Abstract
Research and writing on social suffering is set to fashion social science as a humanitarian endeavor. Here practitioners are made to examine relative conceptions and experiences of human rights. They are also heavily involved in debates over the moral practices, social policies and forms of politics that are suited to realize more caring and humane forms of society. The association of social science with humanitarianism courts a considerable amount of political and moral critique; most notably from critical theorists attending to the appropriation of humanitarian culture within the production of neo-liberal forms of governmental ideology. This chapter aims to move beyond a position of critique, and especially where this offers nothing more than critique. It profiles forms of humanitarian praxis that operate to extend research and writing focused on problems of social suffering. It also surveys some of the ways in which humanitarian sensibility has been allied to the awakening of social consciousness and conscience. The overall aim here is to locate research and writing on problems of social suffering in a longstanding tradition of social inquiry in which humanitarian culture and campaign work contributes to the awakening of social understanding and a shared commitment to building better human-social worlds.
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Wilkinson, I. (2015). Social Suffering and Critical Humanitarianism. In: Anderson, R. (eds) World Suffering and Quality of Life. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 56. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9670-5_3
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