Social issues & processes
Love and the Market
How to Recover from the Enlightenment and Survive the Current Crisis
Revisiting philosophical developments, historical figures and events, including Adam Smith, colonialism and modernity, this interdisciplinary book presents a ‘loving critique’ of society. It shows how learning to love better is key to releasing ourselves from the alienating grip of the market.
COVID-19 Stories from the Swedish Welfare State
The Pandemicracy
Based on field material collected from 2020 to 2022 in Sweden, this book tells a composite story of the everyday work of public sector workers that maintained the welfare infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beyond Privacy
People, Practices, Politics
This timely volume tackles the challenges of privacy in the digital sphere, addressing fundamental societal and structural issues from three perspectives: people, practices and politics. Experts from diverse fields provide a valuable contribution to key debates about privacy and data protection, surveillance capitalism and big tech companies.
Social Murder?
Austerity and Life Expectancy in the UK
Combining robust evidence with real-life stories, this book reveals the shocking impact of austerity policies on life expectancy and offers an optimistic vision of what can be done to restore life expectancy and reduce health inequality.
Fairer Welfare Systems for Better Mental Health
A New State of Mind
Focusing on three key areas: prevention, support and investment, this book argues that tackling poverty and financial insecurity through well-designed social security systems could offer a new focus for improving our collective mental health.
Embodying Irish Abortion Reform
Bodies, Emotions, and Feminist Activism
This book explores the experiences of people affected by Ireland's constitutional abortion ban. Through in-depth research and interviews, the author uncovers how the 8th Amendment led women and gestating people live their bodies as "future aborting bodies," and how the need to ‘prepare’ for crisis pregnancies shaped everyday practices.
Mental Capacity Law, Sexual Relationships, and Intimacy
This edited collection brings together a range of academics, practitioners and organisations to consider the implications of recent case law around consent in sexual relationships on the day-to-day lives of people with cognitive impairments.
Welfare and Punishment
From Thatcherism to Austerity
From Margaret Thatcher’s first government to austerity politics, Ian Cummins traces changing attitudes to imprisonment and the social state. With fresh insights and critical thinking, he demonstrates how increasingly punitive approaches to crime and welfare have shaped the neoliberal economy and created stigma around those living in poverty.
Temporality in Mobile Lives
Contemporary Asia–Australia Migration and Everyday Time
This innovative study of young Asian migrants’ lives in Australia sheds new light on the complex relationship between migration and time. With in-depth interviews and a new conceptual framework, Robertson reveals how migration influences the trajectories of migrants’ lives, from career pathways to intimate relationships.
Youth, Work and the Post-Fordist Self
Drawing on empirical research, this book provides an innovative exploration of youth and work, showing how youth identities are connected with the dynamics of labour and value in contemporary capitalism.
Rural Poverty Today
Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain
Many people living in rural areas face hardship but the UK’s welfare system is poorly adapted to meet their needs, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and cutbacks exacerbating pressures. This book combines person-based and place-based approaches to tackling rural poverty.
Disasters and Changes in Society and Politics
Contemporary Perspectives from Italy
This book brings a critical perspective to post-disaster reconstruction in Italy, and the sometimes radical changes in individual and collective behaviours that persist following such events. Considering the impacts of climate change and COVID-19, this edited book will stimulate debate on policy and practice in disaster recovery.