All Books

Structural racism has impacted the lives of African Americans in the United States since before the country’s founding. Although the country has made some progress towards a more equal society, political developments in the 21st century have shown that deep divides remain. The persistence of inequality is an indicator of the stubborn resilience of the institutions that maintain white supremacy.

To bridge our divides, renowned political scientist Terri Givens calls for ‘radical empathy’ - moving beyond an understanding of others’ lives and pain to understand the origins of our biases, including internalized oppression.

Deftly weaving together her own experiences with the political, she offers practical steps to call out racism and bring about radical social change.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

What does it mean to love a healthcare system?

It is often claimed that the UK population is unusually attached to its National Health Service, and the last decade has seen increasingly visible displays of gratitude and love. While social surveys of public attitudes measure how much Britain loves the NHS, this book mobilises new empirical research to ask how Britain loves its NHS.

The answer delves into a series of public practices – such as campaigning, donating and volunteering within NHS organisations – and investigates how attitudes to the NHS shape patient experience of healthcare. Stewart argues that these should be understood as practices of care for, and contestation about the future of, the healthcare system.

This book offers a timely critique of both the potential, and the dysfunctions, of Britain’s complex love affair with the NHS.

Renowned criminologist Mike Hough illuminates the principles and practices of good policing in this important analysis of the police service’s legitimacy and the factors, such as public trust, that drive it.

As concern grows at the growth in crimes of serious violence, he challenges conventional political and public thinking on crime and scrutinises strategies and tactics like deterrence and stop-and-search. Contrasting ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to policing and punishment, he offers a fresh perspective that stresses the importance of securing normative compliance.

For officers, students, policy makers and anyone who has an interest in the police force, this is a valuable roadmap for ethical policing.

Leading international experts review recent social policy developments in this latest edition of the longstanding Social Policy Review series.

Available Open Access and published in association with the Social Policy Association, this edited book provides a comprehensive review of the past year’s key policy trends and most significant scholarship. Featuring expert contributions around elections, parties and comparative perspectives, it critically examines emerging issues, policy responses and theoretical advancements in the field.

Essential reading for academics, researchers and students in social policy, social welfare and related disciplines, this book is an invaluable resource for those seeking to engage with contemporary social policy debates.

A century after the state's foundation, Ireland faces an acute homelessness crisis with families and children increasingly affected. This book uncovers how decades of housing policy, financial decisions and social factors have shaped today’s housing insecurity. It is the first to take a historical approach, tracing the roots of homelessness back to key policy decisions taken over the past century.

By understanding how we got here, it offers crucial insights into breaking the cycle. Essential reading for policy makers, scholars and anyone concerned about Ireland’s housing future, with lessons for other jurisdictions, this book reveals why solving homelessness requires rethinking how we build and fund housing.

A century after the state's foundation, Ireland faces an acute homelessness crisis with families and children increasingly affected. This book uncovers how decades of housing policy, financial decisions and social factors have shaped today’s housing insecurity. It is the first to take a historical approach, tracing the roots of homelessness back to key policy decisions taken over the past century.

By understanding how we got here, it offers crucial insights into breaking the cycle. Essential reading for policy makers, scholars and anyone concerned about Ireland’s housing future, with lessons for other jurisdictions, this book reveals why solving homelessness requires rethinking how we build and fund housing.

Traditional governance in education often struggles to accommodate the dynamic and evolving interactions between cognitive, emotional and socio-cultural factors that shape learning.

This book introduces Pragmatic Adaptive Leadership, a systems-based approach that equips leaders and researchers with the tools to develop adaptive models of educational change. Drawing on social theory and complexity science, the authors provide practical frameworks for shaping future-orientated decision-making and policy development that meets learners where they are.

Essential reading for school leaders, policy makers, educators and researchers of learning sciences, this book offers vital tools for complexity-informed leadership.

This book offers a practical guide for those transitioning from research to systematic evaluation.

With growing demand for reliable evaluation across government, charities and other institutions, many new evaluators lack necessary knowledge and skills. This book addresses those gaps, offering step-by-step guidance on designing and delivering fit-for-purpose evaluations to maximise their use and utility. Taking a holistic approach to the evaluation journey, it covers key challenges such as engaging stakeholders, managing expectations and handling resource pressures.

With real-world case studies and practical tools, this is an essential resource for practitioners across public, academic and voluntary sectors.

Why are liberation and independence movements often betrayed when their leaders get into government? This question has haunted Peter Hain for decades.

A lifelong activist and politician, Hain has over 50 years’ experience of battling corruption, from his early days as a freedom fighter against apartheid to his time as a UK Labour MP, cabinet minister, and sitting member of the House of Lords. He offers a gripping exploration of why movements born from the ideals of justice and freedom often succumb to bad governance and corruption once in power. Combining rigorous analysis with well-sourced evidence, this book examines global examples ranging from Africa to Latin America, Russia, the Caribbean, China and India.

With the unique perspective of having navigated both the streets of protest and the corridors of power, Hain reflects on the challenges of staying true to the values of liberation struggles while confronting their disappointing outcomes. Thought-provoking and accessible, this book is an essential read for anyone engaged in the fight for a better world.

The social and environmental challenges we face today are complex and interdependent. Leaders and experts worldwide acknowledge that we cannot address them in isolation and that to keep doing so is to intensify the problem.

This book connects the dots between a group of diverse, but overlapping, professional domains: design, mission-oriented innovation, foresight and futures design, system innovation and leadership. The authors mix methodology and theory with real-life case studies and compelling visual models to aid readers in navigating a new story, balancing tensions in time scale and mindset, learning through experiments and working collaboratively.

Aimed at policy makers, practitioners and educators, this book encourages a new and heightened awareness of systemic change that can lead to societal transformation in support of a sustainable future.

