On Some 19th Century Theories of Suicide - Interpreting Suicide in an East European Country

In this article I compare the suicide theories advanced by two 19th-century thinkers, Masaryk and Durkheim, and test their conclusions using data from an East European country, Romania, before and after the 1989 fall of communism. Using data from various sources (censuses, vital statistical publications, European databases), I follow two main directions in my discussion: a) differences and similarities between the two theories of suicide and b) what can still be used from these theories to explain suicide as a social phenomenon.