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Social Work Intervention with Individuals and Groups
At least, some of these maladies rarely afflict the well to do. In this sense of the various categories of suicide identified by Durkheim, the most relevant for presentday India is anomic suicide (as against egotistic and altruistic suicide). Altruistic suicide: is one of the three types of suicide described by Emile Durkheim. Altruistic suicide is a type of suicide in which an individual who is very closely integrated into a group or society kills himself for the welfare of the group. Altruistic suicide is motivated by a desire to serve the needs of the group. It is suicide based on self-sacrifice and tends to occur in social systems that de-emphasise the importance of the individual. The Japanese hara-kiri is a way to destroy oneself rather than disgrace one’s family or group. Anomic suicide: This type of suicide results from normlessness or social and personal disorganisation. The value system of the group no longer has meaning for the individual, and he/she feels isolated, lonely, and confused. Any disruption of a way of life may lead to this type of suicide. For a rich person suddenly to become poor ----- or a poor person suddenly to become rich ----- might lead to a catastrophic breakdown in the established normative integration of the individual’s personality. Anomic suicide then, is a result of not being properly integrated into a system of cultural values, and thus feeling isolated and regarding the social norms as meaningless. The incidence of anomic suicide would presumably be greater in societies that experience a high rate of social change, with a rapid disintegration of traditional social expectations. It would also tend to be higher among certain categories of individuals, such as the divorced or unmarried. Egoistic suicide: Suicide that is due to the existence of strong social norms for which the individual is made