Question. Why do people commit suicide?
Why do people commit suicide? Suicide is a
serious social problem. Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD
countries. The reason for Koreans to commit suicide in earnest is usually
interpreted since the 1997 IMF crisis. The economically difficult people have
committed suicide. However, not seldom speculation, but suicide as sociology
should be approached in a socio-scientific way. I have even deepered into the
'suicide' of Durkheim, who thinks that even a very personal act of suicide is
influenced by what happens in the social world.
Durkheim was a researcher who
insisted on sociological explanations of social phenomena. Previous scholars
have acknowledged the influence of social factors on suicide, but generally
described individuals as suicide due to race or mental problems. Durkheim,
however, saw that suicide could be explained by ‘Social facts’. Durkheim has
found through analysis of a number of statistics that certain categories of
people are more likely to commit suicide than others. For example, male suicide
rates are higher than women, wealthier men commit suicide than the poor,
Protestant suicides are higher than Catholicism, suicide rates are lower during
wartime, and suicide rates are higher during economic and unstable periods. I
have found that there is a tendency. Based on this, Durkheim concluded that
there are social facts external to the individual that affect suicide.
He divided suicide into four types
with two aspects of ‘Integration’ and ‘Regulation’. The first suicide is Egoistic(selfish) suicide. Selfish
suicide occurs when social integration is lowered. He explained this difference
between Catholic and Protestant suicide rates. The reason that Catholicism has
a lower suicide rate than Protestantism is that Catholicism is forming a
community that has stronger social integration than Protestantism. Relatively,
Protestantism emphasizes the independence of the self in front of God rather
than Catholicism. Durkheim saw that the unity of these religions led to
differences in suicide rates. He saw the reason for the low suicide rate during
the war as well because people had a high level of social integration for the
enemy in front of them. Altruistic suicide occurs when an individual is over-integrated in society. This
happens when an individual sees society as more important than himself. The suicide
bombings of the Japanese suicide bomber ‘Kamikaze’ in the 2nd World War and the
Muslims that are suicide bomber today are examples of this altruistic suicide. Anomic
suicide occurs when the norm of society disappears. Durkheim saw that
anomic suicide occurs when society suddenly changes and becomes insecure. This
is a good example of the IMF in Korea. Because of the sudden economic
depression, people have lost their norms, which lead to suicide. The last type of suicide is Fatalistic suicide. Durkheim saw that
an individual occurs when society is over-regulated. I think suicide in the
army is appropriate for this type. Korean men who go to the military face
stronger social norms than the norms they had. This gives the individual a
sense of helplessness, which can lead to suicide soon.
Durkem's study of suicide has
received much criticism. It was criticized that there were some suicides which
were not included in the four types, and that official statistics were used
uncritically. Nevertheless, Durkheim's desire to reveal through his research on
suicide is appreciated in the sense that it was intended to signal that very
personal behavior is also affected by the structure of society.
Let's go back to the original
question. Why do people commit suicide? I think that people commit suicide when
their goals disappear. This goal is that society aspires to as well as personal
goal. And these goals are formed and disappear from individuals' interactions,
and they form and disappear from society. I think maintain a strong mental
personality on my own so that I do not lose these goals, and I also think
social attention is constantly needed.
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