Title: 
Headings:  Emile Durkheim and Social Integration
Emile
 
Durkheim
 
and
 
Social
 
Integration

Max
 
Weber
 
and
 
the
 
Protestant
 
Ethic

How
 
Americans
 
Commit
 
Suicide

Verstehen
and
 
Social
 
Facts

Weber
 
and
 
Verstehen

Durkheim
 
and
 
Social
 
Facts

How
 
Social
Facts
 
and
 
Verstehen
Fit
 
Together


Content: To
 
accomplish
 
this,
 
he
 
conducted
 
rigorous
 
research. Comparing
 
the
 
suicide
 
rates
 
of
 
sev-
eral
 
European
 
countries,
 
Durkheim
 
(1897/1966)
 
found
 
that
 
each
 
country
 
had
 
a
 
differ-
ent
 
suicide
 
rate,
 
and
 
that
 
these
 
rates
 
remained
 
about
 
the
 
same
 
year
 
after
 
year. He
 
also
found
 
that
 
different
 
groups
 
within
 
a
 
country
 
had
 
different
 
suicide
 
rates,
 
and
 
that
 
these,
too,
 
remained
 
stable
 
from
 
year
 
to
 
year. For
 
example,
 
Protestants,
 
males,
 
and
 
the
 
unmar-
ried
 
killed
 
themselves
 
at
 
a
 
higher
 
rate
 
than
 
did
 
Catholics,
 
Jews,
 
females,
 
and
 
the
 
married. From
 
this,
 
Durkheim
 
drew
 
the
 
insightful
 
conclusion
 
that
 
suicide
 
is
 
not
 
simply
 
a
 
matter
of
 
individuals
 
here
 
and
 
there
 
deciding
 
to
 
take
 
their
 
lives
 
for
 
personal
 
reasons. Instead,
social
 
factors
 
underlie
 
suicide,
 
and
 
this
 
is
 
what
 
keeps
 
a
 
group’s
 
rate
 
fairly
 
constant
 
year
after
 
year. Durkheim
 
identified
 
social
 
integration,
the
 
degree
 
to
 
which
 
people
 
are
 
tied
 
to
 
their
social
 
group,
 
as
 
a
 
key
 
social
 
factor
 
in
 
suicide. He
 
concluded
 
that
 
people
 
who
 
have
 
weaker
social
 
ties
 
are
 
more
 
likely
 
to
 
commit
 
suicide. This,
 
he
 
said,
 
explains
 
why
 
Protestants,
males,
 
and
 
the
 
unmarried
 
have
 
higher
 
suicide
 
rates. This
 
is
how
it
works,
 
Durkheim
said: