This week’s topic was Emile Durkheim’s ideas about the interaction between society and an individual and how various factors influence it. He was a French sociology professor who rigorously explored the topic of modern capitalism and its impact on the level of satisfaction among citizens (The School of Life, 2015). Indeed, the more affluent nations seemed to have higher suicide rates (The School of Life, 2015). All the supposed benefits of capitalism cause unhappiness due to higher expectations, greater desires, individualism, and lack of spirituality. Therefore, Durkheim suggested in his functionalism theory that society should remain connected and regulated because the whole mechanism cannot function without coordinating individual elements.
As presented in the short documentary and the chapter about Durkheim, he described five factors that led to the rise of suicide in modern capitalistic societies. Firstly, people became detached from a traditional clan that gives one emotional or physical assistance in times of hardship (Coser, 1977). Therefore, social solidarity is essential to ensure cooperation to show people that their work and existence are valuable for the functioning of society. Secondly, capitalism is a system with excessive hope, giving people limitless opportunities for success but blaming them for failure (The School of Life, 2015). Thirdly, in a capitalistic society, an individual seems to have excessive freedom; hence, one may feel lost by the inability to decide what to do (The School of Life, 2015). Fourthly, Durkheim believed that society requires religion as a binding force since scientific progress was incapable of uniting people in a spiritual sense (Coser, 1977). Lastly, capitalism erased the feeling of connection with families, putting enormous pressure on a person who may lose meaning and purpose to live despite career success.
In summary, Durkheim claims that even though modern capitalism enabled tremendous economic prosperity, it caused a rise in the level of dissatisfaction with life among people. According to his theory, five crucial reasons raised the suicide rate in developed countries. These factors are excessive hope, lack of connection to a clan, disappearance of family bonds, extreme freedom of choice, and atheism. Functionalism theory can be applied to understand the information presented in the short documentary and the chapter about Durkheim’s ideas. Functionalism states that for society to prosper, every element must have its niche and purpose so that individuals have meaning and a sense of connection to a larger mechanism.
References
Coser, L. A. (1977). Emile Durkheim. In Masters of sociological thought: Ideas in Historical and social context (pp. 129 – 143). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
The School of Life. (2015). Sociology – Emile Durkheim [Video]. YouTube. Web.