Universities have challenging times ahead: the demands of a global student, new technology, employers wanting work-ready graduates and shifting ideologies that influence who hold and create knowledge. The role of a university as a civic institution becomes increasingly contested. How can and should universities engage with communities to create lasting social impact?

This collection offers global perspectives on community–university engagement, highlighting innovative approaches to co-production, participatory research and collaboration with stakeholders beyond academia. The book explores the challenges and successes of partnership working, demystifying the university’s role beyond teaching, positioning it as an anchor institution that can drive social change.

As ageing populations continue to grow worldwide, the increased need for adequate housing and social care comes into stark focus. This multi-disciplinary book explores how emerging citizen-led innovations in Collaborative Housing and care are challenging mainstream ways of living and ageing.

Combining academic theory with practice, the book demonstrates the far-reaching impacts Collaborative Housing with care can have on independence, agency and wellbeing in later life. With contributions from France, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK, it offers insights into the key challenges and opportunities associated with developing and sustaining models of Collaborative Housing with diverse forms of care and support over the life-course.

Essential reading for academics, practitioners and policy makers in housing, planning, social care, design and social gerontology, this book proposes a renewed focus on non-paternalistic forms of social and housing care that speak directly to older people’s needs, and that work against the marketisation of care and towards a community-led and co-managed approach in later life housing for all.

How do we better involve young children in the decision-making of their own social care? This book, developed from the Erasmus+ funded PANDA project, explores the development of knowledge and resources to educate and support social workers in their collaboration with children aged 12 and under.

Featuring real-life practice vignettes, reflective questions and evidence-informed implications for practice – plus free additional resources on the PANDA project website – the book provides valuable insights that combine the work of academic and professional practice from a European perspective.

With contributions from authors in Belgium, Northern Ireland, Norway and Spain, this essential resource empowers practitioners and policy makers to promote the participation rights of young children in decision-making processes and to help children find their voice in challenging times.

This book offers a practical guide for those transitioning from research to systematic evaluation.

With growing demand for reliable evaluation across government, charities and other institutions, many new evaluators lack necessary knowledge and skills. This book addresses those gaps, offering step-by-step guidance on designing and delivering fit-for-purpose evaluations to maximise their use and utility. Taking a holistic approach to the evaluation journey, it covers key challenges such as engaging stakeholders, managing expectations and handling resource pressures.

With real-world case studies and practical tools, this is an essential resource for practitioners across public, academic and voluntary sectors.

Documents are a rich yet often overlooked source of research data, offering unique insights across disciplines. This book provides a clear and practical guide to working with a wide variety of documents — including historical and contemporary, hard copy and digital – alone and in teams. Featuring contributions from leading international scholars, it unpacks the decisions researchers make when finding, selecting and analysing documents.

Organised into four sections, the book examines how researchers engage with seemingly mundane materials, explore documents in popular culture, apply multi-modal research techniques, and develop innovative approaches to dissemination. Each chapter offers real-world case studies, illustrating diverse research questions, theoretical perspectives and analytical methods.

Key features include:

- Step-by-step guidance on applying document analysis methods in research;

- Diverse case studies showcasing practical applications across fields;

- Engaging and accessible explanations that clarify complex approaches.

Filling a crucial gap in the methods literature, this essential text equips students and researchers with the tools to harness the full potential of documents in research.

Documents are a rich yet often overlooked source of research data, offering unique insights across disciplines. This book provides a clear and practical guide to working with a wide variety of documents — including historical and contemporary, hard copy and digital – alone and in teams. Featuring contributions from leading international scholars, it unpacks the decisions researchers make when finding, selecting and analysing documents.

Organised into four sections, the book examines how researchers engage with seemingly mundane materials, explore documents in popular culture, apply multi-modal research techniques, and develop innovative approaches to dissemination. Each chapter offers real-world case studies, illustrating diverse research questions, theoretical perspectives and analytical methods.

Key features include:

- Step-by-step guidance on applying document analysis methods in research;

- Diverse case studies showcasing practical applications across fields;

- Engaging and accessible explanations that clarify complex approaches.

Filling a crucial gap in the methods literature, this essential text equips students and researchers with the tools to harness the full potential of documents in research.

Despite their long history and growing influence, social work professional organisations (SWPOs) remain underexplored in social work research. Created and fully or partly governed by professionals for professionals, SWPOs comprise millions of practitioners worldwide – some groups having existed for around 100 years – to develop activities that are increasingly relevant for practitioners, users, schools of social work and policy makers.

This edited volume provides the first comprehensive, comparative analysis of SWPOs in 15 countries, bridging Global North and South perspectives. Using an interdisciplinary framework, it offers an evidence-based typology of SWPOs, illustrating their evolving role as collective actors in social work.

Essential reading for educators, researchers and students in social work, this book speaks directly to the global community of SWPOs.

What role did Winston Churchill play in excluding comprehensive schooling from the 1944 Education Act? What was the failed promise of technical education in the post-war period? Why did Margaret Thatcher manipulate government training programmes before the 1987 General Election? And what was the fallout of Tony Blair's government over lifelong learning?

In this book, Tom Bewick examines the evolution of UK skills policy from the 1881 Royal Commission on Technical Instruction to the present day, revealing how shifting political ideologies have shaped workforce development. He applies a chronological, historical-policy-analysis framework to explain the 'four training states' of skills policy and workforce development between the 1940s and the 2020s:

• The Interventionist State (1944–1979)

• Laissez-faire State (1980–1987)

• Localism and Devolved States (1988–2010)

• The Technocratic State (2011 onwards)

Traversing time periods to uncover political and economic driving forces, this book challenges conventional thinking and offers insights into how future skills policies can be more effective.

