Invisibilization of Suffering

This book offers a comprehensive theory of invisibility as a critical sociological concept, addressing the relationship between social suffering and invisibilization.

Herzog draws on social theory and a variety of empirical examples to analyze social grammar and unveil various mechanisms of social suffering. Presenting an original theory of silencing and suffering, this book outlines a substantive theory and methodology of invisibilization as an instrument of authority. This systemic analysis of visibility as both a liberating and dominating mechanism will be a major contribution to the field of critical theory, offering an original framework to help improve the situation of excluded groups and individuals.

Invisibilization of Suffering will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars across sociology, social philosophy, social work, political sciences, criminology, linguistics and education, with a focus on justice theory, marginalization, discrimination and exclusion.

“The monograph as a whole makes apparent the difficulties in analyzing social suffering as a conceptual object because there are many intersecting forms of suffering to consider. This text is a useful handbook for understanding these complex linkages in terms of what they are like empirically, rather than of how they should be. In subsequent system analyses that prioritize holism, this work is indispensable. … His blend of interdisciplinary concern and immanent critique is an impressive feat in critical suffering studies.” (Mikaela Brough, Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online, Vol. 13 (1), 2021)

“In his book, Benno Herzog enriches the critical tradition in sociology. His work radicalizes the problem of openness towards the recognition of differences. He exposes the suffering generated by (in)visibilities of those not recognized and discloses the perversions of dispositives of control. By visibilizing differences, these dispositives pursue a repressive agenda stemming from rigid normative frames, generating circuits of contradiction that violate the universal value of equality. Through the threat of visibilization and rejection, dispositives of control reinvent borders and self-affirming fortresses between social environments.” (Ignacio Sánchez de la Yncera, Professor of Sociology, Public University of Navarre, Spain)

“The analysis of social suffering has become on of the most important tools of contemporary critical social theory. Benno Herzog‘s “Suffering from Invisibilization” presents one of the most systematic accounts of social suffering, and contextualizes sociological research in a fascinating way in the conceptual landscape. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the frontiers of critical social analysis.” (Titus Stahl, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

“Suffering has seldom been recognized, much less theorized by social scientists. Yet it points to a crucial dimension of what drives human beings. By rereading a canon of critical theory from Adorno to Honneth, Benno Herzog presents us with an innovative and eminently readable account of the nexus of suffering, invisibility and critique.” (Johannes Angermuller, Professor of Discourse, Languages and Applied Linguistics, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK)

“In this highly original book, Benno Herzog opens the sociological imagination for two notions hitherto neglected: the relevance of suffering which has been increased by the high and probably exaggerated aspirations of the modern subject, and the invisibility of sociality, and hedoes so in ways which not only show the link between both but which also allow for the critical perspective necessary when addressing suffering.” (Hubert Knoblauch, Professor of General Sociology and Theories of Modern Societies, Technical University of Berlin, Germany)

“With an impressive mastery of a diverse range of literature, Benno Herzog reveals how the highly personal experience of suffering in contemporary capitalist society demands individual and collective responses. Invisibilization of Suffering offers a diagnosis of social maladies that sits alongside other assessments of pathology in the tradition of critical theory. Benno Herzog’s analysis traverses the paradoxes of invisibility and shows that while unnecessary suffering is deplorable, it is not without hope. Suffering can generate semantic resources that expand normative horizons and motivate challenges to injustice. This book provides a comprehensive critical analysis that throws new light on troubling issues of our times.” (Craig Browne, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sydney, Australia)

Benno Herzog is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Valencia, Spain.