Bristol University Press

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.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, yet it causes damage to society in ways that can’t be fixed. Instead of helping to address our current crises, AI causes divisions that limit people’s life chances, and even suggests fascistic solutions to social problems. This book provides an analysis of AI’s deep learning technology and its political effects and traces the ways that it resonates with contemporary political and social currents, from global austerity to the rise of the far right.

Dan McQuillan calls for us to resist AI as we know it and restructure it by prioritising the common good over algorithmic optimisation. He sets out an anti-fascist approach to AI that replaces exclusions with caring, proposes people’s councils as a way to restructure AI through mutual aid and outlines new mechanisms that would adapt to changing times by supporting collective freedom.

Academically rigorous, yet accessible to a socially engaged readership, this unique book will be of interest to all who wish to challenge the social logic of AI by reasserting the importance of the common good.

Leading migration researcher Louise Ryan’s topical and intersectional book provides rich insights into migrants’ social networks.

It draws on more than 200 interviews with migrants who followed various transnational routes in every decade since the 1940s, in order to build valuable longitudinal perspectives and comparisons. With a particular focus on London, it charts how social networks are formed and sustained, how trust is developed and how social support is accessed, and explores the key opportunities and obstacles that migrants encounter.

This is a seminal fusion of migration studies and social network analysis that casts new light on both subjects, essential for those interested in immigration, ethnicity, diversity and inequalities.

Racism has deep roots in both the United States and Europe. This important book examines the past, present, and future of racist ideas and politics. It describes how policies have developed over a long history of European and White American dominance of political institutions that maintain White supremacy.

Givens examines the connections between immigration policy and racism that have contributed to the rise of anti-immigrant, radical-right parties in Europe, the rise of Trumpism in the US, and the Brexit vote in the UK. This book provides a vital springboard for people, organizations, and politicians who want to dismantle structural racism and discrimination.

Today's complex research challenges demand effective teams, yet researchers rarely receive training in teamwork skills crucial for collaborative success.

This book fills that gap, outlining theory and providing practical actions that equip researchers with tools to build and sustain effective teams. Drawing on organizational psychology, team science and the authors’ own experience, it offers concrete practices for fostering collaborative innovation, managing diverse perspectives and achieving high-impact outcomes.

An essential reading for researchers, administrators and facilitators seeking to build high-performing teams, this indispensable resource enables researchers to effectively work across different disciplines and sectors to meet the evolving demands of funded research.

While employee relations investigations are an important part of organisational practice for managing workplace issues, there is growing evidence of the significant harm they can cause to individuals being taken through them. This harm can also spread further to those involved in their delivery, as well as impacting organisational culture and reputation, leading to financial and economic harm.

Under Investigation proposes a shift in mindset that prioritises employee wellbeing alongside the application of the process, reducing potential harm and creating healthier work environments. Based on a programme of work and research within NHS Wales, it explores the wider impact of employee investigations, considers new approaches to applying disciplinary policy and includes a call to the human resources profession for change.

Crime research has grown substantially over the past decade, with a rise in evidence-informed approaches to criminal justice, statistics-driven decision-making and predictive analytics. The fuel that has driven this growth is data – and one of its most pressing challenges is the lack of research on the use and interpretation of data sources.

This accessible, engaging book closes that gap for researchers, practitioners and students. International researchers and crime analysts discuss the strengths, perils and opportunities of the data sources and tools now available and their best use in informing sound public policy and criminal justice practice.

There has recently been a global resurgence of demands for the acknowledgement of historical and contemporary wrongs, as well as for apologies and reparation for harms suffered.

Drawing on the histories of injustice, dispossession and violence in South Africa, this book examines the cultural, political and legal role, and value of, an apology. It explores the multiple ways in which ‘sorry’ is instituted, articulated and performed, and critically analyses its various forms and functions in both historical and contemporary moments. Bringing together an interdisciplinary team of contributors, the book’s analysis offers insights that will be invaluable to global debates on the struggle for justice.

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.

Recent years have seen the rapid spread of far-right movements across the globe. Far beyond Donald Trump, these movements are reshaping the physical world in ways that pose danger to everyone, regardless of their politics.

But how is this happening, and why with such speed? The shocking answer turns out to be aggrieved manhood gone viral, disguised as right-wing populism.

Taking a fresh approach to global politics, Wronged and Dangerous refocuses divisions towards shared human interests. If you care about our common future, discover new ways to engage with the challenges of our time.

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.

With debate about police ethics intensifying, this stimulating book considers afresh the fundamental role of officers and their relations with society.

• It is a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to ethical policing, taking a moral philosophical perspective to the evidence base and literature on the subject.

• Leading contemporary thinker Dominic Wood tackles the ethical issues of policing as a matter of compliance and discipline and reviews them in the context of contemporary challenges in policing and the wider criminal justice framework.

• From the parameters of moral policing to the role of human rights and to embedding ethics within police operations, this is a thorough overview of the subject of police ethics and legitimacy, and a springboard for further research and analysis.

A timely contribution to discussions about the police and their legitimacy, this is essential reading for all those studying, teaching and leading the profession.

How have powerful Americans convinced their fellow citizens to support policies beneficial only to the wealthy? Why have so many given up on public education, safe food and safe streets, living wages – even on democracy itself?

Kill it to Save it lays bare the hypocrisy of US political discourse by documenting the story of capitalism’s triumph over democracy.

As the Progressive Left tries to understand how President Trump came to power, Corey Dolgon documents his historical, political and cultural road map. Dolgon argues that American citizens now accept policies that destroy the public sector and promote political stories that feel right “in the gut”, regardless of science or facts.

Covering the post-Vietnam era to present day, Dolgon dismantles US common sense cultural discourse and explains why the endless crisis in US policy will continue until American citizens recognize what has been lost, and in whose interest.

In this second edition of a bestselling book, the authors’ unique, holistic and radical perspective on participatory practice has been updated to reflect advances made in the past decade, the impact of neoliberalism and austerity, and the challenges of climate change and the pandemic.

Bridging the divide between community development ideas and practice, over half of this innovative book comprises new content with updated features including:

• reflective questions

• key points highlighted throughout each chapter

• a glossary of terms

The authors argue that transformative practice begins with everyday stories about people’s lives and that practical theory generated from these narratives is the best way to inform both policy and practice.

