A Dip in Deaths Before Ceremonial Occasions: Some New Relationships Between Social Integration and Mortality

This paper presents evidence that there are fewer deaths than expected before 3 ceremonial occasions: the birthday, Presidential elections, & the Jewish Day of Atonement. The investigation of mortality before the birthday was based on biographical information on 1333 famous persons; offical vital statistics tables were used to study mortality before the other two occasions. These results are interpreted in terms of Durkheim’s discussion of social integration & ceremonies. 40 ref.