The bond attaching [people] to life slackens because the
bond which attaches [them] to society is itself slack.
—Emile Durkheim, Suicide (1964b/1897)
Although this statement described social conditions
accompanying the high rates of suicide found in latenineteenth-century
France, Durkheim’s words ring true today
as we look at contemporary suicide rates for cities such as
Bangalore, which some refer to as “India’s Suicide City” (Guha,
2004).
At fi rst glance, we might think that the outsourcing of jobs
in the technology sector—from high-income nations such
as the United States to India—would provide happiness and
job satisfaction for individuals in cities such as Bangalore and
New Delhi who have gained new opportunities and higher
salaries in recent years as a result of outsourcing. News stories
have focused on the wealth of opportunities that these
outsourced jobs have brought to millions of men and women
in India, most of whom are in their twenties and thirties and
who now earn larger incomes than do their parents and many
of their contemporaries. However, the underlying story of
what is really going on in these cities stands in stark contrast:
Rapid urbanization and fast-paced changes in the economy
and society are weakening social ties that have been very important
to individuals. Social bonds have been weakened or
dissolved as people move away from their families and their
community. Life in the cities moves at a much faster pace than
in the rural areas, and many individuals experience loneliness,
sleep disorders, family discord, and major health risks such as
heart disease and depression (Mahapatra, 2007). In the words
of Ramachandra Guha (2004), a historian residing in India,
Durkheim’s sociology of suicide remains highly relevant to
fi nding new answers to this challenging problem: “The rash of
suicides in city and village is a qualitatively new development
in our history. We sense that tragedies are as much social as
they are individual. But we know very little of what lies behind
them. What we now await, in sum, is an Indian Durkheim.”
refl ect & analyze
How does sociology help us to examine seemingly private
acts such as suicide within a larger social context? Why are
some people more inclined to commit suicide if they are
not part of a strong social fabric?