Policy Press

Sociology and Social Theory

Sociology is a growth area for us and our books in sociology and social theory include exciting work from new authors and well-known academics, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate textbooks.

Our wide range of sociology and social theory books include high quality research and range from textbooks through to specialised monographs. Many also ‘make a difference’ in a tangible way, whether it be informing a key policy or practice debate, or improving the education of students.

Showing 13-24 of 287 items.

Researching Happiness

Qualitative, Biographical and Critical Perspectives

Edited by Mark Cieslik

This original collection draws on the latest empirical research to explore the practical challenges facing happiness researchers today. By uniquely combining the critical approach of sociology with techniques from other disciplines, the contributors illuminate new qualitative and biographical approaches of the study of happiness and well-being.

Bristol Uni Press

Estate Regeneration and Its Discontents

Public Housing, Place and Inequality in London

Using original interviews with estate residents in London, Watt provides a vivid account of estate regeneration and its impacts on marginalised communities in London, showing their experiences and perspectives. He demonstrates the dramatic impacts that regeneration and gentrification can have on socio-spatial inequality.

Policy Press

Youth Prospects in the Digital Society

Identities and Inequalities in an Unravelling Europe

This book assesses the challenges young people face in the contemporary labour markets of England and Germany in the context of mass migration, rising nationalism and accelerating technological change, and considers the resources and skills young people in Europe will need in the future.

Policy Press

The Allied Health Professions

A Sociological Perspective

Drawing on case studies from optometrists, physiotherapists, pedorthists and allied health assistants, this book offers an innovative comparison of allied health occupations in Australia and Britain. Adopting a theory of the sociology of health professions, it explores how the allied health professions can achieve their professional goals.

Policy Press

Pioneering Social Research

Life Stories of a Generation

Presenting the landmark Pioneers life stories project, this one-of-a-kind book documents how modern social research in the UK was shaped. It combines a fascinating history of the generations who built outstanding and influential social research with a valuable resource for future research and teaching on methods.

Policy Press

Youth, Work and the Post-Fordist Self

Drawing on empirical research, this book provides an innovative exploration of youth and work, showing how youth identities are connected with the dynamics of labour and value in contemporary capitalism.

Bristol Uni Press

Youth Migration and the Politics of Wellbeing

Stories of Life in Transition

Drawing on accounts of unaccompanied migrant young people becoming adult, this book offers a political economy analysis of wellbeing in the context of migration and demonstrates the urgent need for policy reform.

Bristol Uni Press

Religion and Belief Literacy

Reconnecting a Chain of Learning

This book presents a crisis of religion and belief literacy to which education at every level is challenged to respond. It provides a clear pathway for engaging well with religion and belief diversity in public and shared settings.

Policy Press

Beer and Racism

How Beer Became White, Why It Matters, and the Movements to Change It

Beer in the United States has always been bound up with race, racism, and the construction of white institutions and identities. This unique book carves a much-needed critical and interdisciplinary path to examine and understand the racial dynamics in the craft beer industry and the popular consumption of beer.

Bristol Uni Press

Sharing Milk

Intimacy, Materiality and Bio-Communities of Practice

Using a bio-communities of practice framework, this thought-provoking empirical analysis explores the emotional and material dimensions of the growing phenomenon of milk sharing in the Global North and its implications for contemporary understandings of infant feeding in the US, providing new insights into a much-debated topic.

Bristol Uni Press

Transnational Criminology

Trafficking and Global Criminal Markets

This pioneering study looks across key trafficking crimes to develop a social theory of transnational criminal markets. Looking at how traffickers think of their illegal enterprises as ‘just business’, it draws broader lessons for the ways forward in understanding criminality in this emerging field.

Bristol Uni Press

Critical Questions for Ageing Societies

This myth-busting and question-focused textbook tackles the important social and policy issues posed by ageing. A unique pedagogical approach recognises the gap between the lives of students and older people, and equips students with the conceptual, analytical and critical tools to understand what it means to grow old and live in an ageing society.

Policy Press