Firefighter Durkheim: Applying Durkheim's "Suicide" to Modern-day Firefighter Suicide

• In Event: 3483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 04. Mental Health and Depression

Abstract

This is an exploratory paper that centers around Emile Durkheim's theories from his book, "Le Suicide." Though suicide is thought to be a very personal act, centered around the psychology of a person, Durkheim argues that the social environment of a person is what determines the reason a person commits suicide (Durkheim, 1897/1951). The social environment explored in this paper is that of the American firefighter. This is a topic that doesn’t seem applicable to theories surmised in a turn-of the-twentieth-century text, but the rising awareness and prevalence in the American fire service of firefighter suicide provides a fertile ground to explore Durkheim’s types of suicide and how firefighter suicide fits into this paradigm.

Author

• Christopher M. Bosley, State University of New York-Buffalo