社会学Essay格式：Suicide in Northern Canada: A Sociological Perspective

本文是社会学专业的留学生Essay范例，题目是“Suicide in Northern Canada: A Sociological Perspective（加拿大北部的自杀:一个社会学的视角）”，日益严重的自杀问题一直困扰着加拿大北部的一个土著社区。由于许多社会和经济问题，不同的土著社区自杀和企图自杀的人数激增。在这篇文章中，我的目的是对比埃米尔·迪尔凯姆和卡尔·马克思的两种社会学视角，探讨加拿大北部的土著人口如何以及为什么会有自杀危机。

I. Introduction介绍

A growing suicide problem has plagued an indigenous community in northern Canada. Different indigenous communities have had a spike in suicide and attempted suicide due to many social and economic issues. In this essay, I aim to contrast two sociological perspectives of Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx in relation to how and why the native population in northern Canada is having a suicide crisis.

II. Suicide in Northern Canada2加拿大北部的自杀

In the Pimicikamak Cree Nation in northern Canada there have been six deaths from suicide within the first months of 2016. In addition to these there have been one hundred and forty attempted suicides within the same indigenous community. According to the New York Times article, “[a] Wave of Indigenous Suicides Leaves Canadian Town Appealing for Help,” author Liam Stack claims that this wave of suicides is attributed to a faulty relationship between the Canadian government and the native community. The area residents live in extreme poverty and have an unemployment rate of eighty-five percent. Moreover, the native communities’ poverty leads to a sense of alienation from the non-native southern Canadians who live a more comfortable life. The community and other native communities in northern Canada receive no government investments and do not have access to employment. In addition, there are no hospitals and mental health institutions for hundreds of miles away from the communities. The community, “only [has one] fill-time mental health worker [who] has no medical or psychological training, just a bachelor’s degree in social work.”[1] Stack claims that the lack of government cooperation with the communities and trauma from colonialism is what led up to this epidemic. In retrospect, the natives were forced into an alien culture and were stripped of their ancient culture.

在加拿大北部的Pimicikamak Cree国家，2016年的头几个月就有6人死于自杀。此外，在同一土著社区内还发生了140起自杀未遂事件。根据《纽约时报》的文章，“[一]波原住民自杀离开加拿大镇寻求帮助，”作者利亚姆·斯塔克声称，这波自杀浪潮归因于加拿大政府和原住民社区之间的错误关系。该地区的居民生活极端贫困，失业率高达85%。此外，土著社区的贫困导致了一种疏离感，与生活更舒适的非土著南加拿大人。加拿大北部的社区和其他土著社区没有政府投资，也没有就业机会。此外，数百英里以外的社区没有医院和精神卫生机构。在这个社区，“只有一个没有接受过医学或心理学培训的全职心理健康工作者，只有一个社会工作的学士学位。" [1] Stack声称，政府与社区缺乏合作以及殖民主义造成的创伤是导致这一流行病的原因。回想起来，当地人被迫进入一种陌生的文化，他们的古老文化被剥夺了。

III. Solidarity and Anomic Suicide3团结和失范自杀

From a historical point of view, Emile Durkheim would argue that the spike in suicides in northern Canada is a result of “the historical transformation from a more primitive mechanical society to [a] more organic society.”[2] Durkheim claimed that a mechanical society is attached together by the common duty that everybody merely does the same type of things. In a mechanical society, all individuals would have a job to fulfill, such as hunting or gathering. This mechanical solidarity would result in individuals having a place in society and feeling a sense of belonging. It is evident that before the Americas were colonized, the natives lived in a mechanical solidarity system that consisted in every individual having a role. These determined roles focused on the collective and did not emphasize individualism. In contrast, once a society has a larger amount of people with more interaction, what Durkheim termed dynamic density, then that society will convert to an organic solidarity, Additionally, a division of labor is a factor in this social paradigm. The society becomes more efficient in production because the division of labor demands that the majority of individuals become specialized at a certain task. He believed that anomie happens in an organic society, which is defined as”A sense associated with organic solidarity, of not knowing what one is expected to do; of being adrift in society without any clear and secure moorings.[3]

从历史的角度来看，埃米尔•迪尔凯姆(Emile Durkheim)会认为，加拿大北部自杀率的激增是“从一个更原始的机械社会向一个更有机社会的历史转变”的结果。迪尔凯姆声称一个机械社会是由一种共同的责任联系在一起的，每个人只是做同样类型的事情。在一个机械社会中，所有人都有工作要做，比如打猎或采集。这种机械的团结将导致个人在社会中有一席之地，并感到归属感。很明显，在美洲被殖民之前，土著人生活在一个机械的团结系统中，每个人都有自己的角色。这些坚定的角色注重集体，不强调个人主义。相反，一旦一个社会有更多的人进行更多的互动，迪尔凯姆称之为动态密度，那么这个社会就会转化为有机团结，此外，劳动分工是这个社会范式中的一个因素。社会在生产方面变得更加高效，因为劳动分工要求大多数人在某一任务上专业化。他认为，社会反常发生在一个有机社会中，它被定义为

