SumBlog number 3

Emile Durkheim, a theorist I had become quite familiar with in past courses. I knew  a lot about Durkheims thoughts on religion prior to the reading, but something I was not made aware of was his thoughts on suicide. Durkheim takes this grey area in society and puts it right in the open for discussion.

Durkheim discusses suicide happening for two reasons regulation and integration. When Durheim discusses regulation he is referring to rules inside of society. A set standard that all people have to meet. Integration is whether or not a person feels connected to society and that level of connection. If a persons connection with society is low (egoistic), or they are unable to meet a societies rules (Fatalistic society, high regulations) their quality of life may go down. In the reading Durkheim says.,

"Above all, since this race for an unattainable goal can give no other pleasure but that of the race itself, if it is one, once  it is interrupted the participants are left empty-handed. At the same time the struggle grows more violent and painful, both from being less controlled and because competition is greater."

I feel as though this quote really sums up this portion that Durkheim discuses. Durkheim also discusses the influence that suicide has on society. In high school, one of my teachers committed suicide. I remember coming to school the following day and people some people saying awful things about him. I think our society does not know what to think of suicide. We all attempt to push it in the back of our heads and when it does happen, we call the person weak, or selfish. This is not right. Suicide can be prevented, a way to prevent it is by talking about it! Suicide does not need to be some taboo topic that everyone only talks about behind closed doors. I think Durkheim was attempting to open up societies eyes to a topic that many people attempt to avoid.
 http://blog.valerieaurora.org/2013/01/12/suicide-and-society-where-does-responsibility-for-preventing-suicide-lie/ here is another blog that I really enjoyed reading that talks about how we view suicide in our society.