Poverty, inequality and social mobility
Women and Welfare Conditionality
Lived Experiences of Benefit Sanctions, Work and Welfare
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.
The Criminalisation of Social Policy in Neoliberal Societies
From anti-terrorism agendas, to the punishment of the poor and the governance of parenting, this book explores how diverse fields of social policy intersect more deeply than ever with crime control and in so doing, deploy troubling strategies.
The Growing Challenge of Youth Unemployment in Europe and America
A Cross-Cultural Perspective
This book provides a culturally nuanced analysis of key issues relating to youth unemployment. Examining the causes and consequences of youth unemployment, it assesses ways forward to promote economic self-sufficiency.
Living Wages and the Welfare State
The Anglo-American Social Model in Transition
Addressing the rapidly shifting politics of the minimum wage in six English-speaking countries, Shaun Wilson analyses minimum wage policies within a political-economy narrative. Topical and poignant, this book identifies the success of living wage campaigns as central to both welfare state change and alternatives to the Basic Income.
Poverty in Italy
Features and Drivers in a European Perspective
Three leading sociologists examine Italy’s regime of poverty and the frequently misunderstood context of familialism in this in-depth study. With analysis of poverty’s roots and development and modern trends including the migrant ‘new poor’, it adds European perspectives for a better understanding of a persistent crisis.
County Lines
Exploitation and Drug Dealing among Urban Street Gangs
Drawing upon extensive research amongst gang members, dealers and drug users, this timely book provides a comprehensive insight into the ‘County Lines’ phenomenon.
Shedding new light on this urgent topic on government agendas, this is an invaluable contribution to the literature on gangs, youth violence and organised crime.
The Shame Game
Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative
Drawing on a two-year multi-platform initiative, this book by award-winning journalist and author Mary O’Hara, asks how we can overturn the portrayal of poverty once and for all. Crucially, she turns to the real experts to try to find answers – the people who live it.
Precarity and Ageing
Understanding Insecurity and Risk in Later Life
This edited collection develops an exciting new approach to understanding the changing cultural, economic and social circumstances facing different groups of older people.
Local Social Innovation to Combat Poverty and Exclusion
A Critical Appraisal
Based on more than 30 case studies in eight different countries, this book explores the governance dynamics of local social innovations in the field of poverty reduction, illustrating how different governance dynamics and welfare mixes enable or hinder poverty reduction strategies.
Health in Hard Times
Austerity and Health Inequalities
Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book is a vital review of the impact of austerity on the wellbeing of the UK. Case studies from Stockton-on-Tees, home to some of the starkest health divides, are combined with a review of the repercussions of budget cuts and welfare reforms to show the vast inequalities in health in the UK today.
The Sociology of Debt
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.
Absolute Poverty in Europe
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Hidden Phenomenon
This book investigates different policy and civic responses to extreme poverty, ranging from food donations to penalisation and “social cleansing” of highly visible poor and how it is related to concerns of ethics, justice and human dignity.