Society & Culture / Sociology / Social Theory
Why Do People Kill Themselves? It’s Not What You Think (Durkheim's Shocking Truth)
Émile Durkheim’s 1897 masterpiece, *Suicide: A Study in Sociology*, is not about why individuals take their own lives. It’s a radical expose of how society itself creates suicide. Durkheim shattered the myth that suicide is a purely personal, psychological act. By analyzing statistical data, he proved that suicide rates are stable, predictable social facts—driven by the strength of our social bonds, not by mental illness or climate. In this video, we break down his counterintuitive findings: why some groups are more likely to kill themselves than others, how extreme individualism can be deadly, and what this means for understanding modern loneliness. You’ll never see suicide—or society—the same way again.
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