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.
The New Working Class
How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes
Who is working class today and how do political parties gain their support? This insightful book proposes what needs to be done to address the issues of the 'new working class'. It provides practical recommendations for political parties to reconnect with the electorate and regain trust.
Exploring Welfare Debates
Key Concepts and Questions
Visually and pedagogically rich, this wide-ranging introduction to key concepts and debates in welfare uses an innovative, question-based narrative to highlight the importance of theory to understanding welfare.
Life in the Debt Trap
Stories of Children and Families Struggling with Debt
The first hand stories in this book, collected through The Children's Society's campaign The Debt Trap, offer a unique understanding of life for families and children fighting a daily battle against poverty and debt.
Continuity and Change in Voluntary Action
Patterns, Trends and Understandings
Drawing on extensive survey data and written accounts of citizen engagement, this pioneering book charts change and continuity in voluntary activity since 1981. Part of the Third Sector Research Series.
Professional Health Regulation in the Public Interest
International Perspectives
Bringing together leading academics worldwide, this collection compares and critically examines the ways in which different countries are regulating healthcare in general, and health professions in particular, in the interest of users and the wider public.
Understanding Trans Health
Discourse, Power and Possibility
Addressing urgent challenges and debates in trans health, this book interweaves patient voices with social theory and autobiography, offering an innovative look at how shifting language, patient mistrust, waiting lists and professional power shape clinical encounters, and exploring what a better future might look like for trans patients.
Ageing in Everyday Life
Materialities and Embodiments
What does it mean to age in an ageist society? Applying interdisciplinary perspectives about everyday life to vital issues in older people’s lives, this is a critical guide to inform thinking and planning our ageing futures.
The Politics of Compassion
Immigration and Asylum Policy
Through case studies from Australia, Europe and the US, this book explores how emotion is central to understanding the formation of immigration policy. The author looks beyond the ‘negative’ emotions of fear and hostility to examine the politics of compassion in immigration and asylum policy discourse.
Leading Public Sector Innovation (Second Edition)
Co-creating for a Better Society
Thoroughly revised to take account of the latest literature and international developments in the field. Drawing on global research and practical examples, Bason illustrates the key triggers and practices of public sector innovation.
Comedy and Critique
Stand-up Comedy and the Professional Ethos of Laughter
Comedy and Critique explores British professional stand-up comedy in the wake of the Alternative Comedy movement of the late twentieth century, seeing it as an extension of the politics of the New Left: standing up for oneself as anti-racist, feminist and open to a queering of self and social institutions.
Connecting Families?
Information & Communication Technologies, Generations, and the Life Course
Taking a life course and generational perspective, this collection examines topics such as work-life balance, transnational families, digital storytelling and mobile parenting. It offers tools that allow for an informed and critical understanding of ICTs and family dynamics.
Gender Based Violence in University Communities
Policy, Prevention and Educational Initiatives
EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book provides the first in-depth overview of research and practice in GBV in universities. It sets out the international context of ideologies, politics and institutional structures that underlie responses to GBV in elsewhere in Europe, in the US, and in Australia.