Anomic suicide: a portrait of social disorder

José Fernando

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.” 
Luke 11:17

On the night of December 13, 2024, strange omens were foretold. It was one of those unsettling nights when most residents of Brasília would rather stay home after a tiring day, lazily settling into an armchair, resting their feet on the coffee table, catching up on conversations forgotten for a while on WhatsApp, or perhaps sipping a creamy cup of hot chocolate while watching the latest streaming series.

The weather service had already forecast a temperature of 20°C, with winds at 1.54 km/h coming from the northeast and a humidity index of 88%, unusual for a city accustomed to long dry seasons. Nevertheless, defying the natural collective tendency, a certain citizen made his way toward the Three Powers Square, amid a fine, chilly drizzle. His presence was soon detected by security cameras in the area, as he appeared agitated, in a highly suspicious state. He paced back and forth and, around 7:30 p.m., as if guided by an irresistible inner compulsion, pulled an explosive device from his backpack and aimed it at one of the surrounding buildings. Blasts were heard by those passing along the esplanade. Seconds later, according to testimonies from the guards on duty, the man lay down on the ground, placed another device beneath his own head, and activated a remote control with his right hand, detonating a homemade bomb, which killed him instantly.

Perplexed as we are in the face of so many irrational crimes and the ceaseless bombardment of terrifying news popping up here and there, many of them false, though disguised as pseudo-realities with the power to inflame the masses, we are left to ask: how can we understand, through the lens of reason, such actions as those of this unfortunate individual?

To help us clarify these ideas, we turn to the contributions of scholars of the past who dedicated their lives to understanding the mechanisms behind social transformations of yesterday that still reverberate today. David Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, political scientist, and philosopher, regarded as the father of Sociology, left us a significant work on the scourge of suicide, which has plagued humanity across the ages. A direct disciple of Auguste Comte, both embodied the rationalist French tradition of the 19th century, of which Spiritism also formed a part. Comte established the so-called Social Physics, later refined by Durkheim into the science of sociology.

Durkheim drew an analogy between society and the human body: systemic, functional. According to him, just as in our physical structure, when one part of society falls ill, the pathology spreads to the other social organs. (1) In his renowned book Suicide, employing the scientific method of statistical analysis of social events, he concluded that three predominant factors in human societies lead individuals to suicide. By examining suicide rates in different communities, Durkheim identified three categories of self-destruction: egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, and anomic suicide.

Egoistic suicide arises from social disintegration, that is, when an individual faces serious family or romantic problems, becomes melancholic, and feels excluded from their family circle or community. Altruistic suicide, by contrast, happens when the individual places society or ideology above their own life, valuing their faith, belief, or group more than themselves. Examples include collective suicides incited by gurus or radical religious leaders, or Japanese kamikaze pilots who crashed their planes into enemy targets during World War II.

When analyzing the case that occurred in Brasília, it may appear that it was neither egoistic nor altruistic. In fact, altruism as understood in The Spirits’ Book differs from Durkheim’s theory, which we will address later. Rather, the death of our ill-fated subject fits more into Durkheim’s concept of anomic suicide. This term comes from the Greek nomos (law, norm) with the prefix a (without), meaning an absence of norms or rules. According to Durkheim, this form of self-destruction occurs frequently during times of social upheaval, when trust in institutions collapses, and society loses cohesion, producing ruptures that polarize established ideas and values.

How can one survive in a society where principles once deemed unshakable, grounded in healthy and secure behaviors, now waver between opposing poles, misleading the unguarded as to the intentions of those who proclaim themselves the representatives of collective interests? Fortunately, we may once again find guidance in the steadfast structure of our beloved Doctrine, following the firm and clear counsel of André Luiz. (2) In the book Spiritist Conduct, when referring to political disputes that, from time to time, we must face as citizens, André Luiz offers concise reasoning, leaving us with two simple, objective phrases: “keep yourself away from extreme partisanship” and “passion in the field, shadow around.”

We must also guard against the pernicious words of those who try to persuade with sophistic arguments, where half-truths proliferate. In times when truth and falsehood get mixed, let us stay vigilant, lest we be intoxicated by the “siren song,” dazzled by pretty words that claim to solve everything by force, that promise what they cannot deliver, that speak of peace yet sow discord, that harbor prejudice and discriminate against those who refuse to follow in their footsteps.

Christ’s warning echoes in these times we live in now, for false Christs and false prophets abound in this grave hour of planetary transition. Knowing that chance does not exist, the phrase attributed to Saint Francis de Sales “bloom where you are planted” is worth reflecting upon. We must never flee from the struggles and duties of daily life, wherever we may be. The society that hosts us today, peaceful or troubled, balanced or anarchic, is the one we ourselves helped to build throughout the centuries.

To conclude, let us recall that altruistic suicide, in the view of noble Spirits, differs from Émile Durkheim’s thesis, as clearly explained in Allan Kardec’s comments on question 951 of The Spirits’ Book.

“Additionally, since life is the earthly asset that we value the most, those who renounce it for the good of their neighbor do not commit a crime: they perform a sacrifice. Nonetheless, before doing so, they should consider whether their life might not be more useful than their death.” (3)

Among countless examples of altruistic suicide, there is a fact that occurred during the Second World War, in the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, in southern Germany. A Jewish prisoner had inexplicably escaped from the camp, and the deputy commander, Karl Fritsch, ordered ten inmates to be starved to death in retaliation. Franciszek Gajowniczek, a police sergeant and a member of the Polish resistance against the Nazis, was one of them. Upon receiving the death sentence, he lamented with the others, saying that he was a family man, with a wife and children. Hearing his pleas, another prisoner, the Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe, offered himself to the Nazi officers to die in his place. The request was accepted by the authorities. After 14 days, only four of the ten were still alive, including Father Maximilian. The guards then decided to shorten his agony with a lethal injection of phenolic acid. It was August 14, 1941.

Days later, Sergeant Franciszek Gajowniczek was transferred to Auschwitz and released four years later. Gajowniczek lived for many years, and his last public appearance took place in Rome, on October 10, 1982, when he was invited by Pope John Paul II to participate in the canonization ceremony of the now Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe.

Durkheim, É. (2005). Suicide (J. A. Spaulding & G. Simpson, Trans.). Routledge.

Kardec, A. (2018). The Spirits’ Book (1st ed.). Federação Espírita Brasileira (FEB).

Vieira, W. (n.d.). Spiritist Conduct (1st English ed.). Federação Espírita Brasileira (FEB).