Suffering and Evil: The Durkheimian Legacy

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 was a founding member in 1991, and then General Secretary, of the British Centre for Durkheimian Studies in the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Oxford University. Since the 1970s he has written, edited and helped translate a number of books on Durkheim and his disciples, including Durkheim's Sociology of Religion: Themes and Theories (1984).

Massimo Rosati is Associate Professor at University of Rome Tor Vergata, where he teaches Sociology. He has published articles on Durkheim and contemporary social theory. He is the editor of the new Italian edition of Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life and his latest book is Ritual and the Sacred: A Neo-Durkheimian Analysis of Politics, Religion and the Self (2009).