This long-awaited new edition will be of interest to academics and community-based practitioners working in a range of settings, including health and education.

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

Moving beyond Western-centric perspectives, this book presents novel theoretical angles on Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA).

Chapters demonstrate how comparative analysis can decentre scholarship traditionally dominated by US political contexts, enhancing explanatory power through contextual sensitivity. Examining how leadership dynamics, group decision-making, and bureaucratic politics may play out differently across diverse political settings, the authors provide a coherent and conceptually rigorous foundation for comparative FPA.

Vital for scholars and students seeking to understand foreign policy beyond conventional paradigms, this book offers both theoretical innovation and empirically informed insights that reflect our increasingly multipolar world.

Building on the influential Using Evidence to End Homelessness (Bristol University Press, 2020), this practical collection shows how evidence and data can drive smarter action to improve outcomes for people affected by homelessness. Six years on, it captures lessons learned and progress made while charting a path for greater impact. With new contributions from leaders including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Sir Michael Barber and Rosanne Haggerty, it highlights innovative approaches transforming housing, health, education, media, sport and the arts.

Through case studies, collaborative models, and policy tools, it equips practitioners, policymakers, funders and community leaders to act more effectively. The book is an essential resource for all those working to end homelessness.

In an era of unprecedented climate challenges, should we still be trying to explore space or should all our scientific attention be focused here on Earth? If space is becoming a playground for billionaires, will that enflame tensions between superpowers with potentially disastrous results?

What is Space Exploration For? argues that it offers indispensable benefits to scientific understanding, not least in addressing climate change. And, while space exploration’s main benefits are likely to be scientific and economic, the authors emphasise that reaching for the stars may have other, long-term advantages for civilisation in broadening our understanding of who we are.

Free speech is the subject of numerous conflicts, but what are its limits and who decides them? How can so many people simultaneously claim to be silenced and yet loudly clamour for scarce attention?

As the media pushes deeper into our lives, communication seems limitless: free speech transforms what is at stake in specific situations, on tech platforms and political protests, in university seminars and media debate.

What is Free Speech For? examines the gap between abstract discussions of free speech, and communication in democracies characterised by abundant speech but very little listening. It helps us understand this key concept important to human flourishing and the reality of how it is used and abused in contemporary societies.

The Post Office Scandal is an indelible stain on the British justice system: hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly labelled criminals, ruining lives and destroying communities. But the real scandal was that the Post Office’s lawyers knew the evidence was flawed but failed to act, in their quest to defend a corporation. Why did they not stop it?

This book dives into how legal professionals failed in their duties, silenced the truth and even turned against the victims, including accounts from victims who were advised to enter guilty pleas. But this is not just about the Post Office — this is a wider examination of the legal profession and its ethical boundaries, asking whether lawyers are putting clients' interests above justice and how to stop such a disaster from happening again.

Chess Club or Drama Club: which would you rather join? Do you focus on the detail or prefer to imagine the bigger picture?

Sally Bridgeland introduces the 'Club Mix' as a playful recipe for everyday inclusion, designed to enhance team dynamics and drive business success by blending imagination and analysis.

Ideal for leaders and managers, this book uses real-life stories, business insights, and practical exercises to help you harness the power of inclusive teams that balance creativity and structure. Written for all stages and sizes of business, it will support you in broadening your team's capabilities and fostering a resilient and creative culture.

Today’s organizations are increasingly complex with many structures, practices and rules to follow. While the organizational head – an administrative knowing better class - becomes larger, the space for people doing the core job of the organization to think outside the box and take personal responsibility shrinks.

How can we tackle this and give workers more space to use their judgement?

Drawing on cases from universities, healthcare and other industries, this book reveals how the growth of management, policies and expertise are often counterproductive. The authors provide solutions for rethinking work and organization and to encourage what they call post-infantilized management.

Highlighting key debates around organizations and bureaucracy, this book presents an alternative vision for the future of work and management.

Outlines the case for tacking inequality in Britain and offers a road-map to a fairer society.

Britain is a grossly unfair country, disfigured by a broken social contract and unsustainable levels of inequality. This moral outrage presents a growing threat to our society, economy and democracy.

The Fair Necessities argues that unfair inequality undermines everything from faith in government to economic growth, yet a fairer country is within reach. Drawing on cutting-edge research and interviews with public figures, including including Vince Cable, Polly Toynbee and Liam Byrne, it sets out the moral, political and policy cases for tacking inequality and explains how to build a broad, cross-party consensus for a fairer society. Engaging, evidence-rich and ultimately hopeful, it offers the vision — and the practical roadmap — needed to rebuild Britain on fairer foundations.

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

This book explores why knowledge often struggles to move between contexts, examining how standards, relationships and power shape what is shared, transformed or resisted when different epistemic communities encounter the same knowledge.

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 E. Givens’s bestselling book Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides, highlights the promises that 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.

The Global Agenda for Social Justice 3 provides accessible insights into some of the most pressing social problems and proposes public policy responses to those problems.

Written by a highly respected team of authors brought together by the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), the book offers recommendations for action by elected officials, policymakers and the public regarding key issues for social justice. Chapters include discussion of social problems related to period poverty, climate justice, algorithmic bias, labor rights and global inequality.

The book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, advocates and students interested in public sociology, the study of social problems and the pursuit of social justice.

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

How families are formed, lived and understood has shifted dramatically—yet legal frameworks often still reflect outdated norms. This collection brings together a diverse team of international contributors to explore what a family is through a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including law, psychology, economics, family science and history, inviting transdisciplinary reflections on family regulation.

By examining how legal systems respond to, resist, or incorporate diverse family forms, from non-marital partnerships to trans families, the book reveals the tensions between lived realities and legal recognition. Offering fresh insight into how regulation shapes and is shaped by evolving family life, this book is essential for scholars interested in family law, social policy and the changing dynamics of kinship.

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

Foreword by Gianni Magazzeni, former Senior UN/OHCHR Official and UPR Chief at the United Nations.

This book analyses the impact of the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process through a case study of the UK. It advances a dual-perspective assessment of the UPR: the ‘external’ perspective, which focuses on a state’s practice at the UPR, and the ‘internal’ perspective, which examines the influence of the UPR on the executive, legislature and judiciary.

