Bristol University Press

A quarter of century has passed since Margaret Thatcher launched one of her most controversial reforms, privately- run prisons, and the role of the private sector in delivering public services continues to be one of the big political issues of our time. This book, by a critical professional insider, re-assesses the benefits and failures of competition, how public and private prisons compare, the impact of competition on the public sector’s performance, and how well Government has managed this peculiar ‘quasi-market’.

Drawing on first person interviews with key players, including Chief Executives and prison managers in both sectors and Chief Inspectors, Julian Le Vay uses his former role as Finance Director of the Prison Service to give a wholly new analysis of comparative costs and of the impact of constant changes in competition policy. He draws out lessons from the parallel stories of the SERCO/G4S billing scandal, privately run immigration detention and the more radical approach now being taken on outsourcing probation, and looks in detail at four prisons, publicly and privately run, that ‘failed’. Concluding with a critique of the future shape of competition, he also draws some general conclusions on the way government works. This is vital reading for anyone interested in the role of competition in public services, implementation of public policy, or the state of our prisons.

Early education and care has become a central policy area in many countries. As services expand rapidly, it is crucial to examine whether children from disadvantaged backgrounds receive provision of the highest possible quality.

In this original, topical book, leading experts from eight countries examine how early education and care is organised, funded and regulated in their countries. Bringing together recent statistical evidence, the book gives an up-to-date picture of access to services by different groups, providing rich insights on how policies play out in practice, and the extent to which they help or hinder disadvantaged children to receive high quality provision.

An equal start? reveals the common tensions and complexities countries face in ensuring that early education and care is affordable, accessible and of high quality. Its critical examination of the potential for better policies ensures that An equal start? will be of interest to academic readers as well as policy makers and practitioners.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Citizenship is always in dispute – in practice as well as in theory – but conventional perspectives do not address why the concept of citizenship is so contentious. This unique book presents a new perspective on citizenship by treating it as a continuing focus of dispute.The authors dispute the way citizenship is normally conceived and analysed within the social sciences, developing a view of citizenship as always emerging from struggle. This view is advanced through an exploration of the entanglements of politics, culture and power that are both embodied and contested in forms and practices of citizenship.

This compelling view of citizenship emerges from the international and interdisciplinary collaboration of the four authors, drawing on the diverse disputes over citizenship in their countries of origin (Brazil, France, the UK and the US). The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the field of citizenship, no matter what their geographical, political or academic location.

This book documents the early lives of almost 19,000 children born in the UK at the start of the 21st century, and their families. It is the first time that analysis of data from the hugely important Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal study following the progress of the children and their families, has been drawn together in a single volume. The unrivalled data is examined here to address important policy and scientific issues. The book is also the first in a series of publications that will report on the children's lives at different stages of their development.

The fascinating range of findings presented here is strengthened by comparison with data on earlier generations. This has enabled the authors to assess the impact of a wide range of policies on the life courses of a new generation, including policies on child health, parenting, childcare and social exclusion.

Babies of the new millennium (title tbc) is the product of an exciting collaboration from experts across a wide range of health and social science fields. The result is a unique and authoritative analysis of family life and early childhood in the UK that cuts across old disciplinary boundaries. It is essential reading for academics, students and researchers in the health and social sciences. It will also be a useful resource for policy makers and practitioners who are interested in childhood, child development, child poverty, child health, childcare and family policy.

The global economic crisis continue to dominate headlines, yet measures to build a social floor under the global economy and reform global governance have received little attention. In 2012 the Social Protection Floor was adopted as a global social policy measure ensuring that all could have access to essential health care and income security over their lifespan.

This book by the world’s leading authority on global social policy examines why and how the Social Protection Floor became ILO, UN and G20 policy and how the World Bank and IMF took steps to lay its foundation.

Bob Deacon explains this development in terms of four influences: firstly, shifts in the global social structure, secondly, processes inside international institutions, thirdly, global actors -sometimes individuals - using their positions to make change, and fourthly, shifting discourses about social protection.

This much-needed contribution to the field of global social policy will be of interest to students of international relations, international organization and development studies and should be read by international civil servants in global agencies.

This is a collectively written, inter-disciplinary, thematic cross-national study which combines conceptual, theoretical, empirical and policy material in an ambitious and innovative way to explore a key concept in contemporary European political, policy and academic debates.

The first part of the book clarifies the various ways that the concept of citizenship has developed historically and is understood today in a range of Western European welfare states. It elaborates on the contemporary framing of debates and struggles around citizenship. This provides a framework for three policy studies, looking at: migration and multiculturalism; the care of young children; and home-based childcare and transnational dynamics.

The book is unusual in weaving together the topics of migration and childcare and in studying these issues together within a gendered citizenship framework. It also demonstrates the value of a multi-level conceptualisation of citizenship, stretching from the domestic sphere through the national and European levels to the global.

The book is aimed at students of social policy, sociology, European studies, women's studies and politics and at researchers/scholars/policy analysts in the areas of citizenship, gender, welfare states and migration. 

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Access to justice for all, regardless of the ability to pay, has been a core democratic value. But this basic human right has come under threat through wider processes of restructuring, with an increasingly market-led approach to the provision of welfare. Professionals and volunteers in Law Centres in Britain are struggling to provide legal advice and access to welfare rights to disadvantaged communities.