Reflective practice is at the heart of probation training and the continuing professional development of practitioners. This edited collection provides practitioners with an opportunity to explore and develop their own reflective practice, considering diversity and organisational challenges, with real-world examples of reflection in the probation context.

In addition to probation specialists, its contributors include those from prison, third-sector organisations and mental health perspectives, to consider probation practice in different settings. Each chapter provides prompts for reflective development, so its ideas can be immediately applied in practice. It will equip the reader to develop their reflective practice skills, regardless of their level of experience.

What role did Winston Churchill play in excluding comprehensive schooling from the 1944 Education Act? What was the failed promise of technical education in the post-war period? Why did Margaret Thatcher manipulate government training programmes before the 1987 General Election? And what was the fallout of Tony Blair's government over lifelong learning?

In this book, Tom Bewick examines the evolution of UK skills policy from the 1881 Royal Commission on Technical Instruction to the present day, revealing how shifting political ideologies have shaped workforce development. He applies a chronological, historical-policy-analysis framework to explain the 'four training states' of skills policy and workforce development between the 1940s and the 2020s:

• The Interventionist State (1944–1979)

• Laissez-faire State (1980–1987)

• Localism and Devolved States (1988–2010)

• The Technocratic State (2011 onwards)

Traversing time periods to uncover political and economic driving forces, this book challenges conventional thinking and offers insights into how future skills policies can be more effective.

How and why do those from black and minority ethnic communities continue to be marginalised? Despite claims that we now live in a post-racial society, race continues to disadvantage those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. In this fully revised and updated edition, Kalwant Bhopal explores how changing social, economic and political circumstances have increased, rather than decreased, racial discrimination in both the UK and USA.

Exploring the backlash against the #BlackLivesMatter movement, this book examines how far right governments have produced a discourse that race is no longer a problem and we now live in a post-racial society. Drawing on topical debates and supported by empirical data, this important book examines the impact of race on wider issues of inequality and difference in society.

Despite increasing legal recognition of animal rights, policy making remains inconsistent, and civil society’s role in shaping governance is underexplored. Civil Society Activism and Animal Welfare Rights offers new empirical and theoretical insights into how advocacy groups influence animal welfare policy in the UK and India.

Applying extensive research and interviews with key animal welfare organisations, this book examines the challenges, progress and future prospects of civil society activism. It shows how animal rights and welfare have risen up the political agenda as parties have adapted to increasing public support.

This is a timely and in-depth analysis of the evolving landscape of animal rights and governance.

Since the mid-2000s, consistent commentary from politicians and media outlets in the UK have presented low educational attainment and low aspiration as defining attributes of working-class boys in education. It has often characterised them as misogynistic, aggressive and unwilling to learn. But how true is this?

Combining research, real-life case studies and the author’s experience of navigating school exclusion, this book provides clear recommendations for how to better support the health, wellbeing and vulnerabilities of working-class boys and men through both policy and practice.

Challenging us to reconsider ideas about the role of masculinity in the lives of working-class boys and men, the book asks what would change if, instead of focusing on perceived individual failures, we considered the troubled relationship between working-class boys and the social and educational systems in which they reside.

Since the mid-2000s, consistent commentary from politicians and media outlets in the UK have presented low educational attainment and low aspiration as defining attributes of working-class boys in education. It has often characterised them as misogynistic, aggressive and unwilling to learn. But how true is this?

Combining research, real-life case studies and the author’s experience of navigating school exclusion, this book provides clear recommendations for how to better support the health, wellbeing and vulnerabilities of working-class boys and men through both policy and practice.

Challenging us to reconsider ideas about the role of masculinity in the lives of working-class boys and men, the book asks what would change if, instead of focusing on perceived individual failures, we considered the troubled relationship between working-class boys and the social and educational systems in which they reside.

Is a diplomat’s life really as glamorous as a royal visit, or as dramatic as a coup d’état in Turkey?

Leigh Turner is a former British ambassador who led posts in Ukraine, Turkey and Austria. In this witty globe-trotting adventure through one of the most intriguing careers a person can have, Leigh relates his interactions with royalty of both the aristocratic and celebrity kinds, and with brilliant and extraordinary people who bestowed valuable lessons. Offering astute reflections on Brexit, Russia’s war with Ukraine and the chaos of modern politics, he sheds new light on the intricacies of modern statecraft, including what we all can learn from a good diplomat or ambassador.

In this entertaining and accessible first-hand account, you’ll discover how diplomats really work with spies, how immunity allows killers to escape justice, how Russia broke up the Soviet Union and then nursed its resentment at the consequences -- and how to throw, and be invited to, a great cocktail party.

Policy development and implementation has a pivotal role in the youth justice system, profoundly impacting professionals and the children they work with. This imaginative book challenges limited explanations of policy-making as linear and government-dominated through original research into the practices, identities and relationships of a wide range of stakeholders working in multiple policy- making contexts in England and Wales.

The result is a detailed expert analysis of the contexts and mechanisms of youth justice policy-making. This book is key reading for researchers, professionals and students seeking effective understandings and responses to the long term social problem of youth offending.

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher’s new government was faced with rampant double-digit inflation, rising unemployment and flatlining economic growth. In response, Thatcher pursued an economic policy which rejected the old orthodoxies and was promoted by only a minority of economists: a policy based on the doctrine of monetarism.

Tim Lankester was the private secretary for economic affairs to Thatcher during the early years of her government. His insider’s account explains her attitudes and decisions and those of the other main players in this deeply damaging experiment in economic policy making, which promised much but completely failed to deliver.

Offering fascinating insights into one of the most unsuccessful episodes of British economic history, he also examines the legacy of monetarism for the economy today.

In a neoliberal academia dominated by masculine ideals of measurement and performance, it is becoming more important than ever to develop alternative ways of researching and writing.