The author introduces a new framework for assessing state participation, drawing on Kathryn Sikkink’s ‘Evidence for Hope’ to advance the methodological rigour of UPR research. The UK context explored in the book highlights the influence of domestic politics, institutional capacity and accountability processes, with implications for Westminster systems worldwide. It is crucial reading for scholars, policy makers and practitioners of international human rights law.

Today, privacy is more than a personal choice—it’s a terrain shaped by power, politics and everyday life.

This book shifts the lens from established western narratives to India, WhatsApp’s largest market, exploring how digital privacy is lived, built, and regulated on the world’s digital peripheries. Drawing on rich field-based research, it examines encrypted technologies, the ties between big tech and governments, and the role of messaging apps in political life.

This is a sharp and grounded account of how privacy can both strengthen and erode democracy in the digital age.

Boys and young men have been previously overlooked in domestic violence and abuse policy and practice, particularly in the case of boys who are criminalized and labelled as gang-involved by the time they reach their teens.

Jade Levell offers radical and important insights into how boys in this context navigate their journey to manhood with the constant presence of violence in their lives, in addition to poverty and racial marginalization. Of equal interest to academics and front-line practitioners, the book highlights the narratives of these young men and makes practice recommendations for supporting these ‘hidden victims’.

Abolitionist thought visualizes a world without prisons – or a radical reduction or transformation of prisons and punishment. This fascinating book explores the abolitionist ideas of key early socialists and anarchists, writing from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. It considers how these radical thinkers can provide insights into our present condition, both by highlighting the harms of punishment and by pointing to inspiring alternatives to current policy and practice.

By examining their calls for the ending of legal coercion, domination and repression, the book shows how the ideas of early socialists and anarchists can assist those engaging in emancipatory struggles against penal and social injustice today.

Climate Justice in Action celebrates the activism and adaptations of Eastern Africa, one of the most climate vulnerable regions of the world. Contributions from activists and researchers highlight diverse innovations and efforts to curb environmental catastrophe through transforming social inequalities and addressing root causes. The book amplifies community voices and intersectional approaches that integrate environmental sustainability with social and climate justice.

The book highlights the direct actions and policy changes taking place in Eastern Africa today to address the pressing challenges of erratic weather, forced displacement, disasters and energy and food insecurity. It includes case studies on African concepts of climate justice and resistance, youth activism in Uganda and Kenya, climate displacement in Somalia, sexual and reproductive health in Zimbabwe and environmental graffiti in Sudan.

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

Today’s political debates are fiercely polarized. But looking beyond the headlines, this book shows that ordinary citizens hold much more nuanced, less divided views.

Drawing on rich survey data and group discussions, this work maps four major areas of conflict: migration, climate change, diversity and economic justice.

Across these conflicts, most citizens take positions that are middle-of-the-road, contradictory or undecided. It is only certain “trigger points” – like gendered pronouns or refugee admissions – that predictably ignite tensions and deep disagreement.

Political entrepreneurs know this and weaponize trigger points for their agenda. Yet the real key to contemporary conflicts, the book argues, lies in social inequality.

This is a vital work that maps today’s political landscape without sensationalism, offering a fresh lens on public debate.

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

China and Vietnam are two of the remaining constitutionally socialist countries that are single-handedly governed by Communist parties. Their rapid economic growth has gone hand in hand with the deepening commodification of labour and the restructuring of welfare – producing new tensions between workers’ needs and state priorities.

Grounded in rich empirical research from diverse regions of both countries, this book explores how everyday struggles for livelihoods and wellbeing are shaped by increasingly flexible labour regimes and welfare systems offering minimal protection. It reveals how such systems encourage self-entrepreneurship and individual responsibility, while exposing the conflict between ensuring workers’ wellbeing and maintaining the market socialist model.

Connecting labour and welfare transformations to broader political-economic processes – including land restructuring and financialisation – the book offers an unparalleled comparative perspective on two of the world’s most important manufacturing hubs.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Published as part of the Creating Safer Space Network that seeks to strengthen civilian capacities for nonviolent protection in conflict-affected areas.

This book offers a compelling look at how unarmed civilian protection (UCP) practitioners work to enhance the level of security experienced by local Palestinians, supporting community-based resistance to rocketing levels of dispossession and ethnic-cleansing in the occupied West Bank.

Drawing on first-hand field research, the authors reveal the daily realities of providing a protective presence against violence and displacement. Crucially, the book highlights the vital role of international UCP solidarity networks in supporting local efforts and examines what difference they can make in the face of increasing levels of settler-violence. It is essential reading for those seeking practical pathways for nonviolent action and global solidarity.

Digital media can support democracy, freedom and social cohesion, but it can also erode them.

This book explores that tension through the stories of grassroots volunteer networks in Russia, which emerged on Telegram after February 2022 to support Ukrainian refugees. While most of these networks aim to resist the war-waging Russian state, others seek to advance its aggressive expansionist agenda. Zvonareva examines the deep divide between digitally mediated networks that perform the same humanitarian work — assisting refugees — yet pursue entirely opposing political goals.

This is essential reading for students and scholars of digital media, political participation and Russian and Eastern European studies.

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

What happens when schools can no longer bind society together?

In an era of growing segregation, this book explores how Swedish schools and municipalities work to counteract inequality and foster civil inclusion. Through detailed case studies of school closures, mergers and new openings, the authors trace how local actors try to achieve “civil repair” – to strengthen equality and rebuild cohesion through education.

Drawing on rich ethnographic research, the book reveals the tensions between policy ideals and on-the-ground realities in a marketised school system. These findings speak not only to Sweden but to broader challenges in education systems across Europe and North America.

Once almost universally prohibited, assisted dying is now legal in a growing number of countries across Europe, North America, Australasia and South America. In the UK, as elsewhere, the question remains deeply contested, raising profound legal, moral and practical challenges.

This book draws on extensive original research into Westminster Parliamentary debates, as well as international evidence from jurisdictions where assisted dying is legal, in order to clarify the key arguments for and against reform.

Examining principles, stakeholder perspectives and judicial rulings, it offers the knowledge, context and sensitivity to enable readers to critically engage with one of the most complex and pressing challenges in contemporary practice and policy.

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

From parenting and pilgrimage to activism and mourning, this thought-provoking book explores how digital connection—and disconnection—shapes the emotional texture of our lives.

