Durkheim was a French-born sociologist born in 1958 and died in November 1917. He established various academic disciplines and is considered the current principal architect of the social sciences. He actually maintained his dominance in the field of social sciences until his death. Durkheim also presented several articles of sociological knowledge alongside religion. His studies, like that on suicide, have in fact chosen a popular discourse. Much of Durkheim's work concerned the study of social facts, a term he developed to describe phenomena that exist in themselves and cannot be affected by the actions of individuals (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim considered social facts to have a sui generis existence, that is, a self-sufficient existence, greater and more objective in relation to the actions of the individuals who make up society (Martin and Lee, 1994). Unlike the facts covered by the natural sciences, “social” facts therefore refer to a category of particular phenomena and also exist independently, without individual manifestations (Durkheim, 1951). Social facts of this type are in reality endowed with coercive power because of their capacity to take control of personal behavior (Martin and Lee, 1994). According to Durkheim, these types of phenomena should neither be condensed to psychological nor biological bases (Martin & Lee, 1994). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Thus, phenomena considered the most “individualistic,” for example suicide, would end up being classified as a fact that is socially objective. Durkheim further argued that the people who make up society do not directly cause suicide (Ritzer, 1992). He bases his argument on the fact that suicide being a social fact, its presence in society is independent despite the dominant desires of the individuals who compose it (Ritzer, 1992). Therefore, the departure of an individual from society will have no effect on suicide since the society that the individual leaves behind still contains suicide. Sociological tasks involve the discovery of various characteristics of social facts that can only be revealed through an experimental or quantitative approach (Hassard, 1995). In the case of the study on suicide carried out by Durkheim, he relied particularly on statistics (Bellah, 1973). Durkheim is considered one of the first founders of structural functionalism. In general, Durkheim rejected reductionist arguments (Durkheim, 1951). Instead, he focused on cultural values ​​and norms, social structures as well as social facts; which he considered to be external to every human being. Durkheim's study classified suicide into four categories and provided evidence for one of his theories that differences in suicide rates result from changes in intangible social facts (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim is famous because of his macro-level views on social reality and its individual-level relationships. In fact, Durkheim managed to make a major contribution to the development of structural functionalism alongside sociology in general (Durkheim, 1951). Basically, Durkheim explored the different suicide rates among different religious groups and specifically between Catholics and Protestants. He found that suicide rates were lower among Catholics than Protestants (Stark & ​​William, 1996). Durkheim believed that low suicide rates among Catholics were the resultdynamic social control mechanisms of religion (Stark and William, 1996). Therefore, he attributes the increase in the number of suicides among Protestants to the large open space in the region. In Durkheim's perspective, the level of integration of Catholic society was normal but that of Protestants was low (Stark and William, 1996). However, this interpretation faced two major problems. First, Durkheim had relied on the data of earlier researchers, particularly A. Wagner and H. Morselli (Stark and William, 1996), who had essentially generalized their individual data. Second, subsequent researchers found that differences in suicide rates between Protestants and Catholics tended to be large in the German-speaking European part and were therefore perhaps just a spurious reflection of other factors. (Pope and Danigelis, 1981). Despite its limitations, Durkheim's study of suicide really influenced the proponents of control theory (Pope and Danigelis, 1981). Durkheim proposed four categories of suicide, namely selfish suicide, fatalistic suicides, altruistic suicide, and anomic suicide (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim considered selfish suicides to be those which result from the weakening of individual bonds which naturally integrate the community (Thompson, 2002). In other words, selfish suicides are caused by the breakdown, or even reduction, of social integration. Durkheim associated this type of suicide with “excessive individuation,” implying that most victims initially become detached from other members of the community (Thompson, 2002). Generally, individuals who do not engage sufficiently in specific social groups: - end up with minimal social support and therefore the likelihood that they will commit suicide is high (Thompson, 2002). For example, Durkheim revealed