This powerful new book gives voice to non-conforming narratives, suggesting innovative, messy and nuanced ways of organizing the reading and writing of scholarship in management and organization studies. In doing so it spotlights how different methods and approaches can represent voices of inequality and reveal previously silenced topics.

Informed by feminist and critical perspectives, this will be an invaluable resource for current and future scholars in management and organization studies and other social sciences.

Increasingly, public space provision and management are being transferred from the public sector to real estate developers, private sector organisations, voluntary groups and community bodies. Contrasting the more historical, horizontal character of London with the intense street life of high-rise Hong Kong, this book tells the story of the two cities’ relationships with non-traditional forms of public space governance.

The authors consider the implications for the ‘publicness’ of these complex spaces and the challenges and impacts that different forms of provision have on those with a stake in them, and on the cities as a whole.

Human trafficking of children and young people is a major concern yet there is limited research on the lived experiences of those affected and even less on their post-trafficking aspirations, strengths and capabilities.

This book argues that human trafficking and/or exploitation should be seen as child abuse rather than viewed through immigration or criminal justice lenses. It draws on new research from outcomes of two participatory studies with young people affected by human trafficking.

The first study focuses on the development of a Creating Stable Futures Positive Outcomes Framework (CSF-POF), centred around children’s rights and based on the views of young people themselves. The second details how this framework was implemented for the first time with young people through an outcomes evaluation of the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service in England and Wales.

An invaluable text, this book guides policy makers, practitioners, local authority professionals and voluntary sector organisations working to protect children and young people from human trafficking and helping them to move forwards positively following abuse.

Young people’s mental health is in crisis, with many – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds – struggling academically and with the later transition to employment. Feeling excluded, many young people turn to harmful behaviours, such as vaping and alcohol use, for escape and a sense of belonging.

Schools are increasingly expected to address these issues but often lack the time and expertise to do so effectively. Based on the author’s research, including the successful ‘Learning Together’ trial – an innovative programme that improved mental health, reduced bullying and raised academic achievement – this book provides a blueprint for a fundamental shift in how schools support young people.

Essential reading for teachers, public health workers and policy makers tackling the health and educational inequalities affecting young people today.

Young people’s mental health is in crisis, with many – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds – struggling academically and with the later transition to employment. Feeling excluded, many young people turn to harmful behaviours, such as vaping and alcohol use, for escape and a sense of belonging.

Schools are increasingly expected to address these issues but often lack the time and expertise to do so effectively. Based on the author’s research, including the successful ‘Learning Together’ trial – an innovative programme that improved mental health, reduced bullying and raised academic achievement – this book provides a blueprint for a fundamental shift in how schools support young people.

Essential reading for teachers, public health workers and policy makers tackling the health and educational inequalities affecting young people today.

This is the essential guide to the innovative qualitative research technique of sandboxing.

Originating from play therapy, sandboxing enables children, young people, and adults to create three-dimensional scenes using miniature figures and everyday objects in a sand-filled tray. Creating these sand scenes offers opportunities for individuals and groups to reflect on and represent memories, everyday experiences, and ideas about the future, which are then shared and discussed.

Offering an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners, this comprehensive book:

- introduces a creative and engaging approach to qualitative data generation;

- features key international case studies, real-world examples, and thoughtful reflections on the method's strengths and limitations;

- equips readers with the tools needed to effectively implement sandboxing in their research journey.

By drawing on creativity, reflexivity, ethics and expertise this book unlocks sandboxing's potential to transform your research with an inventive and imaginative approach.

Bringing together new, multidisciplinary research, this book explores how children and young people across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas

experience and cope with situations of poverty and precarity.

It looks at the impact of neoliberalism, austerity and global economic crisis, evidencing the multiple harms and inequalities caused. It also examines the different ways that children, young people and families ‘get by’ under these challenging circumstances, showing how they care for one another and envisage more hopeful socio-political futures.

With ever-decreasing affordability and availability of homes, the UK has a longstanding and complex housing crisis.

Rather than laying the blame on a particular group or cause, this book explains the root causes of our current housing situation and proposes useful ways forward. The author uses his experience of delivering housing policy in Greater Manchester to analyse the interlocking issues of demographic and social policy change, the financial and planning systems, the construction industry and the UK’s recent change of government.

Key reading for housing researchers and policy makers, this book analyses recent reform plans and the feasibility of achieving an effective and accessible UK housing landscape.

With ever-decreasing affordability and availability of homes, the UK has a longstanding and complex housing crisis.

Rather than laying the blame on a particular group or cause, this book explains the root causes of our current housing situation and proposes useful ways forward. The author uses his experience of delivering housing policy in Greater Manchester to analyse the interlocking issues of demographic and social policy change, the financial and planning systems, the construction industry and the UK’s recent change of government.

Key reading for housing researchers and policy makers, this book analyses recent reform plans and the feasibility of achieving an effective and accessible UK housing landscape.

This is the essential guide to the innovative qualitative research technique of sandboxing.

Originating from play therapy, sandboxing enables children, young people, and adults to create three-dimensional scenes using miniature figures and everyday objects in a sand-filled tray. Creating these sand scenes offers opportunities for individuals and groups to reflect on and represent memories, everyday experiences, and ideas about the future, which are then shared and discussed.

Offering an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners, this comprehensive book:

- introduces a creative and engaging approach to qualitative data generation;

- features key international case studies, real-world examples, and thoughtful reflections on the method's strengths and limitations;

- equips readers with the tools needed to effectively implement sandboxing in their research journey.

By drawing on creativity, reflexivity, ethics and expertise this book unlocks sandboxing's potential to transform your research with an inventive and imaginative approach.

How can Public Policy scholarship contribute to transformational societal change?