Using the concept of ‘affective atmospheres’, the authors examine the feelings that emerge in the interactions between people, platforms and places. Drawing on rich, real-world examples, it explores how digital media infuse our homes, beliefs, rituals and politics with emotion, tension and meaning.

A timely exploration of the emotional labour of online life, this book offers fresh insights into how we feel our way through digital culture.

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

How are urban social movements engaging in local politics to tackle the multiple crises in Europe?

This timely volume explores how grassroots actors across eleven European cities forge new forms of solidarity and enact citizenship at local scales. Drawing on rich ethnographic research, it examines how activists and communities challenge neoliberal isolation and marginalization through collective practices, ranging from community kitchens to tenant organizing. Bridging research on migration, housing and care, the book investigates how everyday urban struggles are reshaping political practices and reimagining democracy. It offers essential insights for scholars and practitioners of social justice, citizenship and urban politics.

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

What happens to sexual and gender identities when crossing borders under duress?

This book offers an unprecedented account of how forced migration shapes the lives of queer Iranian individuals. Tracing movements from Iran through transition countries to Western resettlement, the book explores how identities are expressed, negotiated, silenced and reimagined along the way. Engaging de/postcolonial theory and participatory methods, the authors centre the voices of non-heterosexual and non-cisnormative Iranians in exile.

This is an essential study for scholars of sexuality, migration and Middle Eastern studies seeking to understand queerness in global displacement.

How can sociological thinking help us make sense of today’s biggest global challenges?

In what is understood as ‘an age of crisis’, headlines are dominated by topic such as climate change, migration, radicalisation and inequality. These topics are core to sociology, yet sociological insights are drowned out in public debate frequently dominated by technological optimism, economic rhetoric or polarising politics.

This accessibly written textbook centres the sociological voice. It demonstrates how evidence-based, critical perspectives can illuminate the causes, interconnections and possible solutions to some of the most urgent issues of our time.

Each chapter is crafted to support students new to sociology, guiding them to think critically and make connections between complex global problems. Key pedagogical features include:

• Clear statements of key messages at the start of each chapter;

• Bold-highlighted definitions of sociological terms with minimal jargon;

• ‘Focus point’ boxes with data, case studies or visual insights;

• Suggested sources for further exploration, including videos and online media.

Essential reading for undergraduate students and anyone working in policy, advocacy or social change—offering the tools to think critically, act thoughtfully and engage with today’s most pressing global challenges.

Qualitative interviews offer rich opportunities to explore people's lived experiences, emotions and perspectives with depth and nuance.

This accessible and practical guide equips researchers with innovative techniques to enhance interview-based research. From incorporating objects, documents and sensory prompts to choosing the optimal interview format – plus drawing inspiration from fields like therapy and journalism – the book introduces creative strategies for generating more meaningful, credible data that centres the participant in every interaction.

Key features include:

• Support for researchers to deepen dialogue, connection and participant empowerment;

• Emphasis on the co-production of meaning, emotional and reflective engagement and authentic research encounters; and

• Insights and case studies from contemporary methods and lessons across diverse disciplines.

Ideal for postgraduate students, early career researchers and practitioners, this book demonstrates how to design interviews that are not only ethically grounded but also genuinely engaging, facilitating richer, multimodal and culturally sensitive qualitative research.

Can we truly address poverty without centring the voices of those who live it? Bringing together voices from academia, grassroots activism, NGOs and the UK voluntary sector, this timely and accessible book explores how participatory approaches to activism can drive genuine, inclusive change.

Through short, focused chapters, the authors critically unpack the contested definitions of ‘co-production’, ‘participation’ and ‘lived experience’ while showcasing practice models from across the globe. Their practical reflections highlight what ethical, impactful collaboration looks like in action.

Led by an established voice in lived-experience anti-poverty activism, this book offers practical insight and principled guidance for anyone seeking to build fairer, more inclusive systems – where those most affected are not only heard, but leading the way.

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

Since the UK’s dramatic departure from the European Union, student mobility has become a frontline issue in the reshaping of higher education.

This book investigates how cross-border movement into and out of the UK has been transformed in the wake of Brexit. Drawing on extensive empirical data, the book explores changing mobility patterns, the rise of new infrastructures and the politics surrounding schemes like Turing. It critically examines how government policies and stakeholder responses are redefining international education.

This is vital resource for researchers, policymakers and practitioners navigating the evolving landscape of global student mobility.

A deeply researched look at how UK poverty levels skyrocketed, and how the crisis can be fixed.

Almost a third of children in Britain today live in poverty. Levels of deprivation in the UK are now higher than at any point in recent history. But how did we get here – and what can be done to turn the tide?

In Impoverished, Joanna Mack traces the roots of Britain's poverty crisis to decades of political choices that have left millions unable to withstand the turmoil of the 2020s. Drawing on four decades of pioneering research, Mack offers a clear-eyed analysis of how Britain’s social contract has been undermined – and what it will take to rebuild it. She sets out bold, practical strategies to create a fairer society, alongside pro-poor policies to protect the most vulnerable from the impacts of climate change. Urgent, evidence-based and forward-looking, Impoverished is a blueprint for renewal.

A wide-ranging look at football’s powerful but controversial governing body.

Football is the world’s most popular sport and truly a global phenomenon. As a result, it attracts huge sums of money from its advertisers, sponsors and broadcasters, including FIFA, the sport’s international governing body. So, given its decidedly chequered history, the question of what FIFA is for is crucial to the game’s future.

Examining the organisation’s successes such as the explosion of interest in the women’s game, alongside its failures and continuing crises over corruption and ethics, Alan Tomlinson asks: what will it take for FIFA to truly live up to its own mission of integrity, fair play and accessibility?

Conventional research methods often marginalise the voices of those most affected by the issues being studied, limiting the potential for meaningful, transformative change. In education, health, social care, community development and many other fields, there is a growing need for research that is inclusive, accessible and responsive to real-world complexity.

This textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to co-operative inquiry: a participatory research methodology grounded in collaboration, reflection and shared knowledge creation. Acting as a how-to guide and companion text, it supports readers in designing and conducting ethical, practice-based research that draws on lived experience as much as professional expertise. The authors demonstrate how co-operative inquiry can integrate action research and mixed methods to produce both nuanced and authentic insights.

