Durkheim’s theory of suicide remains one of the quintessential “classic” theories in sociology. Since the 1960s and 1970s, however, it has been challenged on theoretical and empirical grounds. Rather than defend Durkheim’s theory on its own terms, this paper elaborates his typology of suicide by sketching suicide’s socioemotional structure. We integrate social psychological, psychological, and psychiatric advances in emotion research and argue that (1) egoistic, or attachment-based suicides, are driven primarily by sadness/hopelessness; (2) anomic/fatalistic, or regulative suicides, are driven by shame; and (3) mixed-types exist and are useful for developing a more robust and complex multilevel model.
AbrutynSeth. 2014. Revisiting Institutionalism in Sociology: Putting the “Institution” Back in Institutional Analysis. New York: Routledge.
2.
AbrutynSethMuellerAnna S.2014a. “Are Suicidal Behaviors Contagious? Using Longitudinal Data to Examine Suicide Suggestion.” American Sociological Review79(2):211–27.
3.
AbrutynSethMuellerAnna S.2014b. “Reconsidering Durkheim’s Assessment of Tarde: Formalizing a Tardian Theory of Imitation, Contagion, and Suicide Suggestion.” Sociological Forum29(3):698–719.
4.
AcevedoGabriel A.2005. “Turning Anomie on Its Head: Fatalism as Durkheim’s Concealed and Mutlidimensional Alienation Theory.” Sociological Theory23(1):75–85.
5.
AdinkrahMensah. 2012. “Better Dead Than Dishonored: Masculinity and Male Suicidal Behavior in Contemporary Ghana.” Social Science and Medicine74:474–81.
6.
AinsworthMary D.BleharMary C.WatersEverettWallSally. 1978. Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlabaum.
7.
AlexanderJeffrey C.1982. The Antinomies of Classical Thought: Marx and Durkheim. Vol. II. Berkeley: University of California University.
8.
AliverdiniaAkbarPridemoreWilliam A.2009. “Women’s Fatalistic Suicide in Iran: A Partial Test of Durkehim in an Islamic Republic.” Violence Against Women15(3):307–20.
9.
AronArthurMcLaughlin-VolpeTracy. 2001. “Including Others in the Self.” Pp. 89–108 in Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self, edited by SedikidesC.BrewerM.B.Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
10.
Baca-GarciaEnriquePerez-RodriguezM. MercedesMannJ. JohnOquendoMaria A.2008. “Suicidal Behavior in Young Women.” Psychiatric Clinics of North America31:317–31.
11.
BallerRobert D.RichardsonKelly K.2009. “The ‘Dark Side’ of the Strength of Weak Ties: The Diffusion of Suicidal Thoughts.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior50:261–76.
12.
BaumeisterRay. 1990. “Suicide as Escape from Self.” Psychological Review97(1):90–113.
13.
BearmanPeter S.1991. “The Social Structure of Suicide.” Sociological Forum6(3):501–24.
14.
BearmanPeter S.MoodyJames. 2004. “Suicide and Friendships among American Adolescents.” American Journal of Public Health94(1):89–95.
15.
BjarnasonThoroddur. 1994. “The Influence of Social Support, Suggestion and Depression on Suicidal Behavior among Icelandic Youth.” Acta Sociologica37(2):195–206.
16.
BreaultK. D.1994. “Was Durkheim Right? A Critical Survey of the Empirical Literature on Le Suicide.” Pp. 11–29 in Emile Durkheim: Le Suicide 100 Years Later, edited by LesterD.Philadelphia: The Charles Press.
17.
BreedWarren. 1972. “Five Components of a Basic Suicide Syndrome.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior2:4–18.
18.
BurkePeter J.1991. “Identity Processes and Social Stress.” American Sociological Review56(6):836–49.
19.
BurkePeter J.StetsJan E.1999. “Trust and Commitment Through Self-verification.” Social Psychology Quarterly62(4):347–66.
