Anomic Sucide

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Anomic Suicide

The theorist who birthed the idea of Anomic Suicide was Elile Durkheim. Durkheim was born in Lorraine, France in the year 1858 and spent most of his life developing the ideas of Functionalism and other issues of modern sociology. “He was certainly the most important sociological forerunner of modern functionalism.” (Wallace p20). In 1917, at the age of 59, Durkheim died from a stroke possibly caused by overwork and also the death of his only son had a terrible impact on him.
Durkheim was intrigued and concerned by the rising rate of suicide in industrialized countries, he also saw it as a social problem and wanted to learn more about it. Durkeim derives the Anomic suicide from organizational dysfunction or tension. The word Anomic means normlessness, a situation which could arise when rules and norms are not present. When this occurs, people lack feelings of affiliation and emotional support, lack contact with others who share similar interests and access to opportunities.
Durkheim goes on to explain that our society is defined by continuous contact with others. Through this contact, we create social relationships and thus find a purpose to life. This is even greater than our individual self-interests. The more we communicate and have interactions with others the more we need to be associated with a group of individuals. Individuals need relationships such as marriage, neighborhoods and friends. It is for this reason that many individuals join religious and political groups, in doing so they become part of a large entity, something bigger and further reaching than themselves.
Anomic Suicide comes from when people feel that they are no longer integrating and interacting with any social group (religions, political, etc.), or when there is a death of a partner and they feel as if they are by themselves or sometimes if they personally are involved in a economic catastrophe. All these are reasons for people ...