In this collection of essays, previously published in Policy & Politics, the authors explore different avenues towards more transformational Public Policy research. This includes being braver in what questions we ask; more inclusive in the actors we study and audiences we speak to; and more diverse in our theories and methods. The chapters address issues such as crises, democracy, participation, disasters, and paradigm change.

This book is essential reading for academics involved in Public Policy and Politics, and those invested in the improvement of our societies during turbulent times.

This book examines the progress of the development of public policy evaluation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from multiple perspectives. It describes both past developments and the current state of evaluation across the region, focusing on how political regimes, administrative traditions and policy advisory systems shape evaluation processes in different contexts.

With contributions from a diverse list of international authors, it investigates the historical development of evaluation across the MENA region and analyses the political landscape, highlighting emerging trends and potential challenges that could influence the future of the field.

An essential resource for researchers and practitioners in evaluation, public policy and the MENA region, the book also provides students with the practical knowledge and essential skills needed for careers in evaluation and policy analysis.

The gap between personal and formal politics has been widening globally and locally. As personal politics have become more inclusive and egalitarian inspired by new social movements, neoliberal ideologies have undermined democracy, increasing isolation, inequality, poverty, disease and environmental threat. Yet this paradox may also offer a path to transformation.

Using international evidence and examples, The Antidote explores what we can learn from the equalisation of personal roles and relationships that’s been taking place, to help us reconnect with ourselves and each other and make possible more participatory and liberatory policy and politics. It sets out the barriers we face and offers a route map to bring an end to the destructive effects of unfettered neoliberal ideology, economics, policy and politics.

The gap between personal and formal politics has been widening globally and locally. As personal politics have become more inclusive and egalitarian inspired by new social movements, neoliberal ideologies have undermined democracy, increasing isolation, inequality, poverty, disease and environmental threat. Yet this paradox may also offer a path to transformation.

Using international evidence and examples, The Antidote explores what we can learn from the equalisation of personal roles and relationships that’s been taking place, to help us reconnect with ourselves and each other and make possible more participatory and liberatory policy and politics. It sets out the barriers we face and offers a route map to bring an end to the destructive effects of unfettered neoliberal ideology, economics, policy and politics.

Higher education is changing rapidly in response to the global challenges of the twenty-first century, but for disciplinarily-trained lecturers interdisciplinary curriculum and course design is a time-consuming process fraught with difficult pedagogical choices.

This reader is the first book to bring together key texts on interdisciplinary teaching and learning, all drawn from a growing literature of peer-reviewed academic books and journals. As well as presenting excerpts from these foundational texts, commentaries provide essential guidance on the relevant themes, helping lecturers to reflect on this fast-moving landscape.

This is an essential resource for those designing and teaching interdisciplinary courses.

Practitioners and managers in child protection often struggle to focus on the needs of children and families in the face of ever-expanding bureaucracy.

This book brings together authors from across Europe to explore the strategies and solutions that promote doing things right by those in need rather than to the letter of procedure. It argues that more flexible, community/relationship/partnership-based approaches are required to meet the needs of parents and children experiencing difficulties and risk of harm.

Essential reading for academics, practitioners, managers and policy makers in social work and child welfare, it contributes to the development of reflective thinking and spotlights the potential of co-production and co-creation.

This book documents the intimate lives of Ukrainians as they fled their homeland in search of a safe and stable place to stay. The critical memoirs follow the lives of 16 Ukrainian families in a small Spanish town near Madrid and the local families that volunteered to host them during a time of limited state support and an absence of a clear EU plan for the refugees.

Through first-hand testimonies, social media messages and photographs, the book reveals the scarring realities of the Ukrainians’ upheaval, displacement and trauma alongside the well-meaning sacrifices made by the host families which quickly mutate into moralistic and meritocratic expectations of their new guests.

In doing so, the book offers a vivid portrayal of how the tensions of war and displacement play out in real life in real time.

Using Northern Ireland as a compelling case study, this book offers a critique of peacebuilding approaches with young people in contested societies. In the north of Ireland, the spectre of murderous violence is increasingly distant for peace-agreement generations. However, legacies stemming from the 30 years of protracted conflict are ever-present in young people’s segregated lives.

This book presents four distinctive viewpoints that inform contemporary peacebuilding work with young people, revealing divergent purposes and conflicting aspirations. Offering a new model to understand peacebuilding, the authors urge peacebuilding communities around the globe to embrace an increasingly politicising and participative youth peace praxis.

This book offers a candid and unflinching account of the PhD experience in a sector marked by precarity, insecurity and intense competition. Throughout the volume, current and former PhD students reflect on their varied journeys, addressing challenges such as balancing study with family life, navigating ethical dilemmas and managing mental health.

The collection brings together a diverse range of voices from the PhD community, sharing personal thoughts, lived experiences and "in-the-moment" accounts of life as a doctoral candidate within the context of higher education.

By demystifying the PhD journey and offering valuable insights, this book serves as essential reading for both PhD students and their supervisors.

Ageing is a timebomb. We celebrate our greater longevity, yet few of us consider its consequences. This book is an important warning that unless Europeans defuse its explosive force, within two decades our societies will be devastated by it.

The hard fact is that because our political economies have been built around shorter lifespans, they risk being blown apart by ageing. The pressures exerted by the over-60s, who are increasing from today's quarter of the population to a third, will upend our politics and impoverish our young.

Millennials and Gen-Zers are already saddled with their elders' runaway pension and healthcare costs, but are themselves poorer and less privileged. Merritt, a veteran analyst of the European scene, traces the demographic projections that politicians of all persuasions have long ignored, and shines a harsh light on policy shortcomings that must be urgently addressed.

