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Social isolation is a deprivation of social connectedness. It is a crucial aspect that continues to be named by people as a core impediment for achieving well-being and as a relevant factor for understanding poverty. The notion of social isolation has been discussed within a diversity of theories that have provided rich insights into particular aspects of social isolation. However, there is no agreement on the core components of this social malady or on how to measure it. Although the challenge of conceptualising and measuring social connectedness is daunting, this paper argues that existing research in several fields provides solid ground for a common concept and for the construction of basic internationally comparable indicators that measure specific aspects of social isolation. In particular, this paper aims to contribute to the debate on social connectedness and its measurement in three ways: (1) presenting a working definition that, while doing justice to the rich insights advanced by different theories, stresses relational features in the life experience of people; (2) emphasising the relevance of

While the multidimensionality of poverty is well-recognised, one dimension of poverty that has been often overlooked is social connectedness. This paper draws on conceptual and participatory and measurement literatures to observe that social connectedness seems to be an important missing ingredient of multidimensional poverty analyses, with social isolation being a feature that exacerbates the condition of poor persons. To provide contextual detail as to its particular impact on persons in marginalized communities and for the need for further studies on this frontier, we present qualitative primary data from South Africa and Mozambique, and review pertinent studies of the First Nations of Canada, and among persons with disability. A final challenge for social isolation is that it may not mobilize policy attention if it is seen to be a matter of personal skill, thus the closing section outlines particular areas for positive policy intervention.

While people living in poverty talk about isolation, shame, and humiliation as being key aspects of their lived experiences of suffering, until recently, there has been no international data on these aspectsmaking them "missing dimensions" within poverty analysis and within research into suffering. Drawing upon international fieldwork and datasets from Chile and Chad, this chapter examines the relevance of social isolation, shame and humiliation in contexts of poverty, to research on suffering. The chapter suggests that the use of particular indicators of shame, humiliation, and social isolation can better recognize distributions of suffering. It can also help identify individuals and sub-groups within those living in multidimensional poverty -or of the general population at large -that are affected by concrete and particularly hurtful situations. Consequently, they can help to identify levels of suffering which are This publication is copyright, however it may be reproduced without fee for teaching or non-profit purposes, but not for resale. Formal permission is required for all such uses, and will normally be granted immediately. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from OPHI and may be subject to a fee. higher within a specific population. We argue that these types of indicators could form the basis of more refined measures that help generate more concise data on suffering.

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