Social Policy

This book explores what it means to act in a democratic way and provides practical guidance which will help public service professionals ensure users are at the centre of public services delivery, drawing from examples of different public services around the world.

In a time of increasing inequality, why has there been a recent surge of support for political parties who promote an anti-welfare message? Using a mixed methods approach and newly released data, this book aims to answer this question and to show possible ways forward for welfare states.

Drawing on empirical data from the field of education governance, the book traces how scales are crafted and mobilised in policymaking practices, demonstrating that ‘scalecraft’ is key to understanding the production of hegemony.

Bringing together accounts of how intellectual disability was viewed, managed and experienced in countries across the globe, the book examines the origins and nature of contemporary attitudes, policy and practice and sheds light on the challenges of implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCPRD).

Duncan Exley draws on expert research and real life experiences – including from an actor, a politician, a billionaire entrepreneur and a surgeon – to issue a wake-up call to break through segregated opportunity. He offers a manifesto to reboot our prospects and benefit all.

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.

Reconceiving the current housing crisis in England as a ‘wicked’ problem, this book situates the crisis in a broader range of socio-economic issues and calls for a change in how housing is produced and consumed.

This new edition of a widely-respected textbook examines welfare policy and racism, alongside institutional racism and community cohesion within a broad policy framework.

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.

How has the Brexit vote affected EU migrants in the UK? This book presents a female Polish perspective, using findings from research carried out with economic migrants from Poland interviewed before and after the Brexit vote.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book draws on evidence on two cohorts of children, from 1 to 15 and from 8 to 22 growing up in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam over the past 15 years. It examines how poverty affects children’s development in these countries, and how policy has been used to improve their lives.

Building substantially on the earlier, landmark text, What Works? (Policy Press, 2000), this book brings together key thinkers and researchers to provide a clearly-structured review of the aspirations and contemporary realities of evidence-informed policy and practice.