With guidance from leading experts and emerging voices in the field, this book is an essential resource for ethical researchers at every career stage. It equips readers with the confidence, tools and inspiration to generate impactful, equity-driven knowledge.

A new perspective on the role of the market, and its future place in society.

Markets are apparently straightforward: they connect buyers to sellers. But their operation is complex, depending on places, things, networks and performances. Belief in markets is a cultural and political ideology. They are a means of governance in modern society, linked to individualistic self-responsibility.

But markets also have a darker side. Not everything should be for sale. Markets wield political power; they benefit those who already have resources; they impair collective action; they can be exploitative. As well as asking what markets are for, this book asks who they are for and what needs to change if they are to enable us to thrive in the 21st century.

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

What if care was at the heart of how we organise our societies and economies? This timely book explores how care leave policies can help build and sustain caring democracies, economies and worlds.

Bringing together international research and policy analysis – and inspired by the work of Joan Tronto and other leading care thinkers – Care Leaves and Care Time for All offers a bold, yet modest, proposal for transforming care leave policies. It reimagines paid care leaves as universal social entitlements across the life course providing care time for children and elders, for self and others, and for our social and ecological worlds.

Amid growing care crises and other interconnected socio-economic and environmental crises, this book issues an urgent call for a ‘global political awakening’ – one that centres and supports care giving, care receiving and care time for all.

This accessible introduction to planning law covers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in equal depth. Linking legal principles to real-world planning practice, it shows how planning law shapes our built environment.

Fully updated to reflect the latest legislative changes, this second edition explores key topics such as governance, environmental assessment and major infrastructure projects. It features:

- recommended reading lists;

- illustrative photographs;

- case study text boxes.

Designed for students of planning, law and property-related fields, this textbook provides the essential knowledge of the legal and regulatory framework you’ll need in practice. Whether you're studying planning law for the first time or looking for a concise reference, this is your go-to guide.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY 4.0

This book shares insights from the Healthy Ageing Challenge, bringing research, policy and practice together to create age-friendly homes, workplaces and communities.

Spanning co-design with older people, business collaboration and innovations in design, work, housing, culture and health, it explores the real-world impact of ageing research and the opportunities for business in developing an ageing market.

From age-friendly homes to climate-resilient communities, the book provides a rich evidence base for healthier, more connected lives.

This book examines how global humanitarian systems shape partnerships in education in emergencies. Focusing on the Syrian refugee crisis and the education response in Lebanon, it reveals how colonial legacies, structural racism and the marketization of aid enable Global North actors to dictate policies and practices, while marginalizing local voices and knowledge. Yet in moments of crisis, community-led initiatives and smaller partnerships proved to be agile and responsive.

Rather than offering celebratory accounts of “partnership,” the book draws on rigorous research to foreground the structural inequities that constrain them—while also pointing to possibilities for more just, community driven alternatives. A vital resource for scholars, practitioners and policy makers, it offers concrete pathways for reshaping humanitarian practice to support sustainable, responsive education for refugee learners.

A ground-breaking international collection, Born into Care brings together leading scholars, practitioners, advocates and mothers with lived experience to confront the hidden and deeply controversial practice of infant removal at birth.

The first book of its kind, it delivers a powerful critique of the legal, ethical and political systems that perpetuate a practice which disproportionately impacts marginalised families. Topics covered in the book include decision-making at birth, human rights and access to justice, and the intersecting inequities of class, gender, racism and ableism.

Through rigorous analysis and diverse perspectives, the collection challenges dominant child protection narratives and lays the groundwork for systemic transformation.

A deeply researched look at the debate around immigration policy, and possible paths forward.

Does political rhetoric on immigration policy match what is actually happening on the ground? Why do well-intentioned plans fail? Could immigration policy be done better?

This book explores what immigration policy seeks to achieve and why so many people end up unhappy with the outcome. Drawing on decades of research and examples from high-income countries around the world, it exposes the unavoidable trade-offs governments face, and the impacts of their choices on people and communities.

It reveals how we got here, why the policy challenge is so difficult, and how we get to a better place.

How might vulnerability be rethought beyond its traditional associations with weakness and reimagined as the basis of solidarity?

Across the world, there are unprecedented numbers of dispossessed people; rights and resources are increasingly inaccessible to those who need them most, and the responsibilities we have to one another are continually undermined and exploited.

Referencing three sets of social relations – breathing, grieving and appearing, this book examines how recognition of our shared but always socially situated vulnerability could be the basis for organizing our lives in ways that better support relationality, solidarity and care, now and for the future.

This book exposes the strategies that make migrants’ lives unliveable and explores their resistance to this violence. Drawing on years of research across Europe, the author captures the lived reality of asylum seekers, refugees and other marginalised migrants, including their struggles with constant evictions, detention, push-backs, deportations and violence.

Blending feminist, intersectional and decolonial perspectives, the book reframes exhaustion as both a tool of governance and a site of struggle. By amplifying neglected voices and envisioning politics grounded in solidarity, care and friendship, this is a powerful call to rethink how movement, borders and resistance are understood.

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

While gender-based violence is not a novel phenomenon, it has only recently come to the centre of global policy efforts. This book examines three pervasive forms of harmful practices prevalent across the world: child marriage, female genital mutilation, and gender-biased sex selection.

The author measures policy progress made by select global programmes towards the eradication of these practices and offers crucial, practical guidance to accelerate change for the future.

The idea that a wave of distrust has swept over established democracies in recent years is commonly accepted. This book presents a contrary view. Drawing on various datasets, it reveals a disconnect between the popular commentary and the empirical reality.

The Trust Gap suggests that the most extreme cases — such as the US and the UK — distort our thinking about trust. It looks beyond trust in government to examine trust in a range of institutions, including courts, universities and the media. In doing so, it suggests that while countries such as the US do face a crisis of trust, many established democracies demonstrate resilience rather than vulnerability.

Using the framework of trust gaps, this book offers a stocktake on the state of trust in the 21st century, contributing a more nuanced and hopeful account than the headlines suggest.

A fresh, sustainability-focused take on building organizations.

