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(Ibid)
In Light of Suicide's Darkness In light of suicide's darkness, along with the contention that Durham's explanation of anomic and egoistic suicides is a valid reflection of social reality, several patterns of suicide that might be observed in contemporary American social life include:
Greater incidents of suicide may be probable in individuals who have experienced the loss of their family, as Durkheim noted that family life protects an individual from suicide.
Less incidents of suicide are anticipated overall (and among Jews in the U.S.) as the U.S. is currently engaged in war and Durkheim contended that:.".. peacetime suicide rates > wartime suicide rates among Protestants > Roman Catholics > Jews." (Pickering and Walford 180).
Greater incidents of suicide may occur in work environments where individuals, albeit they may be working "with" other individuals, are in a sense isolated from other members of society, due to job constraints which could contribute to society's insufficient presence in a person or their persona.
As today's "fast-paced" environment could also alienate individuals from other members in society in the sense that speedy interactions are often superficial and impersonal, this could contribute to an increase of suicides in individuals who may choose to reject society's demands.
Conclusion Even though we live in an era when individuals reportedly live longer healthier, wealthier, happier lives, our contemporary society does not...
Society, in itself, however, is not enough to sustain life or to keep an individual from ending his/her own life, which is known today, just as it was 109 years ago, as suicide. As Santayana's introductory quote contends, an individual has to be part of society, just as he/she must have air. Perhaps sometime between now and the next 109 years, more individuals contemplating suicide will realize that, and instead of the violence of self-destruction - choose life.
2003 U.S. Suicides (U.S.A. Suicide 2006)
Works Cited
Blackman, Jerome S. 101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Durkheim, Emile. The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press, http://www.bartleby.com/66/48/18048.html,1996.
Pickering, W.S.F., and Geoffrey Walford, eds. Durkheim's Suicide: A Century of Research and Debate. London: Routledge, 2000.
Santayana, George. The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press. Retrieved 14 July 2006 at http://www.bartleby.com/66/52/48152.html,1996.
Siebers, Tobin. "The Werther Effect: The Esthetics of Suicide." Mosaic (Winnipeg) 26.1 (1993): 15+.
U.S.A. Suicide: 2003 Official Final Data. Retrieved 15 July 2006 at http://www.suicidepreventioncenter.org/files/2003datapgb.pdf,2006.
Wilkinson, Iain. Anxiety in a Risk Society. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Durkheim's Anomic and Egoistic Suicide
Works Cited
Blackman, Jerome S. 101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Durkheim, Emile. The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press, http://www.bartleby.com/66/48/18048.html,1996.
Pickering, W.S.F., and Geoffrey Walford, eds. Durkheim's Suicide: A Century of Research and Debate. London: Routledge, 2000.
Santayana, George. The Columbia World of Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press. Retrieved 14 July 2006 at http://www.bartleby.com/66/52/48152.html,1996.
U.S.A. Suicide: 2003 Official Final Data. Retrieved 15 July 2006 at http://www.suicidepreventioncenter.org/files/2003datapgb.pdf,2006.
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