1. What is a Social fact? ► Social facts are regularly observable facts which are exogenous to individual members of a society  facts that originate not in the individual but "outside" of him or her.  They must exist outside and prior to the individual

2. ► Social facts have three properties: ► General - They are general throughout society. They are diffused throughout the group. ► External - Social facts exist outside the individual, are prior to the individual, and exist independently of the individual’s will. ► Constraining - They often have some sort of sanction, manifested in coercion or ostracism, against any individual who resists them

3. Anomie ► In The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim proposed two concepts.  First, that societies evolved from a simple, nonspecialized form, called mechanical, toward a highly complex, specialized form, called organic. ► In the former society people behave and think alike and more or less perform the same work tasks and have the same group-oriented goals. ► When societies become more complex, or organic, work also becomes more complex. In this society, people are no longer tied to one another and social bonds are impersonal.

4. ► Anomie thus refers to a breakdown of social norms and it a condition where norms no longer control the activities of members in society.  Individuals cannot find their place in society without clear rules to help guide them.  Changing conditions as well as adjustments in lifestyle leads to dissatisfaction, conflict, and deviance.  "one does not advance when one proceeds toward no goal, or -- which is the same thing -- when the goal is infinity. To pursue a goal which is by definition unattainable is to condemn oneself to a state of perpetual unhappiness"

5. Suicide ► Suicides peak from Tuesday through Thursday and slow down considerably during the weekend.  In the U.S. today, there is also a peak on Mondays, a pattern which has been called "stormy Monday." ► Suicides are most likely to occur in the hours from 10-12 am and from 2-4 pm.  This holds for France and the U.S. although the pattern is attenuated in the U.S. today.

6. Variations by Subgroups CategoryHigh Suicide Rate Low Suicide Rate GenderMenWomen ClassProfessionalsManual workers Marital StatusNot MarriedMarried ReligionProtestantCatholic, Jewish RaceWhiteBlacks Age35-50, 16-18, 80+Other Ages

7. ► Durkheim identified two independent dimensions of social structure as he developed a theory to account for differences in the suicide rate across groups and societies.  The extent to which people are integrated into society and  The extent to which they are regulated or governed by norms pertaining to that society ► These two dimensions determine the suicide rate

8. Regulation-LowRegulation-High Integration-HighAnomicAltruistic Integration-LowEgoisticFatalistic

9. Historical Transition Toward Egoism ► Although social interactions increase over time in the transition toward modernity, the social structure does not "envelop" people any more, they interact with many different persons and groups but are not integrated into any one world. ► Accordingly, people are not regulated sufficiently, disattachment, emptiness, and highly separated individuals are the consequence. ► Hence the linear increase in the suicide rate, which is really an increase in egoistic suicide.  Egoistic here does not mean "following one's own interest"--rather, it means an orientation away from others in terms of meaningful social relations to others.

10. Homicide Rate Example ► Link Link