In a world facing growing social, political and environmental challenges, our organizations are no longer serving us well. This book offers a fresh framework for rethinking organizations. It is built on four generative dynamics—purposing, democratizing, cooperating and commoning— underpinned by a planetary mindset. Grounded in real-world examples and the latest research, it explores how these dynamics can spark new modes of organizing. With a focus on overcoming barriers and inspiring change, it’s a compelling call to reimagine organizations for a future that sustains people and the planet.

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.

Focusing on inward foreign direct investment (FDI) screening, this book provides an in-depth analysis of how European states’ economic interactions with China have become a security issue.

Based on 100 interviews with scholars, journalists, policy makers, and politicians from across Europe, the book underscores the importance of the policy making process that led to the adoption of investment screening in European nations for the development of the EU's economic security approach. The book details how the economic security shift in Europe is attributed to changes such as China’s growing economic presence, the persistence of non-market practices, the loss of competitiveness, and the use of economic statecraft.

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

How do international climate and energy organizations survive and thrive despite powerful contestation? This analysis reveals how the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) maintain legitimacy when key players like the United States withdraw from global agreements.

Using qualitative research including interviews and participant observation, this book unveils the 'norm for climate change action'—a powerful principle that transforms contestation into reinforcement of international climate governance. In doing so, it demonstrates how opposition doesn't destroy these organizations but paradoxically strengthens their role in global climate action.

How can diversity be practiced without reinforcing the very inequalities it aims to dismantle?

In this book, Maddy Janssens and Chris Steyaert address this pressing question by critically examining the assumptions behind current diversity initiatives and turning to critical practice theory and queer theory for novel insights. Through imaginative concepts, inspiring illustrations, and an integrative case study within the dance world, the authors articulate the ‘conditions of possibility’ for a fresh, impactful alternative. This book advocates for a shift from individual efforts to collective practices, proposing a politics of organizational worldmaking oriented at multiplicity – a practicing of diversity that aspires to transformative change into livable and just work lives.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is recurrently depicted as an enterprise that unites humanity in a common pursuit of a more just and sustainable world. But how is this enterprise pursued on a planet that is enormously unequal? Drawing on biopolitical theory and rich empirical data from different contexts around the world, this book explores how ESD is unpacked depending on whether people are rich or poor.

The book demonstrates how ESD is adapted to the lifestyles and living conditions of different populations. The implication of this depoliticized sensitivity to local ‘realities’, the book argues, is that inequality becomes accommodated and that different responsibilities are assigned to rich and poor. Ultimately, the book considers alternatives to this biopolitical divide.

Healthcare for transgender people is in crisis. Many of the problems stem from bureaucracies within the health system, limiting conceptualizations of sex and gender, and the requirement for a diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’.

This book presents a unique argument for full demedicalization of transness as a crucial step towards removing existing barriers to good healthcare. Resisting the current norm of separating sex and gender, it also argues for an understanding of them as necessarily interlinked and co-constructed.

By elevating trans voices and experiences, this book offers a new perspective on transness, medicalization and research methodologies to help trans people, practitioners and policy makers better understand the barriers faced by trans people when seeking healthcare.

Bringing concepts from critical transitional justice and peacebuilding into dialogue with education, this book examines the challenges youth and their teachers face in the post-conflict settings of Bougainville and Solomon Islands.

Youth in these places must reconcile with the violent past of their parents’ generation while also learning how to live with people once on opposing ‘sides'. This book traces how students and their teachers form connections to the past and each other that cut through the forces that might divide them. The findings illustrate novel ways to think about the potential for education to assist post-conflict recovery.

To mitigate climate, biodiversity, and public health crises, the global agrifood system needs radical change. The Global North remains central to agrifood innovation but new players in the South, especially Brazil and China, will increasingly determine its pace and direction.

Investigating climate-controlled agriculture and alternatives to animal proteins, John Wilkinson shows that trade, investment, and innovation in agrifood is reorienting to the South. As the global population becomes increasingly urban, he skilfully illustrates the connections between social movements and technological innovation – and the need for consumer acceptance of new food habits.

This book traces the process of producing testimonio with the children of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), an insurgent group during Peru’s internal war (1980–2000). It examines how the group navigates post-war struggles over memory while dealing with the ‘children of terrorists’ stigma.

Drawing on a cycles of inquiry approach, the book theorizes three movements for memory work: a realist presentation of testimonial narratives, a ‘politics of memory’ engaging with the conditions of production and a ‘poetics of memory’ that troubles memory, voice and representation for qualitative inquiry in post-war contexts.

Challenging the notion of war-torn countries as pure devastation, the author invites readers to see them as sites of knowledge and creativity, with much to offer for education, peace studies and social justice research.

Education is considered central to social mobility and, following a drive to raise learners’ aspirations, an ‘aspiration industry’ has emerged.

However, the desire to leave school early should not be regarded as evidence of students lacking ambition. This book traces the emergence of the aspiration industry and argues that to have ambitions that do not require qualifications is different, but not wrong.

Reviewing the performance of six schools in England, their Ofsted reports and responses, it evaluates underpinning assumptions of what makes an effective school. This book critically examines neo-liberal education policy developments, including the 1988 Education Reform Act, and the political discourse around changing explanations of education ‘failure’ with the rise in the marketisation of education.

Embodying Irish Abortion Reform has been shortlisted for the 2025 BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize.

Offering a unique perspective, this book explores the lived, embodied and affective experiences of reproductive rights activists living under, and mobilizing against, Ireland’s constitutional abortion ban.

Through qualitative research and in-depth interviews with activists, the author exposes the subtle influence of the 8th Amendment on Irish women and their (reproductive) bodies, whether or not they have ever attempted to access a clandestine abortion.

It explains how the everyday embodied practices, bodily labours and affective experiences of women and gestating people were shaped by the 8th amendment and through the need to ‘prepare’ for crisis pregnancies. In addition, it reveals the integral role of women’s bodies and emotions in changing the political and social landscape in Ireland, through the historical transformation of the country’s abortion laws.

Today drag has an unprecedented mass cultural appeal. Reaching far beyond traditional queer venues and audiences into the mainstream, it has evolved into a booming industry worth millions of dollars.

Drag is art, politics, lifestyle and entertainment all in one. Yet, studies examining its market value as a product, brand or consumption practice remain scarce. This interdisciplinary collection fills that void, exploring the intersection of drag and markets.

