Policy Press

Poverty, inequality and social justice

The issues involved in poverty, inequality and social justice are many and varied, from basic access to education and healthcare, to the financial crisis and resulting austerity, and now COVID-19. Addressing Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 5: Gender Equality, Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities and Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, our list both presents research on these topics and tackles emerging problems. A key series in the area is the SSSP Agendas for Social Justice.

This area has always been at the heart of our publishing with the view to making the research in this area as visible and accessible as possible in order to maximise its potential impact. 

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In Poverty, inequality and social justice, we aim to address the following goals:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 1: No povertySDG 5: Gender equalitySDG 10: Reduced inequalitiesSDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

Showing 1-12 of 698 items.

Food Banks in Schools and Nurseries

The Education Sector’s Responses to the Cost-of-Living Crisis

Drawing on case studies of 12 primary schools and early years settings across England, this book explores how food banks operate for families facing financial insecurity operate and how they affect children’s participation and wellbeing. It explores the major policy decisions that needs to be made to support families.

Policy Press
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Minority Women and Austerity

Survival and Resistance in France and Britain

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Bassel and Emejulu explore minority women’s experiences of austerity measures in France and Britain. They demonstrate how they use their race, class, gender and legal status for collective action in the face of the neoliberal colonisation.

Policy Press

Co-creation in Public Services for Innovation and Social Justice

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY licence.. Informed by practical action, lived experience and international research, this book shines new light on the theory and reality of co-creation, highlighting the possibilities and potential in a range of contexts through practical service dilemmas and lived experience.

Policy Press
  • ForthcomingPaperbackGBP 27.99 Pre-order
  • Currently not availableEPUB

Feminism in Public Debt

A Human Rights Approach

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

This book explores the link between government debt and women's rights. Experts highlight how economic policies worsen gender inequalities and propose a feminist approach to debt issues. It is an essential resource for comprehending the intricate connection between economics and gender.

Bristol Uni Press

Peer Relationships at School

New Perspectives on Migration and Diversity

Drawing on research from two UK schools, this book reveals how migration, language, ethnicity, religion and precarity shape youth relationships. Using Buber's model, it analyses 'I-It' and 'I-Thou' interactions, showcasing their power to reshape differences. It offers a pragmatic and hopeful view of the dynamics of diversity in everyday life.

Bristol Uni Press

The Escape from Poverty

Breaking the Vicious Cycles Perpetuating Disadvantage

The perpetuation of poverty across generations damages lives. Drawing on a wide variety of sources and academic disciplines, along with lived experiences, this book examines why poverty is continued across generations and what needs to be done to eradicate it.

Policy Press

Theorising Justice

A Primer for Social Scientists

Justice is becoming increasingly important to climate change and economic development discussions. This book combines justice theories with their applications in policy and practice, to address the social, political, economic and ecological challenges we face today.

Bristol Uni Press

How Britain Loves the NHS

Practices of Care and Contestation

It is often claimed that the UK is unusually attached to its National Health Service, and the last decade has seen increasingly visible displays of gratitude and love. This book offers a timely critique of both the potential, and the dysfunctions, of Britain’s complex love affair with its healthcare system.

Policy Press

Poverty and Prejudice

Religious Inequality and the Struggle for Sustainable Development

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book offers a comprehensive overview of how efforts to achieve SDGs can be enhanced by paying greater attention to freedom of religion and belief.

Bristol Uni Press

Northern Exposure

COVID-19 and Regional Inequalities in Health and Wealth

Using original data analysis from a wide range of sources, this book addresses the vital contemporary issue of regional inequality through the impact of COVID-19.

Policy Press

Racism and Ethnic Inequality in a Time of Crisis

Findings from the Evidence for Equality National Survey

ePUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Drawing from the Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS), this book presents new evidence of ethnic inequalities and sheds new light on underlying racisms, opening them up to debate as crucial social concerns.

Policy Press

COVID-19, the Global South and the Pandemic’s Development Impact

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book examines the unique implications of the pandemic in the Global South. With international contributors from a variety of disciplines, it investigates the pandemic’s effects on development, medicine, gender (in)equality and human rights among other issues.

Bristol Uni Press


Related journals

Journal of poverty and social justice cover

Journal of Poverty and Social Justice

Welfare regimes in the global South: does the capability approach provide an alternative perspective?
Sophie Plagerson and Leila Patel

Basic income and a public job offer: complementary policies to reduce poverty and unemployment
Felix FitzRoy and Jim Jin

Monitoring progress towards sustainable development: multidimensional child poverty in the European Union
Yekaterina Chzhen, Zlata Bruckauf and Emilia Toczydlowska

Much ado about poverty: the role of a UN Special Rapporteur
Philip Alston, Bassam Khawaja and Rebecca Riddell

Including services in multidimensional poverty measurement for SDGs: modifications to the consensual approach
Alba Lanau, Joanna Mack and Shailen Nandy

For better or for worse: does the UK means-tested social security system encourage partnership dissolution?
Rita Griffiths

CCTs and conditionalities: an exploratory analysis of not meeting conditional cash transfer conditionalities in Chile's Families Programme
Tal Reininger, Cristobal Villalobos and Ignacio Wyman

Welfare regimes in the global South: does the capability approach provide an alternative perspective?
Sophie Plagerson and Leila Patel

Basic income and a public job offer: complementary policies to reduce poverty and unemployment
Felix FitzRoy and Jim Jin

Monitoring progress towards sustainable development: multidimensional child poverty in the European Union
Yekaterina Chzhen, Zlata Bruckauf and Emilia Toczydlowska

Is there evidence of households making a heat or eat trade off in the UK?
Carolyn Snell, Hannah Lambie-Mumford and Harriet Thomson

Leaving no one behind? Reaching the informal sector, poor people and marginalised groups with Social Health Protection
Claude Meyer, David Evans et al.

Gender, ethnicity and activism: 'the miracle is when we don't give up...'
Anna  Daróczi, Angela Kocze et al.

‘We are constantly overdrawn, despite not spending money on anything other than bills and food’: a mixed-methods, participatory study of food and food insecurity in the context of income inequality [Open Access]
Katie Pybus, Madeleine Power, and Kate E. Pickett

A consequence of a tragedy: nowcasting poverty rate in Syria
Samer Hamati

Retheorising the relationship between electricity scarcity and social injustice: evidence from Zimbabwe
Ellen Fungisai Chipango

Exploring child poverty and inequality in post-apartheid South Africa: a multidimensional perspective
Kehinde Oluwaseun Omotoso and Steven F. Koch

‘To tell you the truth, no job is legit’: an exploration of justice for Hanoi’s marginalised urban migrants
Jonathan De Luca