Suicides among Academicians

Whether it is a popular misconception or not, the term “dismal science” stayed a long while weighing the subject of economics. Thomas Carlyle was criticising John Stuart Mill’s humanistic notions while upholding his racist justification of slavery of the black people and was not commenting on Malthusian pessimism. Nevertheless, the subject of economics with its supply–demand tools was seen as an example for a dismal science by critics.

The supply–demand forces do exert an influence on professorial professional success in the academic field where the dire need to survive leads to great competition and professional jealousy. Yet, when it is the case of highly talented towering figures attached to the top universities of the world, personal struggles and mental tensions occasionally lead to a decision to terminate one’s own life through suicide. Economists too are affected by feelings of neglection, depression, etc.