Durkheim was a French-born sociologist born in 1958 and died in November 1917. He established various academic disciplines and is considered the current principal architect of the social sciences. In fact he maintained dominance in the field of social sciences until the time of his death. Durkheim also presented several papers on sociological knowledge alongside religion. His studies, like the suicide study, actually chose a popular discourse. Most of Durkheim's work concerned the study of social facts, a term he developed to describe phenomena that are self-existing and cannot be influenced by the actions of individuals (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim believed that social facts possessed a sui generis existence, that is, a self-sufficient existence, greater and more objective than the actions of the individuals who make up society (Martin & Lee, 1994). In contrast to facts covered in the natural sciences, “social” facts therefore refer to a particular category of phenomena and they too exist independently, free from individual manifestations (Durkheim, 1951). Social facts of this type are in fact endowed with coercive power due to their ability to take control of personal behaviors (Martin & Lee, 1994). According to Durkheim, these types of phenomena should not be condensed on either psychological or biological grounds (Martin & Lee, 1994). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Therefore, phenomena considered more "individualistic", for example suicide, would end up being classified as a socially objective fact. Durkheim also argued that the people who make up society do not directly cause suicide (Ritzer, 1992). He based his argument on the fact that, since suicide is a social fact, its presence in society is independent despite the prevailing desires of the individuals who make up society (Ritzer, 1992). Consequently, the exit of any individual from society will have no effect on the fact of suicide since the society that the individual leaves behind still contains suicide. Sociological tasks involve the discovery of various characteristics of social facts that can only be revealed through an experimental or quantitative approach (Hassard, 1995). In the case of Durkheim's study on suicide, he relied primarily on statistics (Bellah, 1973). Durkheim is considered among the first founders of structural functionalism. In general, Durkheim discarded reductionist arguments (Durkheim, 1951). Instead he focused on cultural values ​​and norms, on social structures alongside social facts; which he considered external to every human being. Durkheim's study classified suicide into four categories and provided evidence for one of his theories that differences in suicide rates are the result of changes in intangible social facts (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim is famous for his views of social reality at the macro level and for his relationships at the individual level. In fact, Durkheim managed to make an important contribution to the development of structural functionalism together with sociology in general (Durkheim, 1951). Basically, Durkheim explored the varying suicide rates among different religious groups and particularly among Catholics and Protestants. He found that suicide rates were lower among Catholics than Protestants (Stark & ​​William, 1996). Durkheim believed that low suicide rates among Catholics were a result of the religion's vibrant social control mechanisms (Stark and William, 1996). As a result, he attributed the increase in suicide frequency among Protestants tolarge free space in the region. In Durkheim's perspective, the level of integration of Catholic society was normal, but the levels of integration of Protestant society were low (Stark & ​​​​William, 1996). However, this interpretation ran into two major problems. First, Durkheim had relied on data from previous researchers, notably Wagner, A. and Morselli, H (Stark & ​​William, 1996) who had substantially generalized their individual data. Second, later researchers found that differences in suicide rates between Protestants and Catholics tended to be prominent in the German-speaking part of Europe and thus may have only been a spurious reflection of other factors (Pope & Danigelis, 1981). Despite its limitations, Durkheim's suicide study did indeed influence proponents of control theory (Pope & Danigelis, 1981). Durkheim identified four categories of suicide which included selfish suicide, fatalistic suicide, altruistic suicide, and anomic suicide (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim viewed selfish suicides as those that result from the weakening of individual bonds that naturally integrate the collective (Thompson, 2002). In other words, selfish suicides are caused by the breakdown or even decrease in social integration. Durkheim associated this type of suicide with “excessive individuation,” implying that most victims initially become more detached from other members of the community (Thompson, 2002). In general, individuals who are not sufficiently engaged in specific social groups: - end up having minimal social support and therefore the probability of committing suicide is high (Thompson, 2002). For example, Durkheim revealed that unmarried people, especially males, committed suicide more often than their married counterparts due to their lower connection to the goals of