Written by an international group of scholars exploring cases from Europe, Asia and the US, this will be a key resource for anyone curious about drag’s social, political and economic impact.

How can we help children make a difference, allowing them to shape their communities, locally and globally? Drawing on a rich blend of academic research and case studies, Alison Body critically examines societal structures, including education, communities and cultural narratives, that shape children's understanding of active, philanthropic citizenship.

Children as Change-Makers calls for a reimagining of philanthropy as a form of participatory citizenship, advocating for a philanthropic ecosystem framed by justice, solidarity and collective action. It serves as a roadmap for all stakeholders – from individuals to institutions – to empower children as agents of positive social change, fostering a more just world for generations to come.

It is impossible to view the news at present without hearing talk of crisis.

This timely book looks at how three major crises – the economy, pandemic and climate – are related to the crisis of work, making it more precarious, intense and unequal.

Providing an original and critical synthesis of recent trends in the field, expert scholars offer a programme for transcending the crisis of work.

Offering a timely contribution to understanding the important issues facing the world, this book presents an important new way of thinking about work in contemporary societies.

Why have so many radical thinkers advocated for the abolition of prisons and punishment? And why have their ideas been so difficult to popularize or garner the political will for change? This book outlines several different approaches to penal abolitionism and showcases their calls for the ending of legal coercion, domination, and repression.

This exciting and innovative edited collection shows how abolitionist ideas have continued topicality and relevance in the present day and how they can collectively help with devising new ways of thinking about social problems, as well as suggesting alternatives to existing penal policies, practices and institutions.

Pension policy in the UK and US is designed on the assumption that people make informed financial decisions, consistently invest in pensions and manage diverse portfolios. Deviating from this is often deemed irresponsible and irrational. However, this assumption overlooks uncontrollable factors like caring duties, employment breaks or income limitations. Even when individuals act as expected, unpredictable market shifts can hinder long-term planning.

This book redefines deviations to “rational behaviour” as logical responses to a dysfunctional system. Challenging existing theoretical discussions and policy approaches, it proposes a fresh perspective on rationality when it comes to financial practices and policy.

Creative research methods for data generation have expanded over recent decades and researchers are eager to take a creative approach to data analysis.

It is challenging to bring creativity into data analysis while retaining a systematic, rigorous, and ethical approach. Written by experts in the field, this handbook addresses these challenges. The chapters adapt analytical techniques in creative ways for novice and expert researchers. Existing and novel methods from analysis of quantitative data to embodied, performative, visual, written, arts-based, and collaborative analysis are featured with case examples that are transferable across disciplines.

This collection offers a definitive practical guide to creative data analysis.

A rich and enlightening study of Chinese international relations, this book examines Chinese world ordering before the West as both intellectual history and institutional practices in deep world history. It shows how engaging China’s historical pursuit of ordering the world can contribute to our search for global foundations of international thought.

Offering a distinctive English School perspective, this volume is a call to put studies of Chinese international relations in their proper historical context. It argues that such an approach leads to a better understanding of Chinese ideas and statecraft and contends that reimagining the international is indispensable for a fruitful pursuit of knowledge production in the construction of global IR.

Looking at how austerity has become embedded in institutional practices, this book offers new critical insights into the uneven geographies created by austerity.

Reflecting on the spatially and socially uneven impacts of austerity on individuals and families, Julie MacLeavy shows how the ‘new normal’ of post-welfare state governance will negatively condition life chances, even in better economic times. She considers the political, economic and social developments that have led us to the present moment and shows how the rhetoric of austerity has pushed social inequality and uneven development off the political agenda.

This book aims to revitalise the link between social justice and labour law through exploring the issue of personhood and the 'subject' of the law.

Rodgers argues that incorporating a more 'relational' notion of self into labour law not only provides a fresh normative perspective through which to evaluate existing labour laws, but will also make us more able to respond to labour market 'shocks' and labour market change into the future, including the introduction of AI.

It is only by embedding relationality into our law that can we really respect the humanity of workers and construct a legal framework through which social justice can be achieved at work.

What does it mean for the social sciences to take colonialism seriously – not just as an issue of the past, but in terms of its continuing consequences in the present? While calls to decolonize the curriculum are increasing, few resources show what this means in terms of the everyday categories and concepts of the social sciences. This textbook addresses that gap by rethinking key themes—migration, citizenship, inequality, and the environment—through a critical engagement with colonial histories.

Developed from the Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project (CSCP) and written by scholars committed to transforming their teaching and research, the book challenges long-standing assumptions and provides practical, classroom-ready resources. It enables teachers and students to approach familiar topics from new angles, opening space for more rigorous and inclusive debates.

Pedagogical and distinctive features include:

• Structured chapters with learning objectives, summaries, discussion questions and reading lists;

• Thematic case studies that complement conceptual chapters;

• Links to rich digital resources, including videos and teaching tools from CSCP, Global Social Theory and Discover Society;

• Ready-made materials adaptable for undergraduate and sixth-form teaching.

Together, it makes an essential guide for anyone seeking to broaden the scope and depth of social science education.

What role does journalism play in shaping how we understand climate change and the planet we live on?

This thought-provoking book explores how media systems have helped construct our idea of the “human” Earth, from early nature reporting to today’s digital climate dashboards. Drawing on insights from the humanities and social sciences, it offers a fresh look at how news, data and storytelling influence public thinking in the age of the Anthropocene.

Building on the work of influential thinkers, the book asks how journalism can evolve to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.

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

Do our tools for knowing about the world actually obscure important knowledge?

This book uncovers how knowledge infrastructures—including satellite tracking, climate models, machine learning and citizen science apps—shape our understanding of contemporary crises. Rooted in logics of resource assessment, these systems often reinforce extractive thinking, even when intended to protect.

Beaulieu calls for a radical focus on relations to reimagine liveable futures: from monitoring and measuring to fostering connection, care and interdependence.

Drawing on science and technology studies and feminist critique, this book offers tools for transforming data practices, designing more responsive interfaces and building better infrastructures of survival.

EPUB and EPDF available open access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), commonly called the New Silk Road, is a huge infrastructure project currently revitalising or creating new trading routes and large developments across the globe. It is estimated to cost up to US$8 trillion and impact more than 65% of the world’s population.

