SOC201H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: World View, Altruistic Suicide, Connotation
Document Summary
Why study suicide? oa test case oan index of social solidarity (mechanical and organic) Rates, race, and imitation orates as social facts orace: theory and evidence oimitation: theory and evidence. Took an act that seems private and anti-social and explained it in sociological terms. Argument for soc as a discipline in the acad- emy. Mechanical exists in traditional because people lack individuality. Men in hunter gatherer societies daily life is pretty much the same. Comparing two men today would lead to very different ways of life and daily activity. Durkheim is saying solidarity is equally possible, but the basis changes. Social integration is based on similarity in trad-soc. In industrial soc the basis for solidarity is interdependence. Durkheim doesn"t care why certain people kill themselves. He wants to know what the rates of social categories are. Certain races are more likely to commit suicide than other races. D"s reservations. odoes not believe a pure race exists.
