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Running head: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 4 Written Assignment 4 August 29, 2009 Written Assignment 4 Question 1 - Identify and describe the four (4) types of suicide that Emile Durkheim delineated. Include in your description the particular way in which people who commit each type of suicide are connected to their society. In his works, Emile Durkheim outlined what became a sociological explanation of suicide. According to Durkheim, there are four types of suicide: egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, atomic suicide, and, finally, fatalistic suicide. Egoistic suicide is the most common type of suicide. It is typical for people with few connections to their society.
For example, Protestant groups have higher suicide rates than Jews and Catholics, for whom expectations for regular religious participation in society's life are higher. Married people also commit suicide at lower rates than those who have no family. Altruistic suicide is based mostly on the society's expectations that the members of society would commit a suicide (undertake self-destruction) in its defense. According to Durkheim, atomic suicide is related with drastic shift in the persons circumstances that removed him or her from the membership in society or in a certain group in society.
For example, Durkheim claimed that the nations where divorce was not common had lower suicide rates than the nations where the divorce was common. Finally, fatalistic suicide occurs within society's groups, where the members of groups wanted but could not attain escape, and whose "futures are pitilessly blocked and passions violently choked by oppressive discipline" (Durkheim 1951, p. 276). People committed suicide to escape group membership or to demonstrate that they have more control over their lives than society they live in. Question 2 - State your position and support your answer to the following: Did Charles Darwin's childhood bereavement experience enhance or hinder his later life and work?
While examining Darwin's childhood, it becomes obvious that Charles Darwin's childhood bereavement experience enhanced his later life and work. Being a child, Darwin was interested in biology and liked to collect rocks and insects. Darwin and his older brother Erasmus conducted various experiments from 1822 until his brother sett off for Christ's College to study medicine. Later the scientist claimed that this childhood experience was an invaluable introduction to scientific experimentation. At 16, his father decided to send Darwin to Edinburgh to become a physician; however, in two years, the boy returned home and decided to study at Christ College in Cambridge, as he wanted to become a clergyman (at his times, any person with an interest in a career natural history had to become a clergyman). During his study, Darwin met John Henslow, who taught natural history.
They became close friends and under Professor John Henslow's guidance, Darwin began a microscopic study of pollen. Moreover, when Henslow was invited to travel with Captain Robert Fitzroy and map the coast of South America, Henslow refused due to family circumstances but offered Darwin to be interviewed for this opportunity. This voyage had great influence on future Darwin life and works. Darwin himself describes this voyage as the most important event in his life. In such a way, it is obvious that Charles Darwin's childhood bereavement experience enhanced his later life and work.
Free research essays on topics related to: atomic suicide, life and work, suicide rates, charles darwin, emile durkheim
Research essay sample on Life And Work Emile Durkheim
