Social Realities and Human Agency and Social Suffering

Abstract

In this paper the author is primarily exploring the notion of social suffering within a psychosocial paradigm. A brief outline of Bourdieu’s concept of social suffering, and similarly concise explication of the psychosocial subject as contemporarily theorized is given. The central section of the paper looks at some understandings of social suffering that are experienced internally as well as within structural inequalities and power relations. The concept of hurt is considered, offering the internal- laser injuries of class as an example. Loss is then examined in relation to the severing of, for example, communities and the losses of social recognition and internal esteem. The complex concept of double suffering, in which hurt accrues more hurt and is re-experienced, is then discussed. The welfare subject of contemporary policy and practice is, finally, briefly revisited.

Introduction

The text challenges the Enlightenment liberal model of the human subject—rational, autonomous, coherent, and self-directing—that has traditionally shaped social policy and welfare practice. It argues instead for a psychosocial approach that places emotional life and lived experience at the center of welfare analysis while remaining critically attentive to power relations. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of social suffering, the paper reframes welfare subjects not as deficient individuals but as people whose thinking, feeling, and actions are deeply shaped by social structures of domination and exclusion.

Social suffering extends beyond material deprivation to include the emotional and psychological consequences of inequality, such as humiliation, anger, despair, and resentment. Suffering is understood as both reflexive and non-reflexive—sometimes consciously processed and sometimes embodied, enacted, or projected when it cannot be articulated. This challenges policy models that focus narrowly on resources and rational agency.

The paper critiques the liberal welfare subject, which assumes autonomy and rationality and portrays welfare recipients as lacking these qualities. In contrast, the psychosocial perspective emphasizes a non-unitary, emotionally complex self, whose agency is constrained but not erased by social conditions. It also reviews the stress and coping model, which links social inequality to mental distress, but notes its limitations in fully capturing lived experience and power dynamics.

A key theme is loss, particularly among marginalized and powerless groups affected by rapid social change such as deindustrialization, forced migration, aging, and gendered inequalities. These processes result in losses of identity, recognition, community, and dignity, shaping subaltern identities and deepening suffering. The text highlights how welfare systems often manage rather than alleviate such suffering, reflecting political and cultural contradictions within modern democracies.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Dr. Sanjay C. Girhepunje . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.