that single people, especially men, committed suicide more often than their married counterparts due to their less subservience to the goals of established social norms. Apparently, similar problems affected widows. Among a million widows aged 65, 628 of them committed suicide, while among a million men aged 65, only 461 committed suicide (Lukes, 1985). The composition of the sample was appropriate since the age group was predominantly married men (nearly 90%) (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim's analysis indicates, however, that although widows have a higher risk of committing suicide than married people, their suicide rate is lower than that of single people (Ritzer, 1992). Durkheim linked these figures to the family factor because he believed that a simpler conclusion would prove problematic (Ritzer, 1992). This would be problematic because of changes in the number of marriages that occurred during this period, while suicide rates tripled. Significantly, Durkheim was quick to notice that the factor was not simply marriage but a marriage that had children (Ritzer, 1992). This is because marriages with children had lower suicide rates than infertile families (Thompson, 2002). Thus, the main factor was to consider the family as a basic social unit, but not marriage. Additionally, Durkheim further studied the role of wars and crises on suicide rates. He discovered during social crises (e.g. revolutions) alongside wars; suicide rates fell remarkably (Bellah, 1973). Overall, he found that a more religious society had lower suicide rates and that the strength of family relationships also determined the magnitude of the suicide rate (Thompson,2002). Additionally, social integration greatly affected the suicide rate. On the other hand, Durkheim classified altruistic suicides as those that occur in highly integrated societies in which the needs of society as a whole are given higher priority than individual needs (Thompson, 2002). Altruistic suicides therefore occur on a scale of integration opposite to that of selfish suicide (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim stated that the suicide rate in altruistic societies was generally low because self-interest was not considered important (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim viewed the armed forces from this perspective and was truly surprised to discover that suicide rates were high within military service (Thompson, 2002). This was surprising because the military, like religions and cohesive societies, should demonstrate strong solidarity and furthermore, the military is generally the most physically fit in society (Durkheim, 1951). Furthermore, it was not fair to attribute the causes of suicide either to hatred of military service or even to the inability to get used to the routines of military service (Durkheim, 1951). Indeed, it was evident that suicide rates were directly proportional to length of military service (Durkheim, 1951). Additionally, senior officers committed suicide at a higher rate than their subordinates (Bellah, 1973). Additionally, elite units were affected by higher suicide rates than normal units (Bellah, 1973). Finally, the suicide rate was low in units that demonstrated weaker military spirit (Bellah, 1973). Therefore, Durkheim stated that senior military officers had to abandon their personal individuality to cope with the demands of service, as this increased their risk of suicide (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim classified anomic suicides as those that occur due to moral dysregulation alongside failure to define legitimate aspirations through restrictive social ethics, which has the potential to impose a different meaning and order on individual consciousness (Ritzer, 1992). This is indicative of the failure of economic development as well as the division of labor that resulted in Durkheim's organic solidarity (Ritzer, 1992). In this situation, people fail to recognize their rightful place in society. Durkheim explained this state of moral disorder as one in which individuals' desires are unlimited, thus leading to infinite personal disappointments (Ritzer, 1992). Finally, Durkheim suggested that fatalistic suicides occur primarily in extremely oppressive societies that cause people to choose death rather than continue living in such societies (Durkheim, 1951). Generally, it is one of the rarest reasons that can push an individual to suicide (Durkheim, 1951). However, fatalistic suicides are common in prisons, as individuals choose to die rather than continue an abusive and overly regulated prison life that deprives them of the opportunity to realize their desires (Durkheim, 1951). Durkheim's types of suicide were based on the two degrees of imbalance of social forces that constitute moral regulation alongside social integration. Durkheim revealed the impact on aspects of the social aggregate such as: war can lead to increased altruism, economic booms or disasters contribute to anomie. Durkheim's analysis of suicide indicates the way in which social facts, unlike biological and psychological facts, can be emphasized and prompt constructive methods of examining the actions of individuals. Furthermore, the