For anyone wants a stake in our future, this book is essential reading which clarifies the political choices to be made if comparatively prosperous and civilised Europe isn't to die of old age.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Older adults’ civic engagement has become a key concern in academic and policy debates in recent years. However, existing studies on this topic remain fragmented across various conceptual and methodological approaches.

This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and multidimensional perspective on older adults' civic engagement. It proposes a conceptual framework which understands civic engagement as a multidimensional concept encompassing a diversity of activities through which older adults contribute to their communities and wider society. Contributors explore the factors shaping older adults’ participation in various civic activities across the life course, considering their diversity in terms of social locations such as gender, health status, migrant background, socioeconomic background and residential arrangements.

By analysing past and current research, policy and practice, the book offers recommendations for future efforts to advance the field.

This book documents the intimate lives of Ukrainians as they fled their homeland in search of a safe and stable place to stay. The critical memoirs follow the lives of 16 Ukrainian families in a small Spanish town near Madrid and the local families that volunteered to host them during a time of limited state support and an absence of a clear EU plan for the refugees.

Through first-hand testimonies, social media messages and photographs, the book reveals the scarring realities of the Ukrainians’ upheaval, displacement and trauma alongside the well-meaning sacrifices made by the host families which quickly mutate into moralistic and meritocratic expectations of their new guests.

In doing so, the book offers a vivid portrayal of how the tensions of war and displacement play out in real life in real time.

Following the highly respected first volume, this book continues to provide a holistic view of Julio Boltvinik’s vast and important work on poverty conceptualisation and measurement. While the previous book introduced the author’s widely adopted Integrated Poverty Measurement Method (IPMM), this new volume outlines his Marxian approach to poverty and human flourishing, focusing on what he conceptualises as human poverty.

Bringing together 20 years of research, this interdisciplinary book provides an alternative to Sen’s Capability approach and details its internal consistency, solid foundations and promising perspectives for applicability.

In an era where ‘social innovation’ is often used as a buzzword, this book challenges readers to rethink its true potential for addressing the systemic roots of our most pressing social and environmental crises.

The authors present a practical and visionary approach to social innovation and provide a comprehensive set of tools and strategies for transformative change, rooted in a critical and emancipatory perspective. By balancing rigorous theoretical insights with actionable strategies, the book empowers and inspires readers in their efforts to confront social and environmental injustices and build the skills needed to drive meaningful and effective social change.

This is a call to action for anyone seeking to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of what is possible in creating a just and sustainable world.

Using Northern Ireland as a compelling case study, this book offers a critique of peacebuilding approaches with young people in contested societies. In the north of Ireland, the spectre of murderous violence is increasingly distant for peace-agreement generations. However, legacies stemming from the 30 years of protracted conflict are ever-present in young people’s segregated lives.

This book presents four distinctive viewpoints that inform contemporary peacebuilding work with young people, revealing divergent purposes and conflicting aspirations. Offering a new model to understand peacebuilding, the authors urge peacebuilding communities around the globe to embrace an increasingly politicising and participative youth peace praxis.

The devastating effects of climate change are undeniable. Fires rage and waters rise in every corner of the globe. In light of these changes to our planet, the issue of social and environmental wellbeing has gained prominent attention from both academia and policy makers. Scholarly research on the interaction between social and employment policy domains has flourished. Academics now reflect on the different aspects of environmental and social protection, ecological and social risks, and the costs of climate change, sustainable welfare and new social movements prompted by green transitions.

This book provides a vital contribution to the emerging research agenda. It brings together scholars from interconnected disciplines to discuss the eco-social debate, providing a critical overview on extant scholarship and reflecting on future research pathways on the eco-social nexus from a variety of analytical perspectives.

Anti-racist movements have continued to grow worldwide after the death of George Floyd in 2020. Following the BLM protests, many promises were made to deal with the impact of structural discrimination. While this led to more talk than action, there has also been meaningful change, some of which has gone under the radar. The US media focused primarily on the backlash that resulted in book bans and laws against having DEI offices in universities.

In contrast, this book, a follow-up to Terri Givens’ best-selling book Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides, highlights the promises which were delivered. It focuses on hope and taking action and creating a positive environment including the use of the radical empathy approach to empower ongoing change.

This book offers a candid and unflinching account of the PhD experience in a sector marked by precarity, insecurity and intense competition. Throughout the volume, current and former PhD students reflect on their varied journeys, addressing challenges such as balancing study with family life, navigating ethical dilemmas and managing mental health.

The collection brings together a diverse range of voices from the PhD community, sharing personal thoughts, lived experiences and "in-the-moment" accounts of life as a doctoral candidate within the context of higher education.

By demystifying the PhD journey and offering valuable insights, this book serves as essential reading for both PhD students and their supervisors.

All too often, human systems are criticised for failing those they are meant to serve. One example is the growing awareness of the overlooked needs of adolescents facing harm in their communities. This has highlighted a need for new systems that enable practice that is ethical, effective and grounded in supportive relationships. But how can this be achieved?

Appealing to those interested in Contextual Safeguarding and beyond, this book shares ‘real-life’ lessons from research, covering:

• Practical guidance and tools for changing systems using embedded methods;

• Navigating complex relationships and emotions in organisational change; and

• Using theory and concepts to support change.

The book’s lively and creative style makes it accessible for researchers, students, professionals and anyone committed to system change in children’s social care.

The book tells the story of the proliferation of gated communities and the privatisation of public life and public space in Mexico over the last three decades. Drawing on research from Lomas de Angelópolis in Puebla, one of the largest gated communities in the world, Emma R. Morales explores why such fortified spaces have proved popular with middle class households.

Weaving together the multiple influences of housing policy, predatory financial markets and an increased fear of crime, the book sets out how policy makers and planners can improve decision-making and provide non-gated solutions to urban anxiety.