Drawing upon original research, this unique study explores how strategies to safeguard these vital services might be developed in ways that strengthen rather than undermine the basic ethics and principles of public service provision. The book explores how such strategies might strengthen the position of those who provide, as well as those who need, public services, and ways to empower communities to work more effectively with professionals and progressive organisations in the pursuit of rights and social justice agendas more widely.

Encouraging neighbourhood social mix has been a major goal of urban policy and planning in a number of different countries. This book draws together a range of case studies by international experts to assess the impacts of social mix policies and the degree to which they might represent gentrification by stealth.

The contributions consider the range of social mix initiatives in different countries across the globe and their relationship to wider social, economic and urban change. The book combines understandings of social mix from the perspectives of researchers, policy makers and planners and the residents of the communities themselves. Mixed Communities also draws out more general lessons from these international comparisons - theoretically, empirically and for urban policy. It will be highly relevant for urban researchers and students, policy makers and practitioners alike.

Teenage parenthood is recognised as a significant disadvantage in western industrialised nations. It has been found to increase the likelihood of poverty and to reinforce inequalities. This book explores, for the first time, the links between welfare state provision and teenage reproductive behaviour across a range of countries with differing welfare regimes.

Drawing on both welfare state and feminist literature, as well as on new empirical evidence, the book compares public policy responses to teenage parenthood in each 'family' of welfare regime: Nordic, Liberal and Continental (Western European); analyses the different socio-political contexts in which teenage pregnancy is constructed as a social problem and identifies best practice in Europe and the USA.

Countries included in the study are the UK, USA, New Zealand, France, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Canadian province of Quebec and Russia. The contributors are all internationally recognised experts in the fields of welfare and/or gender studies.

"When children become parents" is important reading for a wide audience of students, policy makers, practitioners and academics in sociology, social policy, social geography, education, psychology, and youth and gender studies.

Government policy has steadfastly been against drug legalisation, but increasingly critics have argued that this is unsustainable. This book is a timely examination of the issues this raises.

Numerous suggestions have been offered. Some seek complete legalisation, others a more modified form, yet still others want an increasing commitment to harm reduction policies.

Philip Bean examines the implications of these proposals for individuals, especially juveniles, and for society, when set against crime reduction claims. He concludes with the necessary questions a rational drug policy must answer.

The book will be essential reading for students and academics in criminology, sociology and social policy, as well as policy makers, practitioners and the general public.

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

This book provides the first detailed discussion of domestic violence and abuse in same sex relationships, offering a unique comparison between this and domestic violence and abuse experienced by heterosexual women and men. It examines how experiences of domestic violence and abuse may be shaped by gender, sexuality and age, including whether and how victims/survivors seek help, and asks, what’s love got to do with it?

A pioneering methodology, using both quantitative and qualitative research, provides a reliable and valid approach that challenges the heteronormative model in domestic violence research, policy and practice. The authors develops a new framework of analysis – practices of love – to explore empirical data.

Outlining the implications of the research for practice and service development, the book will be of interest to policy makers and practitioners in the field of domestic violence, especially those who provide services for sexual minorities, as well as students and academics interested in issues of domestic and interpersonal violence.

Remaking governance focuses on the dynamics of change as new strategies - active citizenship, public participation, partnership working, consumerism - encounter existing institutions. It explores different sites and practices of governing, from the remaking of Europe to the increasing focus on 'community' and 'personhood' in governing social life.

The authors critically engage with existing theory across political science, social policy, sociology and public administration and management to explore how 'the social' is constituted through governance practices. This includes the ways in which the spaces and territories of governing are remade and the peoples constituted; how the public domain is re-imagined and new forms of state-citizen relationships fostered and how the remaking of governance shapes our understanding of politics, changing the ways in which citizens engage with political power and the selves they bring to that engagement. 

Remaking governance is essential reading for academics and students across a range of social science disciplines, and of interest to those engaged in policy evaluation and reform.

In the five years since the first edition of Injustice there have been devastating increases in poverty, hunger and destitution in the UK. Globally, the richest 1% have never held a greater share of world wealth, while the share of most of the other 99% has fallen in the last five years, with more and more people in debt, especially the young. Economic inequalities will persist and continue to grow for as long as we tolerate the injustices which underpin them.

This fully rewritten and updated edition revisits Dorling’s claim that Beveridge’s five social evils are being replaced by five new tenets of injustice: elitism is efficient; exclusion is necessary; prejudice is natural; greed is good and despair is inevitable. By showing these beliefs are unfounded, Dorling offers hope of a more equal society.

We are living in the most remarkable and dangerous times. With every year that passes it is more evident that Injustice is essential reading for anyone concerned with social justice and wants to do something about it.

The book is distinctive in combining theoretical discussion on the role of networks, resources and social capital with fieldwork evidence and interviews with members of RCOs, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and statutory authorities. It critically examines the impact of dispersal and current legislative change on refugee communities and RCOs; explores the integrative role of RCOs; assesses the race relations framework in Britain and its effects on refugee organisations and provides a thorough and up-to-date literature review.

Refugee community organisations and dispersal is essential reading for practitioners and policy makers, academics, researchers and students of social policy, social geography, sociology and politics. Members of NGOs working with refugees or in local government, community workers and members of refugee communities themselves will also be keenly interested in the book. Comparative issues raised by the research will be of direct interest to readers in other countries.

This highly topical report provides much needed evidence to inform the re-configuration of services for children and young people. Focusing on the Connexions strategy and service in England, it explores the effectiveness of inter-agency working in this area.

