Citation

Hoffman MA, Bearman PS. Sociol. Sci. 2015; 2: 186-210.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Society for Sociological Science)

DOI

10.15195/v2.a10

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this article we show that imitation is not the mechanism behind the observed increase in suicides subsequent to highly publicized celebrity suicides. Instead, we show that most celebrity suicides are exceptional events and because of that have similar effects on the daily suicide rate as other exciting events. This finding suggests that Durkheim was right in rejecting the Tardean hypothesis that imitation is an operative mechanism and provides substantial support for the competing hypothesis that disruptive and/or exciting events (whether favorable or unfavorable) induce anomie and with it suicide. © 2015 The Author(s).

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide; Durkheim; Anomie; Imitative suicide