International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2018

Durkheim’s types of suicide and social capital: a cross-national

Comparison of 53 countries (Abstract)

Matthew D. Moore

Emile Durkheim conceptualised four types of suicide depending on the level of regulation and integration of society. Many studies have been conducted using his types of suicide as a model. Recently, social capital has produced a wide range of studies examining the benefits that the concept has for social and economic outcomes in a community. Durkheim’s conceptualisation of egoistic, altruistic, and anomic suicide may be viewed as different forms of social capital. The current analysis examines Durkheim’s different types of suicide using a social capital model. The findings demonstrate that suicide increases in countries where the individual is too integrated into society (altruistic suicide) and decreases in countries where the individual does not feel part of society (egoistic suicide). The findings illustrate that social capital can increase or decrease suicide depending on the amount of social capital present in the country.