Sociology

This edited collection offers the first system-wide account of the impact of COVID-19 on crime and justice in England and Wales. Integrating first-hand narratives, it provides a critical discussion of the challenges faced by criminal justice agencies, together with policy and practice recommendations for future pandemic planning.

This book explores tax and social policy and how they interact with each other. It covers key interactions, debates and challenges of tax and social policy and examines how analyses might be combined and policy options developed for effective delivery in both areas.

This key text offers the first overview of the strengths-based approach in social work from the UK perspective. Covering the five main models of strengths-based practice, with case studies and practical guidance on theory into practice, the text enables students and practitioners to apply the benefits in their own social work practice.

Written by experts in interpretive sociology, this volume examines semiotic models in a sociological context. Contributors offer case studies to demonstrate ‘how to do things’ with semiotics. Synthesizing a diverse and fragmented landscape, this is a key reference work for understanding the connection between semiotics and sociology.

This book addresses the prejudices that emerged out of the collision of the two pandemics of 2020: COVID-19 and Racism.

A uniquely hybrid approach to welfare state policy, ecological sustainability and social transformation, this book explores transformative models of welfare change. Using Ireland as a case study, it addresses the institutional adaptations needed to move towards a sustainable welfare state.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book draws on the accounts of 170 individuals who had, or led, a wedding ceremony outside the legal framework. The authors examine what these ceremonies can tell us about how couples want to marry, and what aspects of the current law preclude them from doing so.

This book conducts an in-depth investigation of one of the largest and longest-established insurance industries in Europe: British life insurance. The author draws on over 40 oral history interviews to trace how the sector is changed since the 1970s, a period characterised by rampant financialisation and neoliberalisation.

Connecting decolonial theory with Bourdieu’s class analysis, this book provides pioneering new insights into the social stratification of EU migrants and the relationships between neoliberalism, coloniality and European whiteness.

By examining the emergence and growth of liberal arts degrees in English higher education, this book tackles one of the key issues in the critical sociology of higher education: the relationship between selective education and elitism.

This book offers insights into the development of social welfare policies in Britain. By identifying continuities in welfare policy, practice and thought throughout history, it offers the potential for the development of new thinking, policy making and practice.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book reframes the debate about children’s work and harm in rural Africa with the aim of shifting research, public discourse and policy so that they better serve the interest of rural children and their families.