Policy Press

Textbooks

Education is at the heart of our mission to make a difference. Our goal is to support students’ learning with materials that foster understanding, confidence and skills.

We have a diverse and growing programme of textbooks and learning resources that are designed for Social Science courses at university and college level. We take pride in publishing quality content at affordable prices, and we cater to a wide range of learning styles in print and digital formats.

All of our textbooks are available on inspection and e-inspection (order here or use the link on the book pages). Lecturers are welcome to request print or digital inspection copies for potential recommendation on their reading lists and for student and library purchase. In return, we just ask for feedback on the books’ suitability for teaching purposes, in order to help us develop our publishing.

INSPECTION COPY REQUEST FORM

Take a look at our textbooks below or browse by subject.

 
 
 
Showing 1-12 of 97 items.

An Invitation to Social Research

Tailored to meet the demands of blended learning, this versatile and accessible textbook is ideal for research students embarking on their research journey, complete with a variety of pedagogical and digital tools to aid learning.

Policy Press

Why Social Work is Important

Identity, Role and Practice

This book demonstrates that all societies require a social work presence. It symbolises the importance of a community-near professional input to human flourishing and the development of social capital. It challenges economic and political trends that corrode deeply-held human and social values.

Policy Press

Straightforward Statistics

This clear and concise guide provides the introduction to descriptive statistical analysis that all students need to draw insightful conclusions from their data. Assuming no prior expertise, it presents jargon-free and practical advice for analysing and presenting numbers.

Policy Press

Where's the ‘Human’ in Human Resource Management?

Managing Work in the 21st Century

Drawing on case studies from the UK, Ireland, US and Australia, this book addresses the major workplace challenges of HRM today to create a textbook for the 21st century.

Bristol Uni Press

Doing Qualitative Desk-Based Research

A Practical Guide to Writing an Excellent Dissertation

Using two key visual pedagogical tools, this book shows you how to produce vibrant and stimulating in-depth qualitative research that draws on data readily available via the internet. Concise, practical and jam-packed with valuable tips, this book will enable you to complete a successful desk-based research project you can be proud of.

Policy Press

US Foreign Policy

Domestic Roots and International Impact

This textbook provides a valuable introduction to the construction and application of US foreign policy in the modern era, encouraging readers to think about how ideas, institutions and goals have been at work in the foreign policy of recent presidential administrations.

Bristol Uni Press

Human Growth and Development in Children and Young People

Theoretical and Practice Perspectives

Covering key concepts, theories, themes and issues, this textbook uses a range of multi-disciplinary insights to show how children and young people negotiate crucial challenges and transitions in their lives. Covering different practice dimensions, it provides fresh insights on key topics and includes a range of learning support features.

Policy Press

Reconstructing the Global Political Economy

An Analytical Guide

This intersectional and future-orientated textbook examines the challenges facing the world economy as a result of climate change and rising inequality. It presents and explains key concepts and theories from Global Political Economy, showing how these can be used to design a reconstruction of the global political economy.

Bristol Uni Press

Human Growth and Development in Adults

Theoretical and Practice Perspectives

This textbook covers the key concepts, themes and issues relating to human growth and development in adults. It examines key topics and issues within professional practice with adults and their families and covers a wide range of practice areas, fuses essential theory with practical application and provides a wide range of learning features.

Policy Press

Social Divisions

Inequality and Diversity in Britain

Informed by sociological theory and recent empirical analysis, the new edition of this classic textbook is an accessible account of the major social divisions that structure social life. Written by experts, it covers an unrivalled range of social divisions, diversity and inequalities. This is an invaluable sourcebook for social science students.

Policy Press

The Research Journal

A Reflective Tool for Your First Independent Research Project

This brilliant book is a great guide for students undertaking their first piece of independent research. Regular critical reflection is an invaluable tool for helping you gain new insights, deal with practical issues as they arise and develop your understanding. This book gets you started in the habit of using a research journal.

Policy Press

Imagining Society

The Case for Sociology

Re-examining C.Wright Mills’s legacy as a jumping off point, this original introduction to sociology illuminates global concepts, themes and practices that are fundamental to the discipline and rethinks and re-imagines what a critically committed, politically engaged and publicly relevant sociology should look like in the 21st century.

Bristol Uni Press