The report is based on two years research in three contrasting Connexions Partnerships and around 300 hours of interviews with key stakeholders, young people's Personal Advisors and young people themselves. It examines the inter-agency strategies developed by the partnerships but, most importantly, what impact they have had on the interventions made with young people facing acute and complex needs.

It will be of particular interest to Connexions professionals and managers, others involved in partnership working, those involved in the development and implementation of Children and Young People's Strategic Partnerships and Children's Trusts, as well as youth researchers and policy makers.

This important collection presents a radical reconception of the place of knowledge in contemporary policymaking in Europe, based not on assumptions about evidence, expertise or experience but on the different forms that knowledge takes.

Knowledge is embodied in people, inscribed in documents and instruments, and enacted in specific circumstances. Empirical case studies of health and education policy in different national and international contexts demonstrate the essential interdependence of different forms and phases of knowledge. They illustrate the ways in which knowledge is mobilised and resisted, and draw attention to key problems in the processing and transformation of knowledge in policy work.

This novel theoretical framework offers real benefits for policymakers, academics in public policy, public administration, management studies, sociology, education, public health and social work, and those with a practical interest in education and health and related fields of public policy.

Can and should asset-based policies such as universal capital grants become a new pillar of the welfare state? Can they form the basis for a more egalitarian form of market economy? The citizen's stake throws open the debate by bringing together the ideas of leading thinkers in academia and policy to explore the future scope of asset-based policies in Britain.

The book examines asset-based welfare in connection with a wide range of issues, from tax policy to childcare, and includes the results of two innovative studies of public opinion on capital grants and inheritance tax. It is the first time that public opinion work has been integrated with theory into a serious and cohesive consideration of practical options for the future of asset-based welfare.

The citizen's stake is accessibly written and aimed at a broad audience of academics, students and policy-makers. Indeed, anyone interested in how this new policy field can and should develop will want to read this book. The discussions are relevant to academics, researchers and policy makers overseas, particularly in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland and Sweden, where there is a high level of interest in this topic.

Drawing on a wide array of policy domains and events, this book provides an innovative account of social control and behaviourism within welfare systems and social policies, and the implications for disadvantaged groups.

This accessible collection reviews the controls, assumptions and persuasions applied to individuals and households and explores broader themes, including how ‘new behaviourism’ was consolidated during the New Labour and Cameron periods.

Social policy and social control offers timely engagements with key issues for researchers and policy makers, and is relevant for students in social policy, sociology, socio-legal studies, social work and social care, disability studies, human geography, politics and public policy, and gender, family and life course studies.

Understanding crime and social policy explores the interface between crime and social policy, drawing upon international theoretical developments and empirical research from within Criminology and Social Policy. Written by an experienced author, it uses analysis of policy-making under the New Labour and Conservative-Liberal Democrat governments to reflect upon the multiplicity of influences which shape the formulation and delivery of crime control policies, the changing nature of government and governance in neo-liberal societies, and the enhanced role of the welfare state in 'solving' crime 'problems'. A unique feature of the book is the inclusion of policy examples including the resettlement of prisoners, problem drug use and 'troubled' families.

Understanding crime and social policy encourages readers to reflect upon the close connections, and sometimes tensions, between crime reduction and social policy agendas and is aimed at two audiences. The first is students on courses in criminology, criminal justice and social policy. The second is practitioners from across the public, private and voluntary sector.

Understanding of welfare states has been much enriched by comparative work on welfare regimes and gender. This book uses these debates to illuminate the changing gender regimes in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It has particular significance as countries in the region make the transition from communism and into a European Union that has issues of women's employment, work-life balance, and gender equality at the heart of its social policy.

The analysis draws on quantitative comparative data, and on rich qualitative data from a new study of mothers in Polish households, illuminating the effects of changing welfare and gender relations from the perspective of those most directly affected - mothers of young children.

This book is an important addition to the literature and is recommended to academics and students interested in the study of gender relations, welfare states, and international and comparative European social policy. The insights gained will also be of value to those engaged in welfare policy and practice.

By illustrating the similarities and differences within and across countries, this book reflects on the current role of social insurance, recent policy changes and pressures for reform in 10 European countries: UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden and Denmark.

The book summaries the main arguments and highlights the lessons to be learnt, reflecting on European experiences regarding social insurance and social security as a whole.

Central questions addressed in the book are:

What are the institutional and political forces which have shaped national systems?

Are national governments diminishing the role of social insurance?

Does social insurance have a future or is it an outdated welfare arrangement?

Can the UK learn from experiences elsewhere?

Social insurance in Europe provides a valuable contribution to the current debate about the future of the welfare state. It is essential reading for students and academics in the fields of social policy, European studies, sociology and political science and for all those concerned about the future of social security protection in modern society.

This book brings together a collection of new and innovative work by researchers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK - settings where issues of voluntarism and participation have become increasingly important for the development and delivery of social welfare policy. Prefaced by one of the foremost geographers in this field, it contains empirical and theoretical work from both new and well-established geographers. The chapters explore the interactions between voluntarism and a range of issues including governance, health, community action, faith, ethnicity, counselling, advocacy and professionalisation.

The book will be of interest not only to students and researchers in human geography but also to those working in social policy, sociology, health and political science. The detailed case material will also be of particular interest to practitioners working in the fields of health, governance, social welfare and social exclusion.

Direct payments have been available to older people receiving community care services in the UK since February 2000. However, scepticism remains about older people's desire and ability to use direct payments and take-up so far has been low.

