Sociology's "One Law"

Abstract

Though accepted widely enough for nomination as sociology's one law, there has never been an adequate empirical test of Durkheim's proposition that Catholics have lower suicide rates than Protestants. As a result, the empirical foundation for one important application of Durkheim's assertion that egoism and suicide vary proportionately remains uncertain. We use cross-national, longitudinal data from twelve nations to test Durkheim's proposition. Our comparisions (1) use national female, and male suicide rates; (2) are made both with and without control for nation's level of development; and (3) are for four different time periods between 1919 and 1972. Results largely refute Durkheim's proposition. However, application of Durkheim's entire theory of integration (egoism and altruism) rather than just his theory of egoism shows that the data may nonetheless be consistent with his theory of variation in suicide rates.