Durkheim's "Heroic Suicide" in military combat

Armed Forces and Society

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 103-120

  Riemer, Jeffrey W ^a  

^a TENNESSEE TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0032148297     PISSN: 0095327X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X9802500106     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. 1. E. Durkheim, Suicide (New York: The Free Press, 1951), 240.
2. 2. J. Blake, "Death by Hand Grenade: Altruistic Suicide in Combat," Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior 8 (Spring 1978): 46-59.
3. 3. W. I. Thomas, The Unadjusted Girl (Boston: Little, Brown, 1923);
4. P. Berger and T. Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality (Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, 1966);
5. and H. Blumer, Symbolic Interactionism (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969).
6. 4. J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Occupational [sic] Defination," Armed Forces & Society 12 (Summer 1986): 591-606; J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Reply)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 154-155; J. Blake, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Comment)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 149-153; B. Shalit, The Psychology of Conflict and Combat (New York: Praeger, 1988); and A. Kellet, "The Soldier in Battle: Motivational and Bahavioral Aspects of the Combat Experience," in Psychological Dimensions of War, ed. B. Glad (Newbury Park, London: Sage, 1990), 215-235.
7. 4. J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Occupational [sic] Defination," Armed Forces & Society 12 (Summer 1986): 591-606; J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Reply)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 154-155; J. Blake, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Comment)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 149-153; B. Shalit, The Psychology of Conflict and Combat (New York: Praeger, 1988); and A. Kellet, "The Soldier in Battle: Motivational and Bahavioral Aspects of the Combat Experience," in Psychological Dimensions of War, ed. B. Glad (Newbury Park, London: Sage, 1990), 215-235.
8. 4. J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Occupational [sic] Defination," Armed Forces & Society 12 (Summer 1986): 591-606; J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Reply)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 154-155; J. Blake, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Comment)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 149-153; B. Shalit, The Psychology of Conflict and Combat (New York: Praeger, 1988); and A. Kellet, "The Soldier in Battle: Motivational and Bahavioral Aspects of the Combat Experience," in Psychological Dimensions of War, ed. B. Glad (Newbury Park, London: Sage, 1990), 215-235.
9. 4. J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Occupational [sic] Defination," Armed Forces & Society 12 (Summer 1986): 591-606; J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Reply)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 154-155; J. Blake, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Comment)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 149-153; B. Shalit, The Psychology of Conflict and Combat (New York: Praeger, 1988); and A. Kellet, "The Soldier in Battle: Motivational and Bahavioral Aspects of the Combat Experience," in Psychological Dimensions of War, ed. B. Glad (Newbury Park, London: Sage, 1990), 215-235.
10. 4. J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Occupational [sic] Defination," Armed Forces & Society 12 (Summer 1986): 591-606; J. W. Anderson, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Reply)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 154-155; J. Blake, "Military Heroism: An Operational Definition (A Comment)," Armed Forces & Society 14 (Fall 1987): 149-153; B. Shalit, The Psychology of Conflict and Combat (New York: Praeger, 1988); and A. Kellet, "The Soldier in Battle: Motivational and Bahavioral Aspects of the Combat Experience," in Psychological Dimensions of War, ed. B. Glad (Newbury Park, London: Sage, 1990), 215-235.
11. 5. The Bible, based on the King James version, 1611 (New York: Books, Inc., Publishers), St. John 15:13.
12. 6. "A Guaranteed Trip to Heaven," Newsweek April 24, 1995, p. 42.
13. 7. Durkheim, Suicide, 227.
14. 8. Durkheim, Suicide, 238.
15. 9. Durkheim, Suicide, 239-240
