Suffering and Evil

Until recently the subject of suffering and evil was neglected in the sociological world and was almost absent in Durkheimian studies as well. This book aims to fill the gap, with particular reference to the Durkheimian tradition, by exploring the different meanings that the concepts of evil and suffering have in Durkheim's works, together with the general role they play in his sociology. It also examines the meanings and roles of these concepts in relation to suffering and evil in the work of other authors within the group of the Année sociologique up until the beginning of World War II. Finally, the Durkheimian legacy in its wider aspects is assessed, with particular reference to the importance of the Durkheimian categories in understanding and conceptualizing contemporary forms of evil and suffering.

W. S. F. Pickering (1922-2016) was a retired Lecturer in sociology from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1991, he helped found the British Centre for Durkheimian Studies in the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.

Massimo Rosati (1969-2014) was Associate Professor at University of Rome Tor Vergata, where he taught Sociology. He published articles on Durkheim and contemporary social theory. He was the editor of the new Italian edition of Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of Religious Life and he was author of Ritual and the Sacred: A Neo-Durkheimian Analysis of Politics, Religion and the Self (2009).