Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide is based on which of the following factors?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Social causes
Option (1) Individual causes — Incorrect. Each single suicide may have reasons of its own, in the person’s life and circumstances. But Durkheim did not study single cases. He studied the rate of suicide in whole countries, and a rate cannot be explained by the private reasons of each person.
Option (2) Social causes — Correct. Durkheim compared suicide rates (suicides per 100,000 people) across countries and argued that the rate had to be explained by social causes. A pattern that holds for a whole society shows that something social is at work, beyond each person’s reasons.
Option (3) Political causes — Incorrect. His study did not turn on governments, parties or power; it looked at how the social life of a group shapes its suicide rate.
Option (4) Economic aspirations — Incorrect. The hopes a person has of earning more are again a matter of the individual; they do not explain why whole societies differ in their suicide rates.
NCERT (2025-26): “…Emile Durkheim’s famous study explaining the variation in suicide rates across different countries was a good example of this. Durkheim argued that the rate of suicide (i.e., number of suicides per 100,000 population) had to be explained by social causes even though each particular instance of suicide may have involved reasons specific to that individual or her/his circumstances.…” |