Austerity

Telling the stories of low-income families, this book exposes the ways that pre-existing inequalities, insecurities and hardships were amplified during the pandemic in the UK and offers key policy recommendations for change.

Drawing on a wealth of qualitative longitudinal evidence, this book casts light on women’s lived experiences of welfare and work. It uncovers the hidden gendered bias of conditional welfare reforms to challenge dominant political discourses, policy design and practice norms.

Rather than being seen simply as social policy implementors, in recent decades there has been recognition of the unique insights that social workers can bring to policy formulation. This book offers a theoretical framework for understanding why social workers engage in policy, and the implications for research, education and practice.

Welfare states matter for people’s lives – but what are they trying to do, and why? The book discusses the institutions and methods that characterise welfare states around the world. It focuses on the aims, purposes and justifications for social welfare services in order to explain what the welfare state is for.

This book explores the recent experiences of diverse paid care workers in four very different national contexts – Finland, Canada, South Africa and England – to learn from their experiences during COVID-19 and its aftermath.

This book powerfully sets out the case for Transitional Safeguarding, a new approach to protection and safeguarding designed to address the needs and behaviours of young people aged 15-24 who are falling between gaps in current systems, with often devastating results.

Through the framework of understanding health inequalities as a 'wicked problem' the book develops an applied approach to researching, understanding and addressing these by drawing on complexity theory.

This collection explores generational studies, showcasing its interdisciplinary potential in sociology, literature, history, psychology, media studies and politics. It offers fresh perspectives and opens new avenues for generational thinking.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically exposed weaknesses in UK housing, with housing inequality contributing to the unequal impact of the disease. Becky Tunstall assesses the position of housing in public policy and health, and the most immediate responses to the pandemic in one convenient resource for students, scholars and practitioners.

"The squeezed middle" brings together leading experts from both sides of the Atlantic to ask what the UK can learn from the US experience of stagnating wages and rising living costs.

Key thinkers with a range of perspectives provide a sociological analysis of debt focused upon its social, political, economic, and cultural meanings. Contributors consider the lived experience of debt and financialisation taking place globally with accounts that span sociological, cultural, and economic forms of analysis.

Social work and poverty: A critical approach provides a timely review of the key issues facing social workers and service users in working together to combat poverty, covering key areas including access to food, obesity and drug use.