Suffering: A Sociological Introduction

ISBN: 978-0-7456-3196-7

Hardcover

240 pages

December 2004, Polity

Other Available Formats: Paperback

< >

Provides a convincing exploration of a central theme of our times: human suffering. The author writes well; his remarks on the brute fact of suffering are very powerfully made.
There are no real rivals to this book, since until its publication there had been no really systematic sociological theorisation of pain and suffering.
This is despite the fact that students are currently clamouring to take courses on the damaging consequences of global capitalism, war, religious conflict and the like. For this reason, although the subject area might at first seem perhaps marginal, the book fills a yawning gap in the market.
It will have strong appeal to upper-level undergraduate students in a range of disciplines, as well as politically engaged general readers.