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 49-60 of 69 items.

Researching the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Blueprint for the Social Sciences

Challenging social science’s established orthodoxies, this book is a call for academia to embrace new theoretical frameworks and research methods to better understand the reality of life in a post-Covid world.

Policy Press

The Right Amount of Panic

How Women Trade Freedom for Safety

With real-life accounts of women’s experiences, and based on the author’s original research, this book challenges the culture of victim-blaming and shows how much energy women put into avoiding sexual violence in public spaces.

Policy Press

The role of higher education in providing opportunities for South Asian women

Although South Asian women are one of the most socially excluded groups in the UK, their numbers at university have increased rapidly in recent years. This report seeks to understand why they are entering university in larger numbers and the impact this has on their lives.

Policy Press

Snobbery

Snobbery matters because it is the way in which social divisions are built. In these times of growing social inequality, snobbery is becoming ever more pertinent. This book draws on literature, popular culture and autobiography as well as sociology and history to take a fresh and engaging look at this key social and cultural issue.

Policy Press

Social Media and the Automatic Production of Memory

Classification, Ranking and the Sorting of the Past

Social media platforms hold vast amounts of data about our lives. Content from the past is increasingly being presented in the form of ‘memories’. Critically exploring this new form of memory making, this unique book asks how social media are beginning to change the way we remember.

Bristol Uni Press

Social Networks and Migration

Relocations, Relationships and Resources

This intersectional study provides fresh insights into the complex networks of migrants. More than 200 interviews with people following multiple routes over eight decades help to illustrate how social support and trust are developed, how networks evolve over time, and how they impact the opportunities and obstacles migrants encounter.

Bristol Uni Press

Social Problems in Popular Culture

This is the first book to make the link between popular culture and social problems. Drawing on historical and topical examples, the authors apply an innovative theoretical framework to examine how facets of popular culture shape how we think about, and respond to, social issues.

Policy Press

Social Work Research Using Arts-Based Methods

Edited by Ephrat Huss and Eltje Bos

In the first dedicated analysis of its kind, international experts review the rationale and results of arts-based approaches to research, teaching, and practice in social work. The book presents examples of their use and methods to evaluate and theorise results and shows how arts can form outputs from research too.

Policy Press

Southern Craft Food Diversity

Challenging the Myth of a US Food Revival

Using oral histories, this book highlights the voices, experiences and histories of marginalized groups from diverse communities who are the backbone of the artisanal food movement in the US.

Bristol Uni Press

Stinking Rich

The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire

How does the billionaire class get away with sequestering the world’s wealth while others languish in poverty and hunger? This incisive book examines myths that portray billionaires as a ‘force for good’ and concrete actions to support economic justice and democratic equality.

Bristol Uni Press
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This Separated Isle

Invisible Britain

Edited by Paul Sng

This Separated Isle explores how concepts of ‘Britishness’ reveal an inclusive range of understandings about our national character. Featuring a diverse range of photographic portraits and narrative stories from across the UK, this landmark book examines the relationship between identity and nationhood, revealing the ties that bind us together.

Policy Press

The Trouble with Jokes

Humour and Offensiveness in Contemporary Culture and Politics

Exploring the relationship between humour and offensiveness, this book delves into offensive jokes, their impact, and the dark side of laughter. It blends cultural analysis, politics, and philosophy to offer an antidote to positive thinking and guide readers through offensive humour.

Bristol Uni Press