A sociologist notices that two countries have very different suicide rates. Instead of focusing on individual cases, she investigates differences in social integration and social conditions across the two societies. Her approach is most consistent with the work of:

Emile Durkheim

The correct answer is Option 2: Emile Durkheim.

Most people would instinctively explain suicide by looking at personal circumstances. Durkheim's contribution was to show that even when an act is carried out by an individual, patterns in large numbers of such acts may have social causes. His famous study demonstrated that suicide rates vary across societies and therefore require sociological explanation rather than purely psychological explanation.