20.
CamererColin F.2007. “Neuroeconomics: Using Neuroscience to Make Economic Predictions.” The Economic Journal117(519):C26–C42.
21.
ChristakisNicholas A.FowlerJames H.2013. “Social Contagion Theory: Examining Dynamic Social Networks and Human Behavior.” Statistics in Medicine32(4):556–77.
22.
ClearyAnne. 2012. “Suicidal Action, Emotional Expression, and the Performance of Masculinities.” Social Science and Medicine74:498–505.
23.
ColeDavid A.1988. “Hopelessness, Social Desirability, Depression, and Parasuicide in Two College Student Samples.” Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology56(1):133–36.
24.
CollinsRandall. 2004. Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
25.
CooperJoelHoggMichael A.2007. “Feeling the Anguish of Others: A Theory of Vicarious Dissonance.” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology39:359–403.
26.
CoxBrianSkeggKeren. 1993. “Contagious Suicide in Prisons and Police Cells.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health47(1):69–72.
27.
DamasioAntonio. 1994. Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York: Avon Books.
28.
DaviesChristieNealMark. 2000. “Durkheim’s Altruistic and Fatalistic.” Pp. 36–52 in Durkheim’s Suicide: A Century of Research and Debate, edited by PickeringW. S. F.WalfordG.New York: Routledge.
29.
DouglasJack D.1967. The Social Meaning of Suicide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
30.
DurkheimEmile. [1897] 1951. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
31.
EbaughHelen R. F.1988. Becoming an Ex: The Process of Role Exit. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
32.
EkmanPeter. 1982. Emotions in the Human Face. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
FranksDavid D.2006. “The Neuroscience of Emotions.” Pp. 38–62 in Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, edited by StetsJ. E.TurnerJ. H.New York: Springer.
35.
FranksDavid D.TurnerJonathan H.2013. Handbook of Neurosociology. New York: Springer.
36.
FuKing-waChanC. H.2013. “A Study of the Impact of Thirteen Celebrity Suicides on Subsequent Rates in South Korea from 2005 to 2009.” PLoS ONE8(1):e53870.
37.
GaneMike. 2005. “Durkheim’s Scenography of Suicide.” Economy and Society34(2):223–40.
38.
GiordanoPeggy C.2003. “Relationships in Adolescence.” Annual Review of Sociology29:252–81.
39.
GoffmanErving. 1961. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
40.
GoffmanErving. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
41.
GoffmanErving. 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-face Behavior. New York: Pantheon Books.
42.
GouldMadelyn S.2001. “Suicide and the Media.” Pp. 200–24 in Suicide Prevention: Clinical and Scientific Aspects, edited by HendinH.MannJ. J.New York: New York Academy of Science.
43.
HaidtJonathanAlgoeSara. 2004. “Moral Amplification and the Emotions That Attach Us to Saints and Demons.” Pp. 322–35 in Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology, edited by GreenbergJ.KooleS. L.PyszczynskiT.New York: Guilford Press.
44.
HallJohn R.1989. Gone From the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History. New Brunswick, NJ: Tavistock Publications.
45.
HatfieldElaineCacioppoJohn T.RapsonRichard L.1994. Emotional Contagion. New York: Cambridge University Press.
46.
HochschildArlie. 1979. “Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure.” American Journal of Sociology85(3):551–72.
47.
HochschildArlie. 1983. The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.
48.
IzardCarroll E.1991. The Psychology of Emoition. New York: Plenum Press.
49.
JohnsonBarclay. 1965. “Durkheim’s One Cause of Suicide.” American Sociological Review30:875–86.
50.
JoinerThomas. 2005. Why People Die by Suicide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
51.
KalafatJohnLesterDavid. 2000. “Shame and Suicide: A Case Study.” Death Studies24:157–62.
52.
KemperTheodore. 1978. A Social Interactional Theory of Emotions. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
53.
