Emile Durkheim, the founder of the modern study of sociology, was one of the first to recognize the social context for individual pathologies, and warned of the perils of the lack of social connection. “He also went on to argue that technology and the Industrial Revolution endangered social structures.” (Von Dehsen, 1999) His works on suicide depicts the dangers that rapid industrialization and modernization can inflict to society. Durkheim expresses the tension between the more ancient demands of morality and the newer claims of rationalism. Blend, et al (1960) explains that rationalism is only “one aspect of individualism.” In a sense, Durkheim’s account of egoistic suicide is a dramatic presentation of the tension between individualism and the older dimensions of social and moral life. They further explain that suicide is the consequences of a weakening of the integration of social groups. It expresses the point that suicide can be linked with the progress of society. In addition, progress disintegrates religion that is, for Durkheim, not only a social creation, but it is in fact society divinized.
Coser (1977) states that Durkheim believes that when social regulations break down, the controlling influence of society on individual propensities is no longer effective and individuals are left to their own devices. Such a state of affairs Durkheim calls anomie, a term that refers to a condition of relative normlessness in a whole society or in some of its component groups. Anomie does not refer to a state of mind, but to a property of the social structure. It characterizes a condition in which individual desires are no longer regulated by common norms and where, as a consequence, individuals are left without moral guidance in the pursuit of their goals. In Durkheim’s anomic suicide, Blend, et al (1960) stressed that Durkheim offers correlations between the increase in divorce and the rise in suicide rates – a rise due principally to the suicides of married men – to develop the meaning of anomie. From this Durkheim concludes that the movement toward easier divorce has a serious effect upon the institution of marriage in that marriage can no longer serve so effectively as it once did in stabilizing the impulses and energies of men. This supports Durkheim’s descriptions of modern life that similarly highlight the decline of traditional and family-based social orders, as well as the development of social differentiation based on occupational specialization and exchange, but also reference the development of historically distinctive phenomena such as individualism and individual property, contractual relations and forms of justice associated with them, citizenship, and the democratic political state.” (Ramp, 2001) On the other hand, egoist suicide is the consequence of a lack of objects beyond the self, which can enlist its energy and devotion. “The egoist searches in vain for the ‘meaning of it all’; he finds life empty because he has devoted difficult labors to the development of capacities which have become detached from their social roles.” (Blend, et al, 1960)
Blend, et al (1960) cited that Durkheim stressed changes can cause depression to an individual and this piercing effect might lead to suicide. Besides the previous example, he stressed other important statistical datum that he offered in connection with anomie is the rise in the suicide rate that accompanies periods in which standards of living and normal expectations of reward change at an abnormal pace. “The suicide rate will rise not only in a depression but also when prosperity is suddenly increased.” As Blend, et al (1960) points it out, “the important fact is that the balance in the scheme of men’s expectations has been shaken by such disturbed situations – a balance which in normal times has the effect that men’s ambitions are, in general, realizable.” Coser (1977) explains that man was specifically human only in the latter capacity, and he became fully human only in and through society. Hence, true moral action lies in the sacrifice of certain individual desires for the service of groups and society. But such sacrifices redound in the last analysis to the benefit of individuals, as well as society, since unbridled desires lead to frustration and unhappiness rather than to bliss and fulfillment. Modern society seems to contain, for Durkheim, the potentialities for individualism within social regulation. The definition of modernity is “contrasted to the traditional order and implies the progressive economic and administrative rationalization and differentiation of the social world.” (Ramp, 2002) Durkheim argued that economic affluence, by stimulating human desires, carries with it dangers of anomic conditions because it “deceives us into believing that we depend on ourselves only,” while “poverty protects against suicide because it is a restraint in itself.” (Coser, 1977)
Coser (1977) explains that to Durkheim, men were creatures whose desires were unlimited. Unlike other animals, they are not satiated when their biological needs are fulfilled. “The more one has, the more one wants, since satisfactions received only stimulate instead of filling needs.” It follows from this natural insatiability of the human animal that his desires can only be held in check by external controls, that is, by societal control. Industrialization and modernization improves the society in terms of infrastructures and opportunities, which also holds the fact that it increases men’s desire. This progress develops anomie and ego-driven goals that, if not met, ends into conflict. The cult of personality encourages the development of individual capacities as ends in them. Blend, et al (1960) explains that a parallel to this relationship between the ethics of individualism and egoism is found in the relationship between the ethics of progress and anomie. If men are taught that it is a duty to contribute to the advancement of society and to the improvement of their own group, it becomes difficult for them to accept any definition and limitation of their own social role and status. Thus, as men focus on the duties that society has given to them, the failure to portray such roles will lead to frustration, which leads to depression, and possibly later to suicide. Hence, modernization changes society in terms of changing the way men perceive their social roles and how they view success.
Progress and the increase of human desires were not the only manifestations that industrialization and modernization have provided, but also the weakening or of religion in the society. Durkheim stands in the line of succession of a number of French thinkers who pondered the problem of the loss of faith, and he describes religion as “an eminently collective thing” that binds men together, as the etymology of the word religion testifies. Coser (1977) states that if religion in its essence is a transcendental representation of the powers of society, then, Durkheim argued, the disappearance of traditional religion need not herald the dissolution of society. He further explains that modern men must realize directly that dependence on society which before they had recognized only through the medium of religious representations. “We must discover the rational substitutes for these religious notions that for a long time have served as the vehicle for the most essential moral ideas.” (Durkheim, 1961)
Durkheim tries to depict that religion is the morality of the society. But some notions in today’s society suggest that morality can exist without religion. Chappell (1994), a humanist states that many are “blinkered by religions into thinking that their misery is a punishment from a god who will give everyone his final judgment after the last trump. Such believers forget to judge for themselves; they have no sense of government by the people for the people; they are governed by blind dogma. Their sense of morality is what someone else tells them to do.” He further explains that morality isn’t all about not killing, but instead man should know why he shouldn’t kill. In contrast, Mesštrović (1992) states in his book entitled “Durkheim and Postmodern Culture,” that Durkheim’s curious treatment of religion as a system of collective representations that does not need to refer to a male deity, dogma, or patriarchal subservience, and that is the womb that gave birth to all other social institutions, is essential in a sense that he was advocating a religious system that would balance masculine and feminine elements, justice and mercy, Christian love and the emancipation of the individual.
It is apparent that each individual have different perspectives. Durkheim based most of his assumptions from observation and discussions, without empirical data. It can be said that Durkheim’s principles are just another person’s point of view. In today’s society, many beliefs and opportunities have flourished. Durkheim’s philosophy may still be applied, but modern people have already developed ways to cope with what Durkheim’s trying to prevent. Modernization is unstoppable, and every year, men’s desire and obsession increases by the hundreds, or even thousands. With this progress at hand, to be able to link progress with suicide is to determine the current suicide rate in the world? Natiomaster.com (2003) wrote that as of 1995, 22% for every 100,000 people commits suicide per year. Last year, the Association for Central Research Central News Agency (2003) wrote that China has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, with an overall suicide rate of 230 per million people, while the world average is only 100 per million. China’s suicide rate is 2.3 times the world average. China is one of the world’s leading economic power. This fact can be considered as an evident proof in Durkheim’s claims.
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