Book description
Emile Durkheim's On Suicide (1897) was a groundbreaking book in the
field of sociology. Traditionally, suicide was thought to be a matter of
purely individual despair but Durkheim recognized that the phenomenon
had a social dimension. He believed that if anything can explain how
individuals relate to society, then it is suicide: Why does it happen?
What goes wrong? Why do certain social, religious or racial groups have
higher incidences of suicide than others? As Durkheim explored these
questions he became convinced that abnormally high or low levels of
social integration lead to an increased likelihood of suicide. On
Suicide was the result of his extensive research. Divided into three
parts - individual reasons for suicide, social forms of suicide and the
relation of suicide to society as a whole - Durkheim's revelations have
fascinated, challenged and informed readers for over a century.
David mile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) is known as one of the founders of
modern sociology.
Robin Buss is a journalist and translator. His most recent
translations for Penguin include The Plague by Camus and The Black
Tulip by Dumas. He lives in London.
Richard Sennett is Professor of Sociology at the LSE and Bemis
Professor of Social Sciences at MIT. His three most recent books are
studies of modern capitalism: The Culture of the New Capitalism,
(Yale, 2006), Respect in an Age of Inequality, (Penguin, 2003) and The
Corrosion of Character, (Norton 1998). He is currently writing a book
on craftmanship.
Alexander Riley is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Bucknell
University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He is the author of
numerous articles on Durkheimian thought, including a contribution to
The Cambridge Companion to Durkheim (Cambridge 2005) on the
transgressive sacred, and the co-editor (with Philippe Besnard) of the
correspondence of Durkheim's student
Robert Hertz Un Ethnologue dans les tranche'es (CNRS E'ditions 2002.