The COVID-19 pandemic took many by surprise when it arrived in Britain in early 2020. Daily lives changed dramatically from March with the introduction of unprecedented restrictions and lockdowns. How did people react?

This book draws on the diaries of 68 men and women aged 70 and above, capturing their thoughts and experiences over the following months. Although these older diarists considered themselves among the more fortunate at the time, their entries reveal both highs and lows. There were anxieties and frustrations but also much positivity and, often, a reluctance for an over-hasty return to pre-pandemic times.

Through these personal and contemporaneous accounts, the book offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the pandemic and its significance in modern social history.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Bad policies have repercussions that can be felt for decades. But what makes a bad policy? And how can it be reversed or improved?

Bringing together scholars from Europe and North America, this book goes beyond traditional policy theory to study bad and ineffective policies across three fields:

• the environment;

• the financial services sector; and

• emerging technologies.

Using cutting-edge research and analysis, the editors and authors state the case for studying ineffective policies, demonstrate their harmful effects across policy fields and provide policy makers with the tools to reflect, identify, and act upon them.

Whether you’re a student, academic, or practitioner working in an applied setting, this text will lead you through the complex terrain of contemporary qualitative research methods.

Written by renowned sociologist Karen O’Reilly, the book distils decades of experience into a valuable toolkit of lessons and insights. Key highlights include:

• tackling challenging issues like how many interviews are enough and what does reflexivity look like in practice;

• a keen focus on what the time-constrained researcher needs to know, delivering essential knowledge efficiently and imaginatively;

• pedagogical features like dos and don’ts, neat summaries, and creative solutions.

Bridging theory and practice, and packed with a wealth of advice, useful tips and resources for further reading, this is the definitive guide to contemporary qualitative research for beginners and seasoned researchers.

Digital PES-in-Action offers a comprehensive exploration of the ongoing digital transformation of public employment services (PES) – the most radical remaking of the welfare state in a generation.

As PES shifts from analogue to fully digitised services, this volume bridges the gap between technology, policy and frontline service provision. It provides a well-rounded analysis of the practical opportunities and challenges posed by digital welfare, reconnecting and reconciling technical possibilities and political ambitions with what is socially necessary as welfare systems undergo radical change.

Poetic inquiry is an arts-based approach integrating the humanities and sciences to enhance the quality of social science research and its dissemination.

This insightful guide sheds light on the transformative power of poetic inquiry in academic research. Blending poetry with scholarly work, it offers practical advice on crafting research poems, distinguishing them from literary poems and determining when and how to incorporate them into your studies.

The book:

- helps researchers to explore and express their research creatively;

- emphasises diverse and decolonial viewpoints and paths to knowledge;

- features methods, case studies, prompts and exercises from the Global South and North.

Perfect for researchers eager to explore new dimensions of expression, this guide enriches all aspects of the research process.

How did Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s divorce become the centre of the anti-#MeToo backlash? Why have so many teen boys fallen under the thrall of Andrew Tate, a failed reality show contestant? And why are a growing number of influencers like #tradwives dressing up like 1950s housewives and preaching total subservience to men?

In the years since #MeToo – the largest social media facilitated feminist campaign in history – Roe v. Wade has been overturned in the United States, there have been attacks on reproductive rights in multiple countries and female political leaders have withdrawn from the world stage citing the level of abuse they get as a reason.

CTRL, HATE, DELETE takes a deep dive into how a collection of misogynists and their allies have turned male supremacist ideology from a niche set of beliefs into a mainstream movement.

With interviews from experts, influencers and activists, it outlines how to fight the rising tide of online misogyny and make online spaces more equal and inclusive.

Education is supposed to level the playing field, and yet for many working-class children inequalities in the classroom in fact deepen the divide. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are almost four times more likely to be excluded from school than their wealthier peers and many are struggling in an educational environment increasingly concerned with discipline. In this substantially revised and updated edition of her bestselling book, Diane Reay – herself working class turned Cambridge professor – investigates why we educate social classes so differently.

Drawing on extensive interviews with working class children and young people, Miseducation offers a sharp critique of how class identity, social mobility, and entrenched inequalities shape educational outcomes. It also examines the increasing focus on control and discipline in UK schools and charts the impact of policies like academies on working-class students. In a new chapter, Reay draws lessons from educational systems around the world, while a second presents clear recommendations for creating a system that supports every child’s potential.

Insightful and thought-provoking, this book is essential reading for anyone invested in the future of education and social equity.

This book explores the critical issue of how to manage the ever-increasing demand for social care in Britain’s ageing society. With informal care from family members and friends now the dominant form of adult social care in the UK, this precarious system is struggling to provide enough support.

Exploring the relationship between formal and informal care, this book develops ideas for a ‘caring economy’, showing the potential to integrate paid-for and unpaid care within a framework of solidarity based on the strengths of the community, working to improve the quality and quantity of state-funded care provision while sharing unpaid support more widely as a community responsibility.

As populations age around the world, there is an urgent need to address the inadequate and unequal provision of care and support to older and disabled people.

This book represents the first collective effort to use the concept of care poverty to analyse unmet needs and inequalities in care at an international level and from a social policy perspective. It presents pioneering empirical studies and novel theoretical and methodological approaches to unmet needs and care poverty.

This volume points the way forward for international care research and, in particular, for the growing field of research on inadequate care and support.

Available open access digitally under CC BY NC ND licence.

Preventing Violence argues that we can move towards safer and better societies by advancing holistic public health approaches to violence prevention.

It explores the serious limitations of contemporary public health approaches and proposes an alternative path forward. Based on data from a three-year, ESRC-funded project, Public Health, Youth and Violence Reduction, it also examines in-depth the work of 20 Violence Reduction Units in England and Wales.

The book makes clear recommendations for policy makers, practitioners and researchers working to prevent violence and improve the lives of children and young people.

