Toward a sociological theory of social pain

• Published in: Journal for the theory of social behaviour Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 351 - 371
• Main Author: Abrutyn, Seth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2023
• Subjects: affect; Circuits; Cognition; embodiment; Emotional responses; Motivation; Multiculturalism & pluralism; neurosociology; Pain; Physical trauma; Recruits; role theory; social pain; social psychology; Sociological theory; Sociology; Trauma
• ISSN: 0021-8308; 1468-5914
• DOI: 10.1111/jtsb.12371

A serious consideration of pain has largely been absent in sociology, especially physical pain's close neurobiological relative, social pain. Social pain is the process by which rejection and exclusion recruits similar neural circuits as physical pain, generating an affectual response that mirrors the response one feels from physical trauma. Pain is essential to any sociological analysis of motivation and action because, like many affective responses, it is a necessary ingredient in cognition and behavior; and, in many cases, it preconsciously commands and even controls how we think and act. While exploring this concept, it becomes apparent that sociology has an entire set of distantly related concepts that can be classified as different processes of social pain that reveal the structural, cultural, and situational conditions shaping the distribution of social pain. The paper concludes by thinking through the implications social pain portends for neuroscience and sociology.