KralMichael. 1994. “Suicide as Social Logic.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior24(3):245–55.
54.
KushnerHoward I.1994. “Durkheim and the Immunity of Women in Suicide.” Pp. 205–24 in Emile Durkheim: Le Suicide 100 Years Later, edited by LesterD.Philadelphia: The Charles Press.
55.
LanskyMelvin. 1987. “Shame and Domestic Violence.” In The Many Faces of Shame, edited by NathansonD.New York: Guilford Press.
56.
LarsonReed W.AlmeidaDavid M.1999. “Emotional Transmission in the Daily Lives of Families: A New Paradigm for Studying Family Process.” Journal of Marriage and Family61(1):5–20.
57.
LawlerEdward J.ThyeShaneYoonJeongkoo. 2009. Social Commitments in a Depersonalized World. New York: Russell Sage.
58.
LesterDavid, ed. 1994. Emile Durkheim: Le Suicide 100 Years Later. Philadelphia: The Charles Press.
59.
LesterDavid, 1997. “The Role of Shame in Suicide.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior27(4):352–61.
60.
LewisHelen. 1976. Psychic War in Men and Women. New York: New York University Press.
61.
LivelyKathryn. 2008. “Emotional Seques and the Management of Emotion by Women and Men.” Social Forces87(2):911–36.
62.
LiuM.ChanC.1999. “Enduring Violence and Staying in Marriage: Stories of Battered Women in Rural China.” Violence Against Women5:1492–96.
63.
MackieDiane M.MaitnerAngela T.SmithEliot R.2009. “Intergroup Emotions Theory.” Pp. 285–307 in Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination, edited by NelsonT. D.New York: Psychology Press.
64.
ManningJason. 2012. “Suicide as Social Control.” Sociological Forum27(1):207–27.
65.
MarksStephen R.1974. “Durkheim’s Theory of Anomie.” American Journal of Sociology80(2):329–63.
66.
MasseyDouglas. 2001. “A Brief History of Human Society: The Origin and Role of Emotion in Social Life.” American Sociological Review67(1):1–29.
67.
MokrosHartmut B.1995. “Suicide and Shame.” American Behavioral Scientist38(8):1091–103.
68.
MuellerAnna S.AbrutynSethStocktonCynthia. Forthcoming. “Can Social Ties Be Harmful? Examining the Social Dynamics of Suicide Suggestion in Early Adulthood.” Sociological Perspectives.
69.
NewmanKatherine S.FoxCybelleHardingDavid J.MehtaJalRothWendy. 2005. Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings. New York: Basic Books.
70.
NiedzwiedzClaireHawCamillaHawtonKeithPlattStephan. 2014. “The Definition and Epidemiology of Clusters of Suicidal Behavior: A Systematic Review.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior44(5):569–81.
71.
NolanPatrickTriplettJenniferMcDonoughShannon. 2010. “Sociology’s Suicide: A Forensic Autopsy?” The American Sociologist41(3):292–305.
72.
PescosolidoBernice A.1990. “The Social Context of Religious Integration and Suicide: Pursuing Network Explanation.” Sociological Quarterly31(3):337–57.
73.
PescosolidoBernice A.GeorgiannaSharon. 1989. “Durkheim, Suicide, and Religion: Toward a Network Theory of Suicide.” American Sociological Review54(1):33–48.
74.
PestianJohnMatykiewiczPawelLinn-GustMichelle. 2012. “What’s in a Note: Construction of a Suicide Note Corpus.” Biomedical Informatics Insights5:1–6.
75.
PhillipsDavid P.1974. “The Influence of Suggestion on Suicide: Substantive and Theoretical Implications of the Werther Effect.” American Sociological Review39(3):340–54.
76.
PickeringWilliam S. F.WalfordGeoffrey. 2000. Durkheim’s Suicide: A Century of Research and Debate. New York: Routledge.
77.
PopeWhitney. 1976. Durkheim’s Suicide: A Classic Analyzed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
78.