Poetic inquiry is an arts-based approach integrating the humanities and sciences to enhance the quality of social science research and its dissemination.

This insightful guide sheds light on the transformative power of poetic inquiry in academic research. Blending poetry with scholarly work, it offers practical advice on crafting research poems, distinguishing them from literary poems and determining when and how to incorporate them into your studies.

The book:

- helps researchers to explore and express their research creatively;

- emphasises diverse and decolonial viewpoints and paths to knowledge;

- features methods, case studies, prompts and exercises from the Global South and North.

Perfect for researchers eager to explore new dimensions of expression, this guide enriches all aspects of the research process.

Have you ever wondered whether crime dramas reflect the reality of police work? Or what the future of policing could look like in the context of recent controversies?

Offering thought-provoking insights into understanding, addressing and preventing crime, this fascinating 'go to' book reveals the myths and realities of policing in the 21st century. The 50 facts take in crime prevention, the investigative process, forensics, models of policing, the limits of police powers and a range of other provocative themes. Offering a deeper and richer understanding of the profession, this book will equip you to think critically about modern perceptions of policing.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Health inequality has reached a crisis point. Your income or hometown can have a devastating impact on how well and how long you live. This injustice, exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, continues as the cost of living rises and other sources of inequity grow. What can be done to make things better?

This book, written by the authors behind the award-winning The Unequal Pandemic, explores successful international case studies of governments reducing health inequalities – from the USA and Brazil to Germany and England – stretching over fifty years from the 1960s to the 2000s.

Essential reading for students and scholars of public health and the social sciences, and for health and social care professionals and policy makers, this book demonstrates that reducing health inequalities is possible and provides a roadmap for today’s governments to follow.

Many planning systems are currently locked into growth-dependence, encouraging market-led development which can widen social inequalities and produce adverse environmental outcomes.

This accessible book introduces students to the debates around growth and planning and sets out the solutions to promote genuinely sustainable communities. It includes:

• a positive proposal for reform of the planning system;

• focused discussions from the UK and Europe providing lessons for future planning;

• analysis of the challenges of implementing reform.

Covering chapters on cooperatives, community land trusts, local economic development and community assets and infrastructure, as well as commoning, it provides a roadmap for planning system reform with social justice and sustainability at its heart.

Youth unemployment and work insecurity have been prevailing issues across Western Europe since the 2008 Financial Crisis. These inequalities have intensified post-Brexit and COVID-19, with young people consistently overrepresented in the gig economy, working poverty and all forms of work insecurity.

Against a backdrop of increasingly mixed economies of welfare in the UK’s Liberal Welfare regime and work first approach, this book explores civil society responses to youth unemployment in England, Scotland and Wales. Using original, empirical research to challenge the privileging of methodological nationalism in welfare regime studies, it analyses the scale and nature of policy and civil society responses to youth unemployment between the three nations of the UK from the perspectives of policy makers, strategic thinkers and case workers delivering to young people on the ground.

Whether you’re a student, academic, or practitioner working in an applied setting, this text will lead you through the complex terrain of contemporary qualitative research methods.

Written by renowned sociologist Karen O’Reilly, the book distils decades of experience into a valuable toolkit of lessons and insights. Key highlights include:

• tackling challenging issues like how many interviews are enough and what does reflexivity look like in practice;

• a keen focus on what the time-constrained researcher needs to know, delivering essential knowledge efficiently and imaginatively;

• pedagogical features like dos and don’ts, neat summaries, and creative solutions.

Bridging theory and practice, and packed with a wealth of advice, useful tips and resources for further reading, this is the definitive guide to contemporary qualitative research for beginners and seasoned researchers.

This book traces the origins of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the broader context of universalism since the beginning of the 20th century.

UHC aims to improve access to essential health services, provide financial protection and overcome health care inequities.

Drawing on rich first-hand data, including expert interviews and archival research, this book adopts a historical–sociological methodology to analyse some of UHC’s key political dynamics: consensus, conflicts, negotiations and struggles. It reveals that UHC is the result of a unique conjoining of movements in health, debates on human rights and concerns with development in a particular world context across the Global North and Global South.

This book offers a unique insider perspective from a queer author and activist who was centrally involved in Ireland’s journey from 1993, the year when homosexuality was decriminalised, to 2015, when it became the first country in which marriage equality was enacted by popular vote. It is the first comprehensive study of the impact of LGBTQ+ youth civil society as a leading force on Irish public policy change.

Interdisciplinary in nature, it uses both activist and academic frames to reassess LGBTQ+ activism histories. It draws on personal, historical and policy analysis to provide a comprehensive account of how civil society can drive progressive change in difficult conditions.

Essential reading for understanding the significant public policy changes that have occurred in Ireland, this book provides deep insight into the dynamics of organised social change over long periods of time and offers lessons for future work in this area.

Philanthropy has become a staple of American society and culture. Associations, endowments, foundations, and limited dividend companies have funded education, culture, healthcare, religion, and social welfare.

Yet American philanthropy is not as exceptional as it appears to European observers. American philanthropy was built upon European and Mediterranean precedents and evolved through the constant influence of philanthropic practices in other parts of the world.

This book explores how philanthropic practices and institutions were introduced into American society and how they were Americanised during the 19th century. It provides a comprehensive history of American philanthropy and positions it within its wider global context.

In today’s world, there are interwoven crises affecting us at every level. This book explores the impact of these crises on applied social research. It shows how using a complexity framework in research is key to tackling global challenges effectively.

By featuring illustrative examples from the UK, China, Brazil, South Africa and the US, the authors demonstrate how an action research programme based around the use of existing social research methods embedded in processes of co-production and participation can drive real-time social change.

In doing so, the book highlights the transformative role of action-oriented research in addressing today's complex global challenges.