Drawing on interviews with older people, local authority care managers and direct payments support service workers, this topical report looks at how older people use direct payments and how they make them work. It considers the role of direct payments support services and local authority care managers in making direct payments a real option for older people. The report is particularly valuable in reflecting the views and experiences of older people themselves.

'Community' is a much used yet little understood term. Through a set of detailed case studies of communities in action this book examines the sources of community activism, the ways in which communities define themselves, and are defined by outsiders, and the nature of the interface between communities and public agencies via partnerships.

The essays indicate how communities are sites for internal conflict between the young and old, men and women, and for external conflict with local and central government and other public agencies. The important role of women is another strong theme.

Contested communities

provides detailed pictures of community life on run-down estates in some of Britain's most deprived communities;

looks at the way in which local government reorganisation has been influenced by ideas of community;

examines some of the problems of partnership;

looks at new directions in community organising, such as networking.

A vivid picture of people struggling to keep community spirit alive in the face of crime, apathy and public ignorance is built, showing that policies relating to crime prevention and economic regeneration are often made in ignorance of the complexity and variety of communities, often with negative effects. This book seeks to remedy this problem and as such will be highly relevant to both policy makers and practitioners, as well as to students and researchers in the field of public and social policy.

"Growing up with risk" provides a critical analysis of ways in which risk assessment and management - now a pervasive element of contemporary policy and professional practice - are defined and applied in policy, theory and practice in relation to children and young people.

Drawing on conceptual frameworks from across the social sciences, the book examines contrasting perspectives on risk that occur in different policy domains and professional and lay discourses, discussing the dilemmas of response that arise from these sometimes contested viewpoints - from playground safety to risks associated with youthful substance use. The contributors address issues of gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status which impact on definitions and responses to risk, and consider related concepts, such as 'risk-resilience', care-control' and 'dependence-autonomy'.

Written in an accessible manner, each chapter provides a specific policy case study to illustrate the cross-cutting themes and issues that will make it a key text for researchers and students. It also offers policy makers and practitioners a valuable insight into the complexities of balancing responsibility for protecting the young with the benefits of risk taking and the need to allow young people to experiment.

Relentlessly, the wide health gap between different groups of people living in Britain continues to get even wider. This book presents new evidence (which was not available to the government's Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health) on the size of the gap, and the extent to which the gap is widening. In particular, new geographical data are presented and displayed in striking graphical form.

It challenges whether the government is concerned enough about reducing inequalities and highlights the living conditions of the million people living in the least healthy areas in Britain. It presents explanations for the widening health gap, and addresses the implications of this major social problem. In the light of this evidence the authors put forward social policies which will reduce the health gap in the future.

The widening gap synthesises all the information available to date and should be read alongside the report of the evidence presented to the Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health (Inequalities in health, The Policy Press, 1999) and by all those concerned with reducing health inequalities.

Studies in poverty, inequality and social exclusion series

Series Editor: David Gordon, Director, Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research.

Poverty, inequality and social exclusion remain the most fundamental problems that humanity faces in the 21st century. This exciting series, published in association with the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, aims to make cutting-edge poverty related research more widely available.

For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.

Exploring social policy in the 'new' Scotland is the first book to integrate the description and analysis of social policy in Scotland since devolution in 1999. It has been designed to support the delivery of social policy and related courses in Scotland itself but also to appeal to students on social policy, politics, sociology, public policy and regional studies courses across the United Kingdom, on which devolution and its impact are examined.

The contributors are all highly experienced researchers and academics from across the social sciences. The book therefore presents a variety of perspectives and approaches with which to consider the key issues. Up-to-date material on a wide range of social policy topics, including work and welfare, health and social work, criminal justice, education, and urban policy, means that the book will be valuable to academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners, as well as students.

The starting point of Ann Oakley's fascinating book is the fracture of her right arm in the grounds of a hotel in the USA. What begins as an accident becomes a journey into some critical themes of modern Western culture: the crisis of embodiment and the perfect self; the confusion between body and identity; the commodification of bodies and body parts; the intrusive surveillance and profiteering of medicine and the law; the problem of ageing; and the identification of women, particularly, with bodies - from the intensely ambiguous two-in-one state of pregnancy to women's later transformation into unproductive, brittle skeletons.

"Fracture" mixes personal experience (the author's and other people's) with 'facts' derived from other literatures, including the history of medicine, neurology, the sociology of health and illness, philosophy, and legal discourses on the right to life and people as victims of a greedy litigation system. The book's genre spans fiction/non-fiction, autobiography and social theory. 

How to respond to the needs of working parents has become a pressing social policy issue in contemporary Western Europe. This book highlights the politicising of parenthood in the Scandinavian welfare states - focusing on the relationship between parents and the state, and the ongoing renegotiations between the public and the private. 

Drawing on new empirical research, leading Scandinavian academics provide an up-to-date record and critical synthesis of Nordic work-family reforms since the 1990s. A broad range of policies targeting working parents is examined including: the expansion of childcare services as a social right; parental leave; cash benefits for childcare; and working hours regulations.

The book also explores policy discourses, scrutinises outcomes, and highlights the similarities and differences between Nordic countries through analyses of comparative statistical data and national case studies. Set in the context of economic restructuring and the growing influence of neo-liberal ideology, each chapter addresses concerns about the impact of policies on the gender relations of parenthood.

"Politicising parenthood in Scandinavia" is a timely contribution to ongoing policy debates on welfare state models, parenthood and gender equality. It will be of particular interest to students and teachers of welfare studies, family policy and gender studies.