RidgewayCecilia L.2006. “Expectation States Theory and Emotion.” Pp. 374–67 in Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions, edited by StetsJ. E.TurnerJ. H.New York: Springer.
79.
RiemerJeffrey W.1998. “Durkheim’s ‘Heroic Suicide’ in Military Combat.” Armed Forces and Society25(1):130–20.
80.
RomerDanielJamiesonPatrick E.JamiesonKathleen H.2006. “Are News Reports of Suicide Contagious? A Stringent Test in Six U.S. Cities.” Journal of Communication56(2):253–70.
81.
ScheffThomas. 1989. “Cognitive and Emotional Components of Anorexia: Re-analysis of a Classic Case.” Psychiatry52:148–60.
82.
ScheffThomas. 1997. Emotions, the Social Bond, and Human Reality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
83.
ScheffThomasRetzingerSuzanne M.[1991] 2001. Emotions and Violence: Shame and Rage in Destructive Conflicts. Lanham: Lexington Books.
84.
ShneidmanEdwin. 1993. Suicide as Psychache: A Clinical Approach to Self-destructive Behavior. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
85.
ShottSusan. 1979. “Emotion and Social Life: A Symbolic Interactionist Analysis.” American Journal of Sociology84(6):1317–34.
86.
StackSteven. 2000. “Suicide: A 15-Year Review of the Sociological Literature Part 1: Cultural and Economic Factors.” Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior30(2):145–62.
87.
StackSteven. 2003. “Media Coverage as a Risk Factor in Suicide.” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health57:238–40.
88.
StackSteven. 2005. “Suicide in the Media: A Quantitative Review of Studies Based on Nonfictional Stories.” Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior35(2):121–33.
89.
StackSteven. 2009. “Copycat Effects on Fictional Suicide: A Meta-analysis.” Pp. 231–44 in Suicide and the Creative Arts, edited by StackS.LesterD.New York: Nova Science Publishers.
90.
StackStevenBowmanBarbara. 2012. Suicide Movies: Social Patterns 1900–2009. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe.
91.
Summers-EfflerErika. 2004. “Defensive Strategies: The Formation and Social Implications of Patterened Self-destructive Behavior.” Advances in Group Processes21:309–25.
92.
TardeGabriel. 1903. The Laws of Imitation. New York: Henry Holt.
93.
ThorlindssonThorolfurBjarnasonThoroddur. 1998. “Modeling Durkheim on the Micro Level: A Study of Youth Suicidality.” American Sociological Review63(1):94–110.
94.
TurnerJonathan H.2007. Human Emotions: A Sociological Theory. New York: Routledge.
95.
TurnerJonathan H.2010. Theoretical Principles of Sociology, Volume 2: Microdynamics. New York: Springer.
96.
TwengeJean M.CataneseKathleen R.BaumeisterRay. 2003. “Social Exclusion and the Deconstructed State: Time Perception, Meaninglessness, Lethargy, Lack of Emotion, and Self-awareness.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology85(3):409–23.
97.
van BergenDiana D.SmitJohannes H.van BalkomAntonSaharsonSawitri. 2009. “Suicidal Behavior of Young Immigrant Women in the Netherlands: Can We Use Durkheim’s Concept of ‘Fatalistic Suicide’ to Explain their High Incidence of Attempted Suicide.” Ethnic and Racial Studies32(2):302–22.
98.
WallsMelissa L.ChappleConstance L.JohnsonKurt D.2007. “Strain, Emotion, and Suicide among American Indian Youth.” Deviant Behavior28(3):219–46.
99.
WeersingheJanaTeppermanLorne. 1994. “Suicide and Happiness: Seven Tests of the Connection.” Social Indicators Research32(3):199–233.
100.
WrayMattColenCynthiaPescosolidoBernice A.2011. “The Sociology of Suicide.” Annual Review of Sociology37:505–28.
