Egoism, Altruism, Anomie, and Fatalism: A Conceptual Analysis of Durkheim’s Types

This paper presents an analysis of Durkheim’s conceptions of the types of social environment which predispose individuals to suicide. All 4 types are considered: egoism, altruism, anomie and fatalism. These are found to consist of different combinations of extremes on 3 main dimensions of the dominant norms in a social aggregate: their existence, content, and source of regulatory power. Several suggestions are made about the implications of this analysis.