Health, risk and 'social suffering'

This editorial provides a summary account of research and writing on 'social suffering.' Some of the ways in which this body of work might be approached within the field of health risk research are outlined. Some of the criticisms that might be directed towards the paradigm of risk on the occasions when this is used to account for lived reality of human suffering are reflected upon. In this context, further lines of inquiry into the ways in which social scientist venture to write upon, and 'bear witness' to, experiences of pain, misery and distress are initiated. Each of the contributions to the special issue in terms of their distinctive approaches to these concerns is introduced.