Anomic suicide occurs when there are serious disruptions to how society is regulated. Anomic suicide stems from sudden and unexpected changes in situations. A classic example of anomic suicide is that the anomic suicide occurs when individuals suffer extreme financial loss. The disappointment and stress that individuals face may drive them towards committing suicide as a means of escape. Anomic suicide occurs during economic or social crises that engulf individuals. Anomic suicide occurs when an individual is without clear norms about how to adjust to changed circumstances. The mismatch between the mediums of attaining goals and societal regulations ultimately result in anomic suicide.
Unclear social expectations and weak guidance also lead to anomic suicide. David Emile Durkheim linked anomic suicide to disillusionment and disappointment. Anomic Suicide can happen when an individual has set goals and then experiences a failure in achieving those goals due to societal conditions.
Durkheim distinguished between egoistic suicide, anomic suicide, altruistic suicide, and fatalistic suicide, classifications that reflect theories of human behavior. Durkheim defined the term anomie as a condition where social and also moral norms are confused or simply not present. Durkheim also felt that lack of norms led to deviant behavior.
Anomie is a concept developed by Emile Durkheim to describe an absence of clear societal norms and values. In the concept of anomie individuals lack a sense of social regulation: people feel unguided in the choices they have to make. Dismissing altruistic suicide and fatalistic suicide as unimportant, Emile Durkheim viewed egoistic suicide as a consequence of the deterioration of social and familial bonds.
Models who committed suicide as a result of anomie is another example. Studies have shown a correlation between unemployment rate and anomic suicide in the history of the United States of America between the year 1928 and 1932 due to unemployment. People whose environments have experienced a natural disaster, or an economic crash are also likely to consider an Anomic Suicide.
Durkheim’s Suicide in the Zombie Apocalypse
Anna S. Mueller, Seth Abrutyn, Melissa Osborne.
Social
integration matters, as it provides social support for individuals. Moral
regulation captures the guidance that a group or society’s culture provides
individuals through shared values and norms regarding what they should do and
who they should be. Durkheim theorized that modern societies could, in turn,
generate two ideal-types of suicides: egoistic suicide and anomic suicide. Egoistic suicide occurs when societies provide insufficient levels of integration, while
anomic suicides occur when societies lack moral regulation.
Anomic suicide: A Durkheimian analysis of
European normlessness
Omi Hodwitz, Kathleen Frey. Anomic periods lead to deregulation of desires and suffering.
Durkheim hypothesized that, as an expression of suffering, societies and groups
experience an increase in suicide rates. Assesses the relationship between
unemployment and suicide in the European Union between 2000 and 2010. Suicide rates increased
following the crash and decreased once economic stability resumed in 2010 for
males only. Attitudinal analysis identified factors
contributing to the gendered relationship between anomie and suicide, resulting
in anomic suicide.