This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
Social suffering' is a concept that refers us to the social causes of human suffering. It also alludes to the ways suffering takes place as a social experience. Research and writing on social suffering is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that combines the social sciences, humanities and medical science. This course provides an overview of the history, theoretical development and sociological responses to social suffering. It reviews many controversies connected to the values featured in social inquiries dedicated to understanding and resolving problems of social suffering. This involves an investigation of modern humanitarianism and the cultural politics of compassion. The course explores the connections between modern humanitarianism and the development of social science. It profiles the value of humanitarian endeavour within the practice of social inquiry. In these settings, it aims to involve students in debates over the historical formation of western social science, the development of social theory, the validation of methods of social investigation and the politics and moralities of social science.
Total contact hours: 22
Private study hours: 178
Total study hours: 200
Sociology MA
Civil Society, NGO and Non-Profit Studies MA
International Social Policy MA
Criminology MA
Criminology with a term Abroad MA
Methods of Social Research MA
Two year masters versions of the appropriate programmes listed above
Main assessment methods
Coursework (5,000 word essay) – 100%
Reassessment methods
100% coursework
Bourdieu. P., et al. (1999) The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Life, Cambridge Polity Press
Das, V., Kleinman, A., Ramphele, M., Lock, M. and Reynolds, P. (eds) (2001) Remaking a World: Violence, Social Suffering and Recovery, Berkeley: University of California Press
Kleinman, A. Das, V. and Lock, M. (eds) (1997) Social Suffering, Berkeley: University of California Press
Renault, E. (2009) The Political Philosophy of Social Suffering, in B. de Bruin and C. Zurn (eds) New Waves in Political Philosophy, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Wilkinson, I. (2005) Suffering: A Sociological Introduction, Cambridge: Polity Press (Introduction and chapter 4)
Wilkinson, I (2006) Health Risk and ?Social Suffering, Health Risk & Society, 8(1):1-8
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
8.1 Be able to identify and understand the place of 'social suffering' in sociological theory and research
8.2 Research and access the main sources of information relevant to debating critical issues in sociology, social policy and cultural
anthropology.
8.3 Identify and evaluate the main theoretical perspectives that are applicable to the study of 'social suffering'
8.4 Provide a reasoned and justified point of view on issues relating to problems of 'social suffering' in contemporary social science.
8.5 Be aware of the limitations of present knowledge and matters needing to be resolved by further research.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
9.1 Gather appropriate library and web-based recourses, make judgments about their merits and use the available evidence to construct an
argument to be presented orally or in writing.
9.2 Demonstrate skills in interpreting and analysing research data and official statistics.
9.3 Understand empirical research, assessing its merits and using it to construct an argument.
9.4 Understand the relationship between theoretical analysis and empirical research and able to comment on the uses and limitations of the
latter.
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