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The Spread of Suicide : Communism and the Spread of Suicide Essays

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The spread of Suicide
Communism and the Spread of Suicide
According to Emile Durkheim (1951), suicide was considered as one of the most intensely individual acts, which are purely determined by biographical and psychological factors.  Variations in suicide differ from one ethnic, religious, racial and occupational group to another. Durkheim believed that there is a relationship between society and self and this highly contributes to the spread of suicide. Suicide rates is an indication of the extend to which people are not included into the societies group of life (Durkheim, 1951). Suicide rates are higher in the communist countries due to the dramatic effects on the communist rule on the social lifestyle.

The massive social, economic and political changes in communism countries create conditions of stress and instability which troubles people’s mental health. People in these countries are unable to match with the dramatic social and political changes which then lead to suicide. According to Durkheim (1951), these changes are responsible for the spread of suicide among the people in the communist countries.  There is also a sense of detachment from the society due to the profound change in lifestyle in communist countries which becomes more detached from traditional bonds due to an increase in freedom of thought and action. This lack of inclusion of the people leads to a low value being accorded to human existence which then leads to high suicide rates. The occurrence of a suicide case due to low human value was responsible for the spread of suicide among the other people as the people would follow suit just to end their problems (Durkheim, 1951). 
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The rapid political, economic and social changes in the communist continents like Europe in the early 90’s highly accounts for the high suicide rates among the elderly people since they were highly impacted by the changes. According to Durkheim (1951), people were also unable to keep up with the rapid modernization since they were unable to adjust to the changes. As a result, people would result into suicide. According to Durkheim, anomic suicide in communist countries is caused by division of labor and rapid social change. An increased division of labor in a communist country leads to a weakened sense of identification among the people as well as a weakened social constraint on the human behavior.  These conditions then lead to social “dis-integration”, norm violation, and distrust of authority, high rates of egocentric and consequent delegitimation as a result; people would rather die than to live with the aftermath of the situations. This causes stress among the citizens and this stress is responsible for the spread of suicide among the citizens (Durkheim, 1951).
Former Soviet Union in Europe led to severe economic constraints which were then followed by a retarded economic growth which then contributed to inequalities in social upheaval and income. Unemployment which is caused by a rapid growth in population and a decrease in economic stability leads to a feeling of hopelessness among the people which then led to high risk of suicide. Spread of hopelessness will lead to the spread of suicide in the affected country (Durkheim, 1951).  High suicide cases were an indication that the social cohesion of a particular group of people was weak and its members were not protected during the times of personal crises. Therefore, suicide highly varies with the degree of social integration in that particular country.

Reference
Durkheim, Emile, (1951), [1897]. Suicide:  A Study in Sociology.  Translated by J. A. Spaulding and G. Simpson.  New York:  The Free Press.

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