This book explores the unequal ways this controversial project is altering livelihoods, places and the environment. From road building projects in Nairobi to grassroots environmental activism in Thailand, researchers from the Global North and South analyse the real-world impacts of this unprecedented project, bringing together critical geography and political ecology approaches.

For many centuries, Asia had been the apex of human civilization, home to the greatest concentrations of wealth, power and population. Yet by the mid-twentieth century, in the aftermath of colonialism and war, much of the continent was mired in poverty and underdevelopment.

This book tells the sweeping story of Asia’s modern resurgence: how globalization, supply chains and market-led integration powered unprecedented economic growth and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. It explores the creativity, energy and resilience that made this possible, while examining the dark side of that success: new geopolitical and nationalistic tensions that threaten to unravel this progress.

As Asia stands at a crossroads, facing both extraordinary opportunity and escalating risk, this timely analysis offers insight into the forces shaping its future. Drawing on history, economics and geopolitics, it is a call for thoughtful leadership to ensure that peace and prosperity rather than conflict and division define the next chapter of Asia’s story.

Despite global advances in children’s rights, young people are routinely disregarded, overpowered and excluded. This persistent discrimination – known as adultism – permeates family life, education, urban design, legal systems and political discourse.

In this groundbreaking book, the authors provide a comprehensive introduction to adultism from an academic perspective while also emphasising its practical implications. Drawing on rich, real-world examples and research, they analyse it as a systemic form of discrimination, exploring how it evolved and is reproduced through language, institutions and everyday practices.

Timely, accessible and urgent, this book offers a vision for resistance and transformation, outlining how adultism can be challenged – by both adults and young people – to co-create a more equitable future.

Understanding Contemporary Childhood introduces students to the ways in which childhood is socially constructed by a range of social, cultural and political forces. Accessibly written and assuming no prior knowledge, it outlines key social theories to show how ideas and approaches are influenced by different ways of understanding children and society and how this creates childhoods which can differ markedly from previous generations.

With chapter guides, help with written assignments and suggestions for further reading, the book:

• provides an accessible, yet critical account of established theories of childhood, such as the importance of attachment, emphasis on learning and the role of play;

• explores crucial emerging issues, including transgender rights, the rise of misogyny, social media influences and the impact of the climate crisis; and

• will equip students with practical study skills guidance to critically engage with ideas about how society shapes childhood today.

Whether new to the subject or deepening your critical perspective, this book equips readers with the tools to understand and interrogate the complex realities of childhood in the 21st century.

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

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of why and when member states threaten to withdraw from regional international organizations (RIOs).

A unique dataset covers over 120 exit threats across RIOs from all world regions. The book explains variation as a result of limited specific and diffuse support, such as the inability to exert influence or prevail under majority decision-making, as well as a lack of democratic socialization. With nationalism and populism on the rise, this timely study unpacks crucial pressure points in international institutions, offering invaluable insights into how they can maintain stability in the face of internal contestations.

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

As an outcome of the European Green Deal, European Climate Pact Ambassadors (ECPAs) were established to promote climate action within their networks at both a local and an EU level. This book focuses on the volunteers who commit to the role of ECPA and unpacks who steps up, how they advocate for policy change and what they experience along the way.

Bridging political sociology, policy analysis and multi-level governance, the book offers a rare insight into EU-level civic participation.

Globally, social workers are committed to human rights and challenging unjust social structures. However, their close ties to the state often reinforce such systems of oppression.

The first to apply abolitionist theory from international perspectives to social work, this book examines this contradiction, exploring whether social work can embrace radical change while operating within state structures. Bringing together scholars from the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Finland, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, it explores alternatives for addressing issues such as child protection, mental health, violence against women, drug use, violent extremism, homelessness and Indigenous sovereignty.

Essential reading for academics, researchers, students, human service practitioners and social activists, this book interrogates the implications of social work’s complicity with systems that perpetuate oppression and social injustice.

From the US to Europe and beyond, diversity and inclusion efforts are increasingly being caught in the crossfire of a culture war. As the backlash against ‘DEI’ grows, fairness and dignity are being reframed as divisive – rather than just smart business. So how did we get here, and what can we do about it?

Very few of us are skilled in inclusion, hoping it will be enough to be ‘nice’. However, this optimistic attitude can turn would-be allies into passive bystanders. This book is for anyone who wants to support equality: inside are tools and practical guidance to help navigate complexity, challenge complacency and take meaningful action.

Despite growing recognition of fathers’ involvement in family life, dominant narratives still marginalise men’s caring roles. Caring Fathers in the Global Context addresses a pressing gap in our shared understanding: how care is practised and experienced by men across diverse cultural, social and policy settings.

Drawing on wide-ranging, international research, this timely edited collection offers a rich, comparative exploration of how men become ‘caring fathers’ and the pathways leading to this. It connects fatherhood studies with care scholarship to provide new theoretical and empirical insights into how care is shared, negotiated and made meaningful in everyday life.

A vital and interdisciplinary resource for anyone studying families and social change, this book invites readers to rethink care, masculinity and intergenerational relationships in a rapidly changing world.

Pride events have become a powerful global symbol of LGBTQIA+ visibility, celebrated in settings ranging from urban centres to remote villages across the Global North and South.

Drawing on decolonial theories, this book examines the complex relationship between Pride and modernity while addressing pressing issues such as accessibility, grassroots activism and environmental sustainability in a post-pandemic era. Challenging Eurocentric narratives of progress, modernity and human rights, the author introduces the concept of ‘Kaleidoscope Modernities’ to reveal the diverse meanings Pride embodies worldwide.

Essential for understanding the shifting landscapes of LGBTQIA+ rights and cultures, this book offers a bold, fresh perspective.

Between August 2022 and July 2024, GMB Union membership at Amazon’s BHX4 Coventry warehouse skyrocketed, with 37 days of strike action resulting in a 28.5% pay rise. Yet despite this, the union narrowly lost a ballot that would have forced Amazon to grant formal recognition.

Based on ethnographic research and reflective essays from worker-leaders and organizers, this book offers a rich case study of the factors contributing to the union’s successes and setbacks. It provides a practical organizing model applicable beyond Amazon, offering strategies to engage the workforce, sustain support and develop leadership. An essential toolkit for those navigating the complexities of evolving labour practices, with particular relevance for precarious workers and workplaces where access is limited.