A Critical Theory of Social Suffering

Abstract

International audienceThis paper begins by defending the twofold relevance, political and theoretical, of the notion of social suffering. Social suffering is a notion politics cannot do without today, as it seems indispensable to describe all the aspects of contemporary injustice. As such, it has been taken up in a number of significant research programmes in different social sciences (sociology, anthropology, social psychology). The notion however poses significant conceptual problems as it challenges disciplinary boundaries traditionally set up to demarcate individual and social phenomena. I argue that philosophy has a role to play in the attempt to integrate the diverging perspectives stemming from the social sciences. I attempt to show that, as it engages with the social sciences to account for the conceptual and normative issues thrown open by the question of social suffering, philosophy in fact retrieves the very idea of critical theory, as a conjugated critique of social reality and of its knowledge. I conclude by showing how the question of social suffering then becomes a useful criterion to distinguish between the different existing approaches in critical theory

Legal geography II

“…as a vague but often unspecified marker for some equally unspecified value commitments having something to do with the distribution of costs and benefits' (Ewick, 1998: 40). That said, I understand claims of injustice to be assessments of unnecessary social suffering (Renault, 2010). Not all suffering is social suffering and not all suffering is unjust but, ultimately, evaluations of social suffering -its causes, and reciprocal enrichments -are what provoke claims of (in)justice.…”

Phänomenale Zeit, Leid und Leidvermeidung <BR> Eine Bestandsaufnahme

“…Renault 2010). Wenn das soziale Leid hier ausgespart wird, dann geschieht das nicht, weil es vermeintlich unabhängig wäre von menschlichen Zeitvorstellungen; und selbstverständlich auch nicht, weil dieser Leidbegriff nicht lebensrelevant wäre (vgl.…”

A experiência vivida por mulheres idosas como sofrimento social

“…O conceito de sofrimento social nasce, assim, no seio da antropologia (Gonçalves, 2014;Nunes, 2014;Das, 2011;Fonseca, 2011;Kleinman, Das, Lock, 1997;Kleinman, 1995b), mas se expande para outros contextos, tais como o da filosofia (Safatle, 2011;Renault, 2010), da saúde pública (Adorno & Vasconcellos, 2011), da sociologia (Valencio, 2014;Werlang & Mendes, 2013), da psicologia (Chinalia, Assis, Visintin & Aiello-Vaisberg, 2018;Visintin e Aiello-Vaisberg,2017;Aiello-Vaisbeg, 2017;Visintin, 2016;Ambrosio, Aiello-Fernandes, & Aiello-Vaisberg, 2013;Carvalho, 2008;Carreteiro, 2003, Mendes, 1995, da enfermagem (Martins, Robazzi & Bobroff, 2010), da comunicação social (Marques, Martino & Coêlho, 2016) e da engenharia de produção (Bouyer, 2015), todos em interface com a área da saúde.…”

“…Vale a pena destacar a discussão proposta por Renault (2010) da relação entre sofrimento e patologia social como um desafio para a filosofia. Esse autor usa o termo sofrimento social, em sua relevância política e teórica, para designar os aspectos da injustiça contemporânea.…”

“…O conceito de sofrimento social desafia, portanto, as fronteiras disciplinares, tradicionalmente estabelecidas, para demarcar os fenômenos individuais e sociais e permite um passo além na superação da visão dualista do humano. Para o autor (Renault, 2010), o novo conceito facilita que certas questões, que anteriormente permaneciam como demandas psicológicas individuais, ou no máximo associadas a interações problemáticas entre pessoas, de caráter privado, possam interrogar a sociedade de modo público. Tratase, portanto, de uma importante resposta ao reducionismo psicológico que, ao mesmo tempo, valoriza eticamente a vida emocional.…”