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.
Belonging in Translation
Solidarity and Migrant Activism in Japan
This is the first book to investigate how migrants and migrant rights activists work together to generate new forms of citizenship identities in a multilingual setting. Based on robust theoretical engagement and detailed empirical analysis, Shindo's book makes a compelling case for rethinking citizenship and community from the angle of language.
Data in Society
Challenging Statistics in an Age of Globalisation
This book analyses societal trends and controversies related to developments in data ownership, access, construction, dissemination and interpretation, looking at the ways that society interacts with and uses statistical data.
Gangs, Drugs and (Dis)Organised Crime
Drawing upon unique empirical data based on interviews with high-profile ex-offenders and experts in the field, this book sheds new light on drug markets, organised crime and gangs in the UK. McLean sparks new debate on the subject, offering solutions and alternatives for how to best tackle gang violence.
Nanny Families
Practices of Care by Nannies, Au Pairs, Parents and Children in Sweden
Using Sweden as a case study, this book combines theories of family practices, care and childhood studies with the personal perspectives of nannies, au pairs, parents and children to provide new understandings of what constitutes care in nanny families.
Work, Labour and Cleaning
The Social Contexts of Outsourcing Housework
Outsourcing of domestic work in the UK has been steadily rising since the 1970s, but little research has considered White British women. This book argues that outsourced domestic cleaning can either be done as mental and manual skilled work or as manual and ‘natural’ emotional/affective labour, depending on the work conditions.
Living Data
Making Sense of Health Biosensing
This book critiques the popular claim that ‘more information’ equates to ‘better health’ and explores the potential challenges related to people’s changing relationships with traditional health systems as access to, and control over data shifts.
Tea and the Queen?
Fundamental British Values, Schools and Citizenship
Teachers in the UK are now required to promote ‘British values’ in schools to all pupils. This book draws on observations and teachers’ views to discuss issues of citizenship, social class, ethnicity, religion, counter-extremism and community cohesion, and the implications of this policy for teachers, students and society.
Imaginative Criminology
Of Spaces Past, Present and Future
Founded in cultural, textual, and ethnographic analysis, this distinctive and engaging book proposes an imaginative criminology, focusing on how spaces of transgression, control or confinement are lived, portrayed and imagined.
Critical Dialogues
Thinking Together in Turbulent Times
In this engaging and original book, John Clarke is in conversation with twelve leading individual scholars about the dynamics of critical thinking in the social sciences, and he reflects on the necessity of thinking collaboratively and dialogically.
Borders, Migration and Class in an Age of Crisis
Producing Workers and Immigrants
Informed by Marxist theory, this book examines how categories of ‘workers’ and ‘migrants’ have been mobilised within representations of a ‘migrant crisis’ and a ‘welfare crisis’ to facilitate capitalist exploitation, and proposes alternative understandings that foreground solidarity.
A Criminology of War?
In this book, the authors seek to question if a ‘criminology of war’ is possible, whilst providing an implicit critique of mainstream criminology. They also examine how this seemingly ‘new horizon’ of the discipline might be usefully informed by sociology.
Money
Myths, Truths and Alternatives
Mary Mellor examines money’s social, political and commercial histories to debunk longstanding myths such as money being in short supply and needing to come from somewhere. She sets out a new finance system, based on green and feminist concerns, to bring radical change for social good.