This week was definitely a slower week for me as I was recovering and catching up on material after COVID. I gathered the material for my third video, which is going to be on Durkheim’s integration and regulation. My next step would be to begin shooting TikToks with Kyle and see how the material translates into the fun and casual context of social media.
Durkheim’s Integration and Regulation
Durkheim published his work titled Suicide in 1897, during the European industrial revolution. To Durkheim, suicide is, or at least can be, a product of social disequlibrium, and not an “organic-psychic disposition,” or a “special form of insanity.” He was the first to notice trends in suicide rates in different European cities and countries and different religious groups and attribute those to the social environment around individuals rather than their individual psychological states. Durkheim identified two factors contributing to social suicide: integration and regulation; and too much or too little of each can contribute to increased rates of suicide within a community. In this case, integration is defined as the extent of social relations binding a person or a group to others, such that they are exposed to the moral demands of the group.
Regulation is defined as the normative or moral demands placed on the individual that come with membership in a group. So, too little or too much integration in a community can place people under stress, and the same goes for regulation: both too much and too little of it can contribute to individuals feeling a strain.