Monday, February 2, 2009
Work and its relation to suicide
Durkheim explains anomic suicide as being a sudden rupture of a social equilibrium. The anomie is what society suffers as a result of an absence of moral and legal rules. This is absence is due to an economic imbalance and/or weak institutions in the society. Durkheim also defines two other types of suicide: altruistic, occurring when the individual has over adapted to the social system, and egoistic, when the individual is away from the norm. If we look at work as an addiction and its relation to suicide: work helps me to survive yet there are individuals who live to work. Can this then be considered an addiction to work or work as a form of social suicide? Could it be that individuals would rather have work as an addiction than any other (drugs, food, and/or alcohol) as it provides you with money, awards, and recognitions?
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That is an interesting example using work as a addiction, in my opinion I would have to say that people who live to work find themeselves more prone to suicidal tendencies. I think the stress that comes with the job and the sudden lack of other ambitions and goals would effect a person's cetain lifestyle. People who overwork can still get into drugs and abuse alcohol because they would have "limited control over their passions." Even with rewards and such people might get vulnerable as they move "away from the traditional structures in which they are embedded."
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