Economics and Society - Research
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.
The Production of Everyday Life in Eco-Conscious Households
Compromise, Conflict, Complicity
Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, this book sheds much-needed light on how sustainability-oriented households balance priorities and get things done in day-to-day life, offering crucial insights about eco-conscious living at an individual level.
Politics of the Gift
Towards a Convivial Society
Drawing on French sociologist Marcel Mauss' influential theory of 'the gift', this book shows that trust is the only glue that holds societies together, and people are giving beings and they who can cooperate for the benefit of all when the logic of maximizing utility personal gain in capitalism is broken.
Exiting the Factory (Volume 1)
Strikes and Class Formation Beyond the Industrial Sector
Drawing on case studies from Germany, Britain and Spain, this book offers a novel assessment of labour struggles and class formation. Gallas explores key issues around class relations, struggles around waged and unwaged work and labour movements in contemporary capitalism to bring class theory back to labour studies.
Transforming Agriculture and Foodways
The Digital-Molecular Convergence
Agri-food systems in the Global North are experiencing a wave of technological innovation in food production and ways of eating. This book is the first to analyse technological and socio-economic change in leading food sectors and it concludes that despite innovation, the food industry is adapting too slowly to the challenges of climate change.
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.
The EU Migrant Generation in Asia
Middle-Class Aspirations in Asian Global Cities
Drawing on a comparative study with individuals who migrated to Singapore and Tokyo in 2010s, this book demonstrates how migration to Asian business centres has become an alternative to a middle-class life in Europe and how the perceived insecurities of life in the crisis-ridden EU result in these migrants’ prolonged stay in Asia.
Rethinking Financial Behaviour
Rationality and Resistance in the Financialization of Everyday Life
UK and US pension policy expects consistently informed decision-making in finance. Deviating from this is often deemed “irrational”, ignoring uncontrollable factors in individuals’ lives.
Challenging existing policy approaches, this book proposes a fresh perspective on rationality when it comes to financial policy and practices.
The Politics of Food Insecurity in Canada and the United Kingdom
This book takes a critical political economy approach to understanding food insecurity in Canada and the UK. It provides a vision of a future whereby public control over the distribution of resources –including food – will eliminate food insecurity and other conditions that threaten health.
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.
Taxing Democracy
Local Taxation and the Social Contract in America
Carrie Manning’s illuminating book examines how policies to limit taxation at state and local levels in the US have direct and lasting consequences for equity, accountability, and ultimately for democracy.
Extinction Equilibrium
Economics for Generational Survival
The past two decades have seen a global financial crisis, increasing levels of inequality, a pandemic and the intensification of the climate emergency. As debate rages about how to ensure a fairer society, this book asks where we want to be in 20 years’ time and how we might get there.