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.

慢性疼痛是一种常见的、代价高昂的和相应的健康问题。然而，尽管有一些重要的分析贡献，关于疼痛的社会学研究还没有合并成一个统一的子领域。我们使用 2010 年至 2018 年的全国健康访谈调查数据提出了三个相互关联的证据和说明性的新实证发现，以证明疼痛应该在健康的社会学调查中发挥核心作用。具体来说，我们认为（1）疼痛是人口健康和福祉的敏感晴雨表，（2）疼痛是许多有争议和/或慢性病的象征，（3）疼痛和疼痛治疗反映并具有广泛的对公共政策的影响。总体而言，无论是定量分析还是定性分析疼痛——关注其在人群中的分布、其社会原因和后果，或其对个人的主观意义——疼痛反映了一个社会的社会状况、社会政治背景和与健康相关的信念。因此，疼痛是未来社会学研究的重要前沿。