A seminal study examining suicide from a sociological perspective is found in Emile DurkheimÆs (1951) Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Durkheim outlines a number of sociological theories related to suicide in this work. One of DurkheimÆs theories that is most relevant to the sociological basis of suicide revolves around the social integration or disengagement of individuals in society. Durkheim theorized that a major cause of suicide stems from the individualÆs lack of bonding with others. In Moral Education (1961) Durkheim maintains that there are several elements of morality related to organic solidarity: discipline, attachment to social groups, and autonomy or self-determination, (96). Discipline and attachment to social groups are linked largely because duty is a morality insofar as it commands and is conceived of as an authority which must be disobeyed because and only because it is authority.
Society itself, according to Durkheim, imposes rules upon men that limits our natural inclinations and imposes organic solidarity. This established morality as an ôimperative lawö that demands complete obedience and on the other hand represents a splendid ôidealö to which man spontaneously aspires, (Durkheim 1961, 96). Durkheim believed that each human being also has a right to personal autonomy and to the exercise of free will. In essence, Durkheim (1961) suggests that the conflict supposed to exist between freedom and determinism is resolved because the reasonable, rational, and moral man will recognize that autonomy must be tempered by public conscience and our understanding of that conscience.
In The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim (1964) describes society as nothing less than the normal goal of ômoral conduct,ö which has its own special character distinct from that of its members and its own individuality different from that of its constituent individuals, (152). In DurkheimÆs (1964) view, individuals mov...