ABSTRACT
Emile Durkheim's On Suicide is considered a classic work of sociology. It is indeed a classic example of positivist sociology, the sociology that regards only scientifically verifiable facts and laws as authoritative knowledge. When Durkheim wrote On Suicide, voluntary death was often thought to be primarily a psychological issue, and many scholars looked for an explanation in hereditary factors for characteristics that were passed down from generation to generation. In recent years, a number of scholars, including sociology lecturer Ben Fincham, have questioned the usefulness of Durkheim's distinction between the study of individual cases of suicide and the study of suicide rates. Fincham tried to introduce a method of study that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to "reinvigorate the sociology of suicide by moving out of the shadow of Durkheim". Sociologists Seth Abrutyn and Anna Mueller argue that Durkheim's competitiveness with Gabriel Tarde led him to reject the concept of imitation as unsuitable for sociology.
