Durkheim, Emile (IN: Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, vol.1: A-K, ed. by R Kastenbaum)

This encyclopedia entry discusses the life of Emile Durkheim, whose detailed study of suicide (Le Suicide, 1897) made him one of the most influential figures in the founding of modern sociology. An overview of Durkheim’s theory of suicide is provided & the distinctions he posited between egoistic, altruistic, anomic, & fatalistic types of suicide are described. (4 refs)