This report uses a revolutionary new research tool, LOIS (the Lifetime Opportunity and Incentives Simulation programme), to assess the impact of current government social policy on our lives from cradle to grave.

The strengths and weaknesses of the British benefit, pension and taxation systems are analysed in terms of how well they meet, or are likely to meet, the needs of individuals throughout their lifetimes. Specific government promises, such as those to end child and pensioner poverty and to reward those who work, are also reassessed in this context.

The opportunities of a lifetime is compulsory reading for social policy academics, researchers, analysts, students and policy makers who will find the innovative lifetime analysis invaluable. With brief and clear descriptions of the technical aspects of taxation, pensions and benefits, the report is also accessible to a wider readership.

This book provides an in-depth study of how community development can contribute to tackling social exclusion. Drawing on the outcomes of a project funded by the Social Inclusion Programme of the European Union and managed by a European network of community development organisations - the Combined European Bureau for Social Development - Including the excluded analyses the experiences of local communities;  identifies and explains the key principles that need to underpin programmes and projects that use a community-based approach to tackling social exclusion and  provides a summary of key action points that need to be considered by organisations and agencies.

Examples from policy and practice in the UK, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Norway are discussed, with additional information from Denmark, Ireland and Hungary. The principles and methods discussed give a valuable insight into how the voices of local people and practitioners can be heard in policy and decision making forums.

This book charts the change, critically evaluating progress, take-up, inclusion and access to direct payments by different user groups. With contributions from leading campaigners, academics, practitioners, direct payment users and personal assistants, the book provides an overview of the history of direct payments; presents findings from key research into direct payments and disabled people, older people, carers, people with mental health problems, people with learning difficulties and disabled children; discusses the implementation and development of direct payments provision and compares developments in the UK with those in North America.

Developments in direct payments is an important source of information for social work students and practitioners and others working in the field of health and social care. The useful, up-to-date evidence and discussions relating to care, independence and control will also be of interest to users and providers of help and support.

It is widely accepted that income poverty should be defined in relative terms - but relative to where? Almost all household poverty statistics count the number of poor in relation to the national average of the country they are living in. Would the picture be different if we compared families' incomes with the local regional average? Or why not compare incomes across the whole of Europe? Using new EU-wide data, this report shows very different patterns of poverty across Europe, depending on the benchmark used.

From a European perspective, the poor are heavily concentrated in Portugal, south-western Spain, southern Italy and Greece. The research also tests two methods of calibrating poverty lines to show which level of area offers the most sensitive indicator of social exclusion. The results fail to corroborate the conventional view that nationally based poverty lines are the most appropriate basis for international comparisons.

This report provides a new international perspective to policy makers both within each country and at EU level. It offers new comparative insights to economists interested in the distribution of income, and to sociologists studying relative deprivation.

Studies in poverty, inequality and social exclusion series

Series Editor: David Gordon, Director, Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research.

Poverty, inequality and social exclusion remain the most fundamental problems that humanity faces in the 21st century. This exciting series, published in association with the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, aims to make cutting-edge poverty related research more widely available.

For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.

Once regarded as taboo, it is now claimed that we are a death-obsessed society. The face of death in the 21st century, brought about by cultural and demographic change and advances in medical technology, presents health and social care practitioners with new challenges and dilemmas.

By focusing on predominant patterns of dying; global images of death; shifting boundaries between the public and the private; and cultural pluralism, the author looks at the way death is handled in contemporary society and the sensitive ethical and practical dilemmas facing nurses, social workers, doctors and chaplains. This book brings together perspectives from social science, health-care and pastoral theology to assist the reader in understanding and negotiating this 'new death'.

End-of-life care and old age, changing funeral and burial practices, new stigmas such as drug-related bereavements, are highlighted, and theories of dying and bereavement re-examined in their context. The concluding chapters incorporate recent case studies into an exploration of the meanings and shape of holistic and integrated care.

Students interested in death studies from a sociological and cultural viewpoint as well as health and social care practitioners, will benefit from its critical appraisal and application of the established knowledge base to contemporary practices and ethical debates.

This book asks how far and in what way social inclusion policies are meeting the needs and rights of children and young people. Leading authors write from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines including social policy, education, geography and sociology. The book critically examines the concepts of participation and social inclusion and their links with children and childhoods and considers the geography of social inclusion and exclusion. It explores young people's own conceptualisations of social inclusion and exclusion; and examines how these concepts have been expressed in policy at various levels.

The book concludes with an agenda for progressing participation and social inclusion, both for and with children and young people.

"Children, young people and social inclusion" will be of interest to academics, students and policy makers, as well as to a wide range of practitioners including teachers, youth workers, participation workers and those working in interagency settings.

We are all 'glass consumers'. Organisations know so much about us, they can almost see through us. Governments and businesses collect and process our personal information on a massive scale. Everything we do, and everywhere we go, leaves a trail. But is this in our interests?

The glass consumer appraises this relentless scrutiny of consumers' lives. It reviews what is known about how personal information is used and examines the benefits and risks to consumers. The book takes the debate beyond privacy issues, arguing that we are living in a world in which - more than ever before - our personal information defines our opportunities in life.

This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of information use, data protection and privacy. It will also appeal more widely to those with an interest in technology and society, social policy, consumption, marketing and business studies.

