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 109-120 of 285 items.

Preventing Intimate Partner Violence

Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This book brings together researchers and practitioners from a range of fields to examine strategies and programs for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV). It provides paths to more efficacious prevention strategies and highlights ways that all stakeholders can work more effectively toward reducing violence.

Policy Press

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.

Policy Press

Practice-Based Research in Children's Play

Offering a fresh look to complement the dominant singular voice of developmental psychology, this unique collection of 12 research projects carried out in the UK and USA is essential reading for anyone studying or working with children at play.

Policy Press

Poverty, Inequality and Social Work

The Impact of Neo-Liberalism and Austerity Politics on Welfare Provision

A critical analysis of the domino effect of neoliberalism and austerity on social work. Applying theory including those of Bourdieu and Wacquant to practice, it argues that social work should return to a focus on relational and community approaches.

Policy Press

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.

Policy Press

A Post-Neoliberal Era in Latin America?

Revisiting cultural paradigms

This book explores neoliberalism in contemporary Latin America as a set of interrelated cultural forms, offering a transnational and comparative perspective on the ways in which neoliberalism has transformed public discourses of self and social relationships, popular cultures and modes of everyday experience.

Bristol Uni Press

The Politics of Scale in Policy

Scalecraft and Education Governance

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.

Policy Press

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.

Bristol Uni Press

The Politics of Civil Society

Big Society and Small Government

In the second, revised edition of this indispensable book, the author looks behind 'the mirror of power' to discover the reality of civil society - or 'Big Society', as it has become known.

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

A Philosophy of the Social Construction of Crime

This book situates the social construction of crime and criminal behaviour within the philosophical context of phenomenology and explores how these constructions inform, and justify, the policies employed to address them. It is essential reading for academics and students interested in social theory and theories of criminology.

Policy Press

Philosophical Criminology

This accessible book is structured around six philosophical ideas concerning our relations with others: values, morality, aesthetics, order, rules and respect. Using examples from a range of countries, it provides a platform for engaging with important topical issues.

Policy Press