Essay

[ Kaelah]

[Name of Instructor]

[Sociology]

[22 June 2019]

Essay

Society is the product of individuals. According to most sociologists, individuals make up the society, and they are the building blocks of the social system. Society is nothing but the product of social relationships and social groups. It is the dream of every society to maintain its social order and attain the social conformity of its members to have perpetual social harmony in the society. However, this dream often remains elusive. In every society, the process of social integration is an uphill task. So, to achieve and maintain the perfect harmonious social order in the society, some kind of control is exercised which is social control as we refer to it in sociology. The social regulation is done through several means and methods such as the role of different social institutions, the process of socialization and the ongoing cultural patterns. Nevertheless, change is the constant process as social thinker Hegel remarks it, and so is the case with the societies. Some form of deviance exists in every society and it is often observed that social deviance takes up several forms. Such individuals try to assert themselves and when they are not successful, they react in a different way. The act of suicide is one of such reactions. The sociologist and social thinker Emile Durkheim have given the theory of suicide to understand those dissenting mind in society. His theory of suicide includes various types: Egoistic, Fatalistic, Anomie and the Altruistic. Every kind has some of its own characteristics.

Here, the story of Tyler Clementi ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"KlwCp0ab","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Pilkington, 2010)","plainCitation":"(Pilkington, 2010)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":272,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/DMX7HTA6"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/DMX7HTA6"],"itemData":{"id":272,"type":"article-newspaper","title":"Tyler Clementi, student outed as gay on internet, jumps to his death","container-title":"The Guardian","section":"US news","source":"www.theguardian.com","abstract":"Gay student Tyler Clementi whose roommate allegedly streamed video of him having sex with a man killed himself the next day","URL":"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/30/tyler-clementi-gay-student-suicide","ISSN":"0261-3077","language":"en-GB","author":[{"family":"Pilkington","given":"Ed"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010",9,30]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",6,22]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Pilkington) reflects the brutal side of social order and social conformity. He was a shy student and had different sexual orientations as well. By every side, he was a misfit in his society. He faced enormous pressure from his fellows and this was peer pressure which took his life. The Theory of suicide is quite relevant here in the case of this socially introvert person Tyler who was forced to commit suicide due to set cultural patterns. His very personal video was shared with everyone and he could not face the pressure that was coming from everywhere. His suicide was Egotistic in nature. This is the kind of suicide when the individual had not fully integrated with society. He still feels like an outsider and has his own way of doing things. Tyler was even exploited by his roommate that was totally unethical in nature. This state of things is the custom of such societies where social bonds are weak among its members. The concept of weak social solidarity is also the feature of these societies. Emile Durkheim explains that egoistic suicide occurs mostly in such societies where the norms, mores, and beliefs are not fully internalized by the individual. Tyler was not heterosexual in the orientation and when this was publicly rumored, he could not tolerate the negative sanctions by society. Tyler had no choice but to end his own life as he was publicly ridiculed for his own way of thinking. Hence, he killed himself as an escape to avert this notoriety.

To summarize, it is concluded from the above discussion that the theory of suicide by Emile Durkheim is quite relevant even today in such societies where social bonds are weak and loose in nature. Such societies lack a healthy amount of social integration and the concept of social regulation is faulty as well. Social regulation and social order are beneficial for the societies as it maintains the healthy harmonious equilibrium. However, such social order must not be such coercive that some dissenting individuals are made to opt for egoistic suicide.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Pilkington, E. (2010, September 30). Tyler Clementi, student outed as gay on the internet, jumps to his death. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/30/tyler-clementi-gay-student-suicide