In much of the West the concerns of rural people are marginalised and rural issues neglected. This stimulating book draws upon a rich variety of material to show why rural social work is such a challenging field of practice. It incorporates research from different disciplines and places to provide an accessible and comprehensive introduction to rural practice. 

The first part of the book focuses upon the experience of rurality. The second part of the book turns to the development of rural practice, reviewing different ways of working from casework through to community development.

This book is relevant to planners, managers and practitioners not only in social work but also in other welfare services such as health and youth work, who are likely to face similar challenges.

This book is the first comprehensive volume exploring an issue of growing importance to policy makers, academics, housing practitioners and students. It brings together contributions from the most prominent scholars in the field to provide a range of theoretical perspectives, critical analysis and empirical research findings about the role of housing and urban governance in addressing anti-social behaviour.

Contributors assess constructions of anti-social behaviour in policy discourse, identify how housing is increasingly central to the governance of anti-social behaviour and critically evaluate a wide range of measures used by housing and other agencies to tackle what is perceived to be a growing social problem. Although the book focuses on the UK, comparative international perspectives are provided from France, Australia and the United States.

The book covers definitions of anti-social behaviour and policy responses including key new legislation and the legal role of social landlords in governing anti-social behaviour. There is comprehensive coverage of key measures including eviction, probationary tenancies, Anti-social Behaviour Orders, mediation and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts, and of innovative developments such as gated communities, intensive support services and the use of private security.

"Housing, urban governance and anti-social behaviour" will be of interest to academics, policy-makers, practitioners and students in the fields of housing, urban studies, social policy, legal studies and criminology.

Although there is growing interest among health and social care professionals in the social and therapeutic value of horticulture, there is little evidence that demonstrates the range of outcomes for vulnerable groups, including those with learning difficulties and mental health problems. This report addresses this gap in knowledge and presents the findings of the Growing Together project, the first detailed study of horticulture and gardening projects across the UK.

The report is aimed at policy makers, professionals, researchers and students in the fields of health and social care and occupational and horticultural therapy who are hungry for hard evidence in this new field, as well as anyone interested in addressing the needs of vulnerable and socially excluded adults.

The Growing Together project is a partnership between Loughborough University and Thrive and has been funded by the Big Lottery Fund. This report complements a practice guide, Growing together: A practice guide to promoting social inclusion through gardening and horticulture, which is also available from The Policy Press.

This report presents the findings from the first national, representative survey of public attitudes to youth crime and youth justice in England and Wales.

Significantly, it highlights that most people are demonstrably ill-informed about youth crime and youth justice issues. It also carries clear policy implications in relation to both public education and reform of the youth justice system.

Youth crime and youth justice is essential reading for academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, social policy, social work and probation.

Researching Criminal Justice series

Crime and justice are issues of central political and public concern in contemporary Britain. This exciting new series presents top quality research findings in the field. It will contribute significantly to policy and practice debates and aims to improve the knowledge base considerably. The series will be essential reading for politicians and policy makers, academics, researchers and practitioners.

For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.

Community safety emerged as a new approach to tackling and preventing local crime and disorder in the late 1980s and was adopted into mainstream policy by New Labour in the late '90s. Twenty years on, it is important to ask how the community safety agenda has evolved and developed within local crime and disorder prevention strategies. This book provides the first sustained critical and theoretically informed analysis by leading authorities in the field. It explores the strengths and weaknesses of the community safety legacy, posing challenging questions, such as how and why has community safety policy making become such a contested terrain? What are the different issues at stake for 'provider' versus 'consumer' interests in community safety policy? Who are the winners and losers and where are the gaps in community safety policy making? Do new priorities mean that we have seen the rise and now the fall of community safety?

The book provides answers to these questions by exploring a wide range of topics relating to community safety policy and practice, including: anti-social behaviour strategies; victims' perspectives on community safety; race, racism and policing; safety and social exclusion; domestic violence; substance misuse; community policing; and organised crime. 

"Community safety" is primarily aimed at academics and students working in the areas of criminology and local policy making. However, it will also be of interest to community safety and crime prevention practitioners who need to have a critical understanding of the development and likely future direction of community safety programmes. 

More young children than ever before are spending their time in some form of early childhood service. But how do we know what they think about it? While there has been a move to take children's views into account more generally, very little attention has been given to listening to young children below the age of six or seven.

This book is the first of its kind to focus on listening to young children, both from an international perspective and through combining theory, practice and reflection. With contributions and examples from researchers and practitioners in six countries it examines critically how listening to young children in early childhood services is understood and practised.

Each chapter is rooted in the everyday lives of young children and presents a range of actual experiences for students and practitioners to draw from. Beyond listening goes further to address key questions emerging from early childhood services and research. These are What do we mean by listening? Why listen? How do we listen to young children? What view of the child do different approaches to listening presume? What risks does listening entail for young children?

The authors are leading experts in this area of rapidly growing interest and have themselves developed innovative methods such as the Mosaic approach, which is discussed in the book.

Where people live matters to their health. Health improvement strategies often target where people live, but do they work? Placing health tackles this question through an examination of England's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and its health targets. It evaluates the evidence base for the strategy, compares experiences from the United States and elsewhere in Europe, and illustrates the relevance of complexity theory to area-based health improvement work.

The book brings together these topical issues with a social science analysis of current programmes based on the methods and concepts of complexity thinking. It concludes by setting out how local action based on these ideas offers a new approach to area-based health improvement work.

Placing health is aimed at researchers, academics and students in the social and health sciences with an interest in area-based health improvement work, as well as practitioners in health services, local government and voluntary agencies working on neighbourhood renewal and health projects.

