In the late 1800s, Emile Durkheim conducted studies on suicide in response to his intrigue over other theories that made a causal connection between suicide and other factors, such as biology or mental illness. Durkheim theorized that social forces and environment may be linked with the level of suicide in our culture. He used data from church and state records in order to see if his hypothesis was true. When he had finished with his study, he published his results and theories regarding suicide in Suicide: A Study In Sociology, published in 1895. In this book, Durkheim theorizes that the act of suicide is definitely correlated to social integration. He believes suicide can be linked to the degree to which individuals form an attachment with others and/or society, and he believed it was related to the degree of guidance or regulation the individual experiences from others and/or society.
In order to pinpoint what social phenomena were causing suicidal impulses in individuals, Durkheim classified suicide into four different types: Egoistic; Altruistic; Anomic; Fatalistic. In egoistic suicide, the individual has a very weak attachment to others and groups. He or she is not closely aligned with society or social interaction. In altruistic suicide, the individual has an abnormally high attachment to groups, others and society. With anomic suicide, the impulse for self-destruction is engendered in the individual due to a lack of rules and regulations by which he or she may guide their own behavior. In fatalistic suicide, the individual has usually experienced a very harsh and oppressive system of rules and regulations. What is groundbreaking about the study Durkheim conducted is that he believes the data suggests that suicide can only be explained sociologically, “The conclusion from all these facts is that the social suicide-rate can be explained only sociologically. At any given moment the mora
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