Emile Durkheim?

Question

What was so important about his classic study of the social factors influencing suicide rates? How is integration and regulation linked to his study?

Answer 1

There are entire books written about this subject, so it's difficult to sum up in one answer.  Sounds like you're studying for a test or writing a paper... if so, you should do the reading first ; )

Anyways, he "discovered" some key factors that influence suicide rates. One of the main ones is religion.  He found that Protestants are more likely to commit suicide than Catholics, because Protestantism is a very "lonely" religion.  Protestantism encourages more self-reflection and individualism, and lacks things such as confession. Catholocism encourages more social bonds.  This ties into integration and regulation - Catholocism is more "integrating" meaning it bonds people together into a common group, and more "regulating" because there are more rules and constraings on behavior.  the more integration and regulation that occurs in a society, the less likely people are to commit suicide.  Social capital (the social bonds and networks people have) prevent them from committing suicide.

Answer 2

he took varoius peoples personalities as to why they were likely to commit suicide and as to why they acted normal around those they loved,  and then shocked them by doing their task of killing themselves, leaving those as to why, often feeling guilty because they felt they didnt listen enough to that person/persons pleas or cries for help.