Practice question · Multiple choice
Suicide rates are strikingly stable year to year in a given society, despite each case being an individual tragedy. What did Durkheim conclude from that?
Hints
- Every case has a personal story. Ask why the rate holds steady anyway.
- What level of analysis does the stability belong to?
Show the answer
D. That social facts exist, stable at the group level
Why
Individual stories explain individual cases and cannot explain why the count barely moves, that regularity belongs to the society, which is what a social fact means. Options 2 and 4 overshoot into determinism, and Durkheim's claim is about levels of explanation, not about motives being fake.
Practise The Sociological Perspective
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