) By age, sex, and race, United States, 2007 Suicide rate table.docx