Discuss the institution of marriage (including widowhood and divorce) from the point of view of Durkheims theories about suicide. What did Durkheim find was the relationship between marriage (including variants upon the state of matrimony) and rates of suicide? How did this vary by gender? How did marriage relate to Durkheims ideas about Egoistic and Anomic suicide? How did marriage as an institution and a family arrangement manage to affect suicide rates?Durkheim argued that suicide was a social fact and that suicide rates were to be treated as Sui Generis and evidence of underlying social forces at work in society. With this in mind write a two-part essay that answers the following questions: Part A: Discuss the institution of marriage (including widowhood and divorce) from the point of view of Durkheims theories about suicide. What did Durkheim find was the relationship between marriage (including variants upon the state of matrimony) and rates of suicide? How did this vary by gender? How did marriage relate to Durkheims ideas about Egoistic and Anomic suicide? How did marriage as an institution and a family arrangement manage to affect suicide rates? Be certain to include in your answer a discussion of Durkheims underlying social theories and specifics of marriage as a mechanism in mitigating or exacerbating suicide rates. Part B: The rate of marriage peaked in the 1950s and has steadily dropped since the 1970s. Divorce rates have also increased since the 1970s. Having children out of wedlock is now common. Divorce laws have also become more permissive since the 1970s with the advent of no fault divorce. Applying what you know about the relationship between marriage as an institution and suicide rates, how would you expect the suicide rates of the 1960s to compare to the suicide rates of today?
