Policy Press

Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights

As part of our mission to make a difference, Policy Press has a strong commitment to social justice and to publishing work on poverty and inequality.

In fact, issues of equality and diversity run through most of our publications, but we also publish books which focus on core topics, including gender, disability, race and ethnicity, faith and religion, migration, and equality and diversity policies. 

Showing 37-48 of 383 items.

Social Movements and Referendums from Below

Direct Democracy in the Neoliberal Crisis

Social movements formed in response to austerity measures have played an increasingly important role in referendums. The book uses unique case studies to illustrate the ways the social movements have affected the referendums’ dynamic and results. It also addresses the way in which participation from below has had a transformative impact.

Policy Press

Hungry Britain

The Rise of Food Charity

Drawing on empirical research with the UK’s two largest Food Banks, this book explores the prolific rise of food charity over the last 15 years and its implications for overcoming food insecurity.

Policy Press

Development in Africa

Refocusing the Lens After the Millennium Development Goals

This important book looks beyond the Millennium Development Goals to highlight 12 major public policy conversations about the continent post-2015, arguing that Africa as a continent must work on developing a society that is socially, economically and politically inclusive.

Policy Press

Veiled Threats

Representing the Muslim Woman in Public Policy Discourses

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

Uses original scholarship and empirical research to examine how Muslim women are represented in social policy discourse and situated within national debates about Britishness, the death of multiculturalism and international terrorism.

Policy Press

Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK

Volume 1 - The Nature and Extent of the Problem

This text provides insights into the nature and extent of poverty and social exclusion in the UK today for different social groups: older and younger people; parents and children; ethnic groups; men and women; disabled people; and across regions through the recent period of austerity.

Policy Press

The Impact of Co-production

From Community Engagement to Social Justice

Edited by Aksel Ersoy

This text brings together academics, artists, practitioners and ‘community activists’ to explore the possibilities for and tensions of social justice work under the contemporary drive for community-oriented ‘impact’ in the academy.

Policy Press

Challenging the Myth of Gender Equality in Sweden

This is the first book to explode the myth of Swedish gender equality, offering both a new perspective for an international audience, and suggesting how equality might be re-thought more generally.

Policy Press

Police Diversity

Beyond the Blue

Providing a unique ‘insider’ perspective on police diversity, this book reveals the current tensions between the police and diverse populations in the UK and US. It demonstrates the obstacles to progress, revealing how championing diversity as part of police reform efforts can positively impact the lives of policed communities.

Policy Press

Understanding Mental Distress

Knowledge, Practice and Neoliberal Reform in Community Mental Health Services

This timely analysis sets out the full impacts of policy reform, austerity and marketisation on our country’s mental health services. Rooted in the experiences of service users and providers, it provides valuable perspectives on our evolving practical and organisational responses to mental distress.

Policy Press

The Impacts of Welfare Conditionality

Sanctions Support and Behaviour Change

This book uses qualitative longitudinal data, from repeat interviews with people subject to compulsion and sanction in their everyday lives, to analyse the effectiveness and ethicality of welfare conditionality in promoting and sustaining behaviour change in the UK.

Policy Press

Disproportionate Minority Contact and Racism in the US

How We Failed Children of Color

Drawing on original data, this book addresses the issue of color-blind racism through an examination of the circular logic used by the juvenile justice system to criminalize non-White youth. It calls for a need to understand racial inequality in the justice system from a structural perspective rather than simply at the level of individual bias.

Bristol Uni Press

Sustainable Human Development Across the Life Course

Evidence from Longitudinal Research

Edited by Prerna Banati

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book presents impactful findings from international longitudinal studies that responded to the Agenda 2030 commitment to “leave no-one behind”.It provides actionable strategies for policy makers and practitioners to strengthen the global Sustainable Development Goals framework.

Bristol Uni Press