What is to be done about prostitution? Is it work or is it violence? Are women involved in prostitution offenders or victims? Is prostitution a private or a political issue? The answers to these questions vary depending on many factors, including where in the world you live.

This book provides a valuable, detailed international comparison of the laws, policies and interventions in eight countries across Europe (England and Wales, France, Sweden and Moldova) and Asia (India, Pakistan, Thailand and Taiwan). The countries were chosen because of their contrasting social policy and legislative frameworks.

Specific topics covered include national social and historical contexts in relation to prostitution; legal frameworks - with discussion of existing laws and policies and debates around legislation and decriminalisation; key issues faced - particularly relating to reasons for entering prostitution and analysis of policies and interventions.

The case studies are brought to life by giving voice to the experiences of women involved in prostitution themselves together with the personal reflections of the authors.

Aimed at a wide audience of students, academics, policy makers and practitioners, this book makes an important contribution to academic and policy debates in the fields of criminology, law, social policy, women's studies, sociology, politics and international relations.

Acknowledging the increasing diversity and complexity of families, this innovative book proposes a new conceptual framework for understanding families and other relationships that both challenges and attempts to reconcile traditional and contemporary approaches.

Using the notion of 'boundaries', the book shifts thinking from 'families as entities' to 'families as relationship processes'. Emphasising the processes that underlie boundary construction and reconstruction suggests that the key to understanding family life is the process of relationship formation. The ideas of entity, boundary, margins and hybridity provide a framework for understanding the diverse, and often contradictory, ways in which families contribute to society.

Families in society makes a significant contribution to the academic literature on families and is essential reading for social science students, social researchers, policy makers and practitioners interested in families and relationships.

Social capital and lifelong learning are central to current policy concerns both in the UK and internationally. This book confirms the significance of social capital as an analytical tool, while challenging the basis on which current policy is being developed. It:

· offers a wealth of evidence on a topic that has become central to contemporary government;

· provides a detailed empirical investigation of the relationship between social capital, knowledge creation and lifelong learning;

· relates the findings to wider policy debates;

· questions the dominant theoretical models of social capital; and

· confronts the assumption of many policy makers that the obvious solution to social problems is to 'invest in social capital'.

Care: Personal Lives and Social Policy considers how normative assumptions about the meanings, practices and relationships of care are embedded in our everyday lives. It explores the ways in which these shape our sense of self and the nature of our relations with others. At the same time the book examines how social policy and welfare practices construct these relations and give or deny them meaning and validity. 

The authors draw upon a range of theoretical approaches and research evidence to bring into focus some of the different spaces and places where questions about care, in all its different dimensions, have been lived out, debated and struggled over. Each highlights the significance that class, 'race', gender, sexuality and age play in the analysis of care relations.

How governments should direct money to families with children is a constant topic of political debate. But the complexity of the ever-changing tax and benefits system makes its overall impact on families anything but transparent, and trends in government support for children hard to distinguish.

This report provides a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of trends in child-contingent support from the mid 1970s to the introduction of the new tax credits, and relates this to changes in tax and benefit policy, the characteristics of households with children, and the costs of raising children. 

This report documents the results of road-testing two frameworks for assessing community participation: Active partners: Benchmarking community involvement in regeneration (Yorkshire Forward, 2000) and Auditing community participation: An assessment handbook (The Policy Press, 2000).

The report examines whether the tools were useful, what worked most effectively and how the tools might be amalgamated on the basis of what was learned from the road-testing. The practical difficulties involved in using the tools were also explored. The lessons learned have enabled the production of a new companion handbook for development and assessment, Making community participation meaningful, which combines and develops the original frameworks.

On the margins of inclusion explores the notion of 'social exclusion' from the perspective of those deemed to be 'socially excluded' and provides a compelling and vivid portrait of lives at the insecure, low-paid end of the labour market.

The ethnography is used to illuminate key issues in sociology and social policy and to tackle debates and controversies that are central to current discussions on the appropriate role and function of state welfare. A thorough discussion of current policies to address social exclusion and area regeneration is woven into the fieldwork analysis.

On the margins of inclusion is essential reading for researchers, academics and higher-level students in sociology and social policy, and will also be of interest to policy makers in the field.

Eastern welfare systems have largely been neglected by Western social policy. There is very little information in the West about their operation and the differences between them. Yet, as China and South-East Asia emerge as a major regional economic block, it is vital to understand the social models that are in operation there and how they are developing.

This book puts the spotlight on the Chinese and South-East Asian welfare systems, providing an up-to-date assessment of their character and development. In particular it examines the underlying assumptions of these systems and how the processes of globalisation are impacting on them. As well as specific country case studies, there is a valuable comparative analysis of Eastern and Western welfare states.

The book provides a unique insight into the main South-East Asian welfare systems written by experts living and working within them. It focuses on 'Confucianism' and globalisation to provide an account of tradition and change within the South-East Asian cultural context.

Eastern welfare states in transition will be essential reading for students of social policy requiring an understanding of non-Western welfare systems. Policy makers and practitioners who are interested in how Eastern welfare systems are adapting to globalisation will also find it an important read.

Governments worldwide assume that national competitiveness can be improved by developing workforce skills. This book critically examines this 'high skills' vision at both policy and practice levels. It challenges an oversimplified policy rhetoric that underestimates the complexity of the processes involved in developing a skilled workforce.