一种与有机团结有关的感觉，不知道自己应该做什么;在社会中漂泊，没有任何明确而安全的寄托

Indeed, the native population in northern Canada has become a victim of organic solidarity. The lack of government resources and jobs leads individuals to feel alienated. These individuals do not have a place in modern society because of the lack of jobs and the improper assimilation that was inhumane in the first place, and did not fully incorporate the natives into the European Canadian society. In Durkheim’s book Suicide, “he argued that people a more likely to kill themselves when they do not know what is expected of them.”[4] He created categories of suicide that explain why suicide happens. One of his four types of suicide is termed anomic suicide, which he defined as:

事实上，加拿大北部的土著居民已经成为有机团结的受害者。政府资源和工作的缺乏导致个人感到疏离。这些人在现代社会中没有立足之地，因为他们缺乏工作机会，以及一开始就是非人道的不当同化，也没有将土著人完全融入欧洲加拿大社会。在迪尔凯姆的《自杀》一书中，“他认为，当人们不知道外界对他们的期望时，他们更有可能自杀。他创造了自杀分类来解释为什么自杀会发生。他的四种自杀类型之一被称为反常自杀，他将其定义为:

People are more likely to kill themselves when they do not know what is expected of them, where regulation is low, and they are largely free to run wild. This mad pursuit is likely to prove unsatisfying and, as a result, a higher percentage of people in such a situation are apt to commit this type of suicide.[5]

当人们不知道人们对他们的期望是什么，监管水平低，而且他们在很大程度上可以自由放任时，他们更有可能自杀。这种疯狂的追求很可能证明是不令人满意的，因此，处于这种情况的人倾向于采取这种自杀方式的比例更高

It is evident that the general suicides in northern Canada can be linked to anomic suicide. The individuals do not have access to jobs or resources and live in a society that constantly promotes individualism. The lack of not knowing what to do with oneself, could lead to many existential dilemmas that repressed societies must confront.

很明显，加拿大北部的一般自杀与失范自杀有关。个人得不到工作或资源，生活在一个不断提倡个人主义的社会中。不知道自己该做什么，可能会导致许多受压抑的社会必须面对的生存困境。

IV. Class Conflict四、阶级冲突

In a contrasting sociological view, one could link a spike of suicides in northern Canada to the alienation of individuals from class conflict. Karl Marx argued that under capitalism, individuals become alienated from their family, friends, and coworkers, because of a constant conflict between the workers and capitalists. The workers or proletariat have a subsistent wage that merely lets them survive, the majority of natives living in northern Canada do not even have jobs because of an 85% unemployment rate. The natives could be labeled as the lumpenproletariat, or individuals that are below the workers, who may be constantly unemployed. While the lumpenproletariat is below the workers, they still are affected by the clash between the proletariat and bourgeoisie. The capitalists are constantly seeking ways to take advantage of surplus wages, which causes a conflict between the workers. The exploitation of surplus value leads to less resources for communities such as the northern native Canadians. The lack of resources due to exploitation can be compounded with Durkheim’s organic solidarity, and anomic suicide to highlight the spike in suicides. Additionally, bourgeoisie dominant ideology dictates what norms/mores are to be assimilated by a community. These assimilations have created a cultural genocide for the indigenous population.

从社会学的角度来看，人们可以将加拿大北部自杀事件的激增与阶级冲突中的个人疏离联系起来。马克思认为，在资本主义制度下，由于工人和资本家之间不断发生冲突，个人与家人、朋友和同事之间变得疏远。工人或无产阶级只有勉强维持生存的工资，生活在加拿大北部的大多数人甚至没有工作，因为85%的失业率。当地人可能会被贴上“流氓无产阶级”的标签，或者是低于工人的个人，他们可能会一直失业。呆头呆脚的无产阶级虽然在工人之下，但他们仍然受到无产阶级和资产阶级冲突的影响。资本家不断地寻找利用剩余工资的方法，这导致了工人之间的冲突。剩余价值的开发导致诸如加拿大北部原住民等社区的资源减少。由于剥削而导致的资源匮乏与迪尔凯姆的有机团结和反常的自杀相结合，凸显了自杀的高峰。此外，资产阶级的主导意识形态决定了什么样的规范/习俗可以被一个社区同化。这些同化造成了对土著居民的文化灭绝。

V. Conclusion结论

The indigenous of northern Canada have seen a spike in suicide because of anomic suicide and the sense of not belonging or knowing what to do in an organic solidarity paradigm. The rise in suicide can also be linked to the class conflict between the capitalists and the workers. Although, the majority of the natives are unemployed, they still are affected by the dominant ideology which dictates the norms that they were forced to assimilate.

加拿大北部的土著居民看到了自杀的高峰，因为失范自杀和不归属感的感觉，或者不知道在有机团结模式中该做什么。自杀率的上升也与资本家和工人之间的阶级冲突有关。虽然大多数土著居民失业，但他们仍然受到主导意识形态的影响，这种意识形态规定了他们被迫同化的规范。

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