16. 10. Blake, "Death by Hand Grenade: Altruistic Suicide in Combat," 51.
17. 11. E. Benoit-Smullyan, "The Sociologism of Emile Durkheim and His School," in An Introduction to the History of Sociology, ed. H. E. Barnes (Chigago: University of Chicago Press, 1967).
18. 12. M. Halbwachs, Les Causes du Suicide (Paris: Felix Alcan, 1930).
19. 13. Blake, "Death by Hand Grenade: Altruistic Suicide in Combat," 46-47.
20. 14. Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1978 (Committee of Veteran's Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979).
21. 15. "Word for Word/Medal Citations," New York Times (19 January 1997), 7E.
22. 16. The Bible, 1 Samuel, 17.
23. 17. The Bible, Judges, 16.
24. 18. B. Perrett, Last Stand - Famous Battles Against the Odds (London: Arms and Armour Press, 1991).
25. 19. The World of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.: The National Geographic Society, 1974), 341.
26. 20. Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1978, 1.
27. 21. B. Berg, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998); W. L. Neuman, Social Research Methods (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997); and R. Sedlack and J. Stanley, Social Research (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1992).
28. 21. B. Berg, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998); W. L. Neuman, Social Research Methods (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997); and R. Sedlack and J. Stanley, Social Research (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1992).
29. 21. B. Berg, Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998); W. L. Neuman, Social Research Methods (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997); and R. Sedlack and J. Stanley, Social Research (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1992).
30. 22. B. Glaser and A. Strauss, Discovery of Grounded Theory (Chicago: Aldine, 1967).
31. 23. E. Webb, D. Campbell, R. Schwartz, and L. Sechrest, Unobtrusive Measures: Nonreactive Research in the Social Sciences (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1966).
32. 24. J. Blake, "The Congressional Medal of Honor in Three Wars," Pacific Sociological Review 16 (April 1973): 166-176.
33. 25. S. Marshall, "Do the Real Heroes Get the Medal of Honor?" Colliers 21 (1953): 13-15.
34. 26. Above and Beyond (Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1985).
35. 27. On 3 September 1898, the U.S. War Department, in General Orders No. 135, established that a "recommendation must be accompanied by a detailed recital of the circumstances, and by certificates of officers, or affidavits of enlisted men, who were eyewitnesses of the act. The testimony must, when practicable, embrace that of at least two eyewitnesses, and must describe specifically the act or acts by which the person in whose behalf the recommendation is made 'most distinguished' himself, and the facts in the case must be further attested by the official reports of the action, record of events, master rolls, and returns and descriptive lists. By Order of the Secretary of War, H. C. Corbin, Adjutant General." Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1978, 1088.
36. 28. Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1978. 29. Durkheim, Suicide, 234.
37. 28. Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1978. 29. Durkheim, Suicide, 234.
38. 30. C. Moskos, "Why Men Fight?" Transaction 7 (1969): 13-23.
39. 31. W. Cockerham, "Green Berets: Social Cohesion in a Closed Society," in Our Sociological Eye, ed. A. Shostak (Port Washington, NY: Alfred, 1977), 27-37.
40. 32. Blake, "Death by Hand Grenade: Altruistic Suicide in Combat."
41. 33. Durkheim, Suicide, 234.
42. 34. W. Cockerham, "Green Berets and the Symbolic Meaning of Heroism," in Urban Life 8 (1979): 94-113. Also see Cockerham, "Green Berets: Social Cohesion in a Closed Society."
43. 34. W. Cockerham, "Green Berets and the Symbolic Meaning of Heroism," in Urban Life 8 (1979): 94-113. Also see Cockerham, "Green Berets: Social Cohesion in a Closed Society."
44. 35. Blake, "Death by Hand Grenade."
45. 36. E. Shils and M. Janowitz, "Cohesion and Disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II," Public Opinion Quarterly 12 (1948): 280-315.
46. 37. See C. Cooley, Social Organization (New York: Scribner's, 1909) for the classic statement on primary groups.
47. 38. Durkheim, Suicide, 234.
48. 39. Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1978.
49. 40. Blake, "Death by Hand Grenade."