The book focuses on key issues relating to the high skills agenda: skills and political economy; different investment strategies for producing skills; qualification systems and learning. A multidisciplinary team of authors from a range of disciplines, including economics, management and education, provides the cross-cutting international and comparative analysis. Editorial comment links their explorations to wider questions of skill formation processes and overarching questions are addressed through in-depth analysis of the roles of higher education, apprenticeship and formal school learning in skill formation.

This book contends that attempts to reform the NHS can only be understood by reference to both the wider social and political context, and to the organisational and ideational legacies present within the NHS itself. It aims to take students beyond a basic understanding of the historical development of health policy in the UK, to one that demonstrates an appreciation of the interactions between health policy, organisation and society.

Continuity and change in the NHS:

· acts as a crucial bridge between conventional textbooks on the NHS and contemporary health policy research;

· provides a theoretically rigorous but accessible account of the development of policy and organisational change not found elsewhere;

· presents new scholarship in the political economy of welfare in a clear format.

The book is aimed at third year and post-graduate students of politics, public management and health studies. It provides a theoretically inspired account of the development of health policy and organisation in the UK which will also be of interest to academics and researchers in the field.

Evaluation has become a central tool in the development of contemporary social policy. Its widespread popularity is based on the need to provide evidence of the effectiveness of policies and programmes. This book sees evaluation as an inherently political activity, as much about forms of governance as scientific practice. Using a wide range of examples from neighbourhood renewal, health and social care and other aspects of social policy, it relates practical issues in evaluation design to their political contexts.

With contributions from leading academics and evaluation practitioners, the book considers key issues in the politics of evaluation including: governance and evaluation; participatory evaluation; partnerships and evaluation; and learning from evaluation.

The politics of evaluation is important reading for academics, social researchers, policy makers, service providers and professionals across the public services as well as professional evaluators. It will be a valuable resource for students on a range of social science and professional courses and those concerned with recent developments in social research methodology.

The publication of the Inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence emphasised the institutionally racist nature of British society. Public bodies and welfare institutions are having to face the consequences of racism within their organisations. This task should draw on the earlier experience of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work's (CCETSW) anti-racist agenda, whose initiative came under attack from government ministers, media commentators and sections of the social work profession.

This book describes and analyses the development of anti-racist social work education and training and moves on to a broader debate:

it critically assesses the concept of 'race', the historical development and maintenance of racism in contemporary British society, exploring 'race-related' legislation and its theoretical underpinnings;

it offers an historical exploration of the role of social work and its relationship with, and response to, the needs of deprived and marginalised communities;

it provides an assessment of the backlash against CCETSW's anti-racist developments from politicians, the media and sections of the social work profession, incorporating a debate regarding charges of political correctness.

Issues such as 'political correctness' and 'identity politics' are critically explored, and the implications of these political processes on the anti-racist policy agenda are assessed. The analysis reflects on both the possibilities and limitations placed on establishing anti-racist policies.

Tackling institutional racism will be of particular interest to Diploma in Social Work students, social work practitioners and academics, social policy undergraduates and postgraduates. It should also be read by professionals at different levels in the policy-making process, particularly those working directly with, acting on behalf of, or pursuing, the interests of the black community. 

Based on the findings of a two and half year research programme undertaken by the Norah Fry Research Centre, this timely report examines the strategic changes that are occurring within learning disability services as a result of the 2001 Valuing People White Paper. It offers evidence-based examples of good practice for all those involved in planning strategic changes to, or implementing change within, services for people with learning disabilities.

The report is essential reading for managers and commissioners of learning disability services and all those involved in Learning Disability Partnership Boards. It will also be valuable to anyone with an interest in services for people with learning disabilities.

Self-organised user groups of social and health care services are playing an increasingly significant part within systems of local governance.

Based on detailed empirical work looking at the user and 'official' perspective, this report includes studies of user groups and officials in two policy areas - mental health and disability. The authors examine both the strategies user groups adopt to seek their objectives, and explore conceptual issues relating to notions of consumerism and citizenship. Unequal partners thus contributes to our understanding of the role of user self-organisation in empowering people as consumers, and in enabling excluded people to become 'active' citizens.

The authors discuss the way in which self-organisation may be supported without being controlled by officials in statutory agencies, highlighting the need to understand and distinguish between user self-organisation and user involvement.

The report concludes that if policy makers are genuinely committed to greater user involvement in design, planning and delivery of services, then user self-organisation needs to be both encouraged and supported materially, without being 'captured' or incorporated into management. The research points to the significance of 'user groups' in challenging the exclusion of disabled citizens from all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life.

Unequal partners is essential reading for health and social care policy makers and practitioners, lobby and pressure groups, students and academics in health and social policy and local government studies, and users.

Nordic countries are generally regarded as global welfare role models in terms of their image of being gender equal, child-friendly and culturally tolerant. Consequently, the influence of Nordic welfare systems in transnational academic and policy debates has been immense. By focusing on the vital welfare issue of violence by men to female partners and/or their children, this book seeks to reconsider this over-simplistic image.

Drawing on new research from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the book critically examines how men's violence in families is perceived and responded to in the Nordic context. It pays particular attention to the links between violence to women and violence to children, children's perspectives, professional discourses and responses, and legal and policy approaches.

With clear links between research, policy and practice, the book is highly relevant to a wide audience, including academics, researchers and students in the fields of social work, health, criminology, sociology, social policy, gender studies, European studies and law. It is also recommended reading for welfare managers, practