Policy Press

Society, Culture and Arts

Culture – the beliefs, behaviours and objects common to the members of a particular group – is a fundamental part of the infrastructure on which our societies depend, and a wellspring from which we can reflect and reinvent, when faced with the urgent need to find ways to better co-exist on our planet.

Our publishing promotes Goal 3: Good health and well-being, through recognising the role culture plays in our lives, in our most disadvantaged communities, in old age and in the making of government policy. By listening to different societies, and different cultures within those societies, we can often find new perspectives and different approaches to tackling the problems that cut across all cultures.

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In Society and culture, we aim to address the following goal:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 3: Good health and well-being

Showing 25-36 of 70 items.

Interpreting the Body

Between Meaning and Matter

Written by leading social scientists, this ambitious volume asks what individuals’ “handling” of bodies reveal about inequality, social order and cultural change in societies.

Bristol Uni Press

Just Here for the Comments

Lurking as Digital Literacy Practice

This book challenges the conventional perspective of what ‘counts’ as participatory online culture. Presenting ‘lurking’ on social media newsfeeds as a communication and literacy practice that resists dominant power structures, it offers an innovative approach to digital qualitative methods.

Bristol Uni Press
  • ForthcomingPaperbackGBP 24.99 Pre-order
  • ForthcomingHardbackGBP 85.00 Pre-order
  • Currently not availableEPUBGBP 24.99

Lande: The Calais 'Jungle' and Beyond

How can Archaeology help us understand our contemporary world? This ground-breaking book reflects on material, visual and digital culture from the Calais “Jungle” to reassess how we understand ‘crisis’, activism, and the infrastructure of national borders in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.

Bristol Uni Press

The Life of a Number

Measurement, Meaning and the Media

Drawing on case studies, this book examines how politicians, academics and journalists gave meaning to data during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawson sheds light on the distinct nature of the pandemic that led to the increased politicization of data and how it permanently changed the way we view health and society more broadly.

Bristol Uni Press

Like Mother, Like Daughter?

How Career Women Influence their Daughters' Ambition

Women are encouraged to believe that they can occupy top jobs in society by the example of other women thriving in their careers. This book shows that having a mother as a role model does not predict daughters progressing in their own careers. It offers a timely and original perspective on the debate about gender equality in leadership positions.

Policy Press

Living Data

Making Sense of Health Biosensing

This book critiques the popular claim that ‘more information’ equates to ‘better health’ and explores the potential challenges related to people’s changing relationships with traditional health systems as access to, and control over data shifts.

Bristol Uni Press

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.

Bristol Uni Press
  • ForthcomingPaperbackGBP 27.99 Pre-order
  • ForthcomingHardbackGBP 80.00 Pre-order
  • Currently not availableEPUBGBP 27.99

Media Technologies for Work and Play in East Asia

Critical Perspectives on Japan and the Two Koreas

Edited by Micky Lee and Peichi Chung

This book is the first comparative study of media technologies in Japan and the two Koreas which illuminates the peculiar geopolitical relations between the three countries through their development and use of digital technologies, drawing from political economy, cultural studies, and technology studies.

Bristol Uni Press

Money

Myths, Truths and Alternatives

Mary Mellor examines money’s social, political and commercial histories to debunk longstanding myths such as money being in short supply and needing to come from somewhere. She sets out a new finance system, based on green and feminist concerns, to bring radical change for social good.

Policy Press

Moomin Management

Redefining Generosity

Offering rare insights from the Moomin inner circle, this book unveils the Moomin business management journey, from Tove Jansson's creations to a global art-based brand and a growing ecosystem of companies. It unveils the keys to a sustainable business devoted to comforting people and fostering good, inspiring a blueprint for lasting success.

Bristol Uni Press
  • ForthcomingPaperbackGBP 19.99 Pre-order
  • ForthcomingHardbackGBP 80.00 Pre-order
  • Currently not availableEPUBGBP 19.99

More-Than-Human Aesthetics

Venturing Beyond the Bifurcation of Nature

This imaginative collection invites readers to explore how a broader view of aesthetics can reshape areas like, medicine, arts and education, challenging how we think about knowledge. It is an agenda-setting contribution to understanding the significance of aesthetics in science and technology studies.

Bristol Uni Press

Muslims and Humour

Essays on Comedy, Joking, and Mirth in Contemporary Islamic Contexts

In this thought-provoking collection, Muslim and non-Muslim academics take a multi-disciplinary approach to humour in Islam. They draw on examples of comedy practices and styles to scope sociological, cultural, theological and political themes, consider humour’s role in fundamentalism, and correct misconceptions about laughter in the religion.

Bristol Uni Press