Chronic pain is a common, costly, and consequential health problem. However, despite some important analytic contributions, sociological research on pain has not yet coalesced into a unified subfield. We present three interrelated bodies of evidence and illustrative new empirical findings using 2010 to 2018 National Health Interview Survey data to argue that pain should have a central role in sociological investigations of health. Specifically, we contend that (1) pain is a sensitive barometer of population health and well-being, (2) pain is emblematic of many contested and/or chronic conditions, and (3) pain and pain treatment reflect and have wide-ranging implications for public policy. Overall, whether pain is analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively-focusing on its distribution in the population, its social causes and consequences, or its subjective meanings for individuals-pain reflects social conditions, sociopolitical context, and health-related beliefs of a society. Pain is thus an important frontier for future sociological research.
Keywords: chronic pain; disparities/inequities; policy; population; social factors.