established social norms. Apparently similar problems also affected widows. Out of a million 65-year-old widows, 628 committed suicide, while out of a million 65-year-old men only 461 committed suicide (Lukes, 1985). The composition of the sample was appropriate as the age range largely included married men (nearly 90%) (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim's analysis, however, indicated that despite the fact that widows were more likely to commit suicide than married people, their suicide rate was lower than that of singles (Ritzer, 1992). Durkheim linked the figures to the family factor because he was of the opinion that a simpler conclusion would prove problematic (Ritzer, 1992). This would be problematic due to the changes in the number of marriages that occurred during this period as the suicide rate tripled. Significantly, Durkheim was quick to note that the factor was not simply marriage, but a marriage that had children (Ritzer, 1992). This is because marriages with children had lower suicide rates than infertile families (Thompson, 2002). Therefore, the main factor was to consider the family as a basic social unit, but not marriage. Additionally, Durkheim further studied the role of wars and crises on suicide rates. He discovered in the course of social crises (e.g., revolutions) alongside wars; suicide rates dropped significantly (Bellah, 1973). Overall, he found that a more religious society had lower suicide rates and the strength of family relationships also determined the magnitude of the suicide rate (Thompson, 2002). Furthermore, social integration significantly influenced the suicide rate. On the other hand, Durkheim classified altruistic suicides as those that occur in highly integrated societieswhere the needs of the whole society have more priority than individual needs (Thompson, 2002). Altruistic suicides, therefore, occur on a scale of integration opposite to that of selfish suicide (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim stated that the suicide rate in altruistic societies was generally low because personal interests were not considered important (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim viewed the military from this perspective and was actually surprised to find that suicide rates were high within the military service (Thompson, 2002). It was surprising because that the military, just like religions and cohesive societies, should show strong solidarity and furthermore people in the military are usually the most physically fit in society (Durkheim, 1951). Furthermore, it was not fair to attribute the causes of suicide either to hatred of military service or to failure to get used to the routine of military service (Durkheim, 1951). This is because it was evident that suicide rates were directly proportional to the length of military service (Durkheim, 1951). Furthermore, senior officers committed suicide at a higher rate than their juniors (Bellah, 1973). Furthermore, elite units had higher suicide rates than regular units (Bellah, 1973). Finally, the suicide rate was low in units that demonstrated a weaker military spirit (Bellah, 1973). Therefore, Durkheim stated that senior military officers had to abandon personal individuality to meet the demands of service as this increased the risk of suicide (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim classified anomic suicides as those that arise due to moral deregulation coupled with the absence of a definition of legitimate aspirations through a restrictive social ethic, which has the potential to impose a different meaning and order on individual consciousness (Ritzer, 1992 ). This is indicative of the failure of economic development and the failure of the division of labor resulting in Durkheim's organic solidarity (Ritzer, 1992). In this situation, people fail to recognize their proper position in society. Durkheim explained this state of moral disorder as one whereby individuals' desires are unlimited, thus resulting in endless personal disappointments (Ritzer, 1992). Finally, Durkheim suggested that fatalistic suicides mostly occur in extremely oppressive societies which cause people to opt for death rather than continue living in such societies (Durkheim, 1951). Typically, this is one of the rarest reasons that can push an individual to commit suicide (Durkheim, 1951). However, fatalistic suicides are common features in prisons as individuals choose to die rather than continue an abusive and overly regulated prison life that denies them the opportunity to fulfill their desires (Durkheim, 1951). Durkheim's types of suicide were based on the degrees of imbalance of the twin social forces that constitute moral regulation together with social integration. Durkheim revealed how the impacts on social aggregate aspects such as; war can lead to an increase in altruism, economic booms or catastrophe contribute to anomie. Durkheim's analysis of suicide points to the way in which social facts, as opposed to biological and psychological facts, can be emphasized and determine constructive methods for examining the actions of individuals. Furthermore, suicide rates are considered social facts since they express social currents that influence people and society as a whole. Although the study of psychology is also essential to resolve individual motivations and the process through which certain circumstances push people