Work · Sociology & Social Theory
Suicide as a Mass Social Phenomenon of Modern Civilisation
Explains the rising suicide rates of modern Europe by the loss of religious faith and moral orientation – sixteen years before Durkheim’s study.
Introduction
Masaryk submitted the study as his habilitation thesis in Vienna in 1879 and published it in 1881. It gathers the suicide statistics of European states and examines possible causes – climate, nationality, economic conditions, education, politics and religion. His conclusion is that the rising number of suicides is a symptom of modern half-education and of the loss of religious faith, which leaves individuals without moral support; the remedy lies in the renewal of a living rather than dogmatic religion. The book is regarded as an early work of empirical sociology. Émile Durkheim’s “Suicide” (1897) lists it in its literature but explains the phenomenon by social integration and regulation rather than by belief. An English translation appeared only in 1970.
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