Durkheim's "Heroic Suicide" in Military Combat

Abstract

Durkheim's neglected concept, heroic suicide, was explored using Congressional Medal of Honor data. All cases meeting the criteria for heroic altruistic suicide in military combat (n=125) were selected for analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative content analysis procedures were used and the usefulness of the combined approach is demonstrated. This research supports Durkheim's claims that altruistic suicide would be higher among non-commissioned officers than commissioned officers, among elite troops than those that display less cohesion, and among those in "leadership roles" than enlisted men. ("leadership role" is a reformulation; Durkheim used an official military rank designation.) Use of citation data enabled an analysis sensitive to the social context of heroic suicide, including some indications of the feelings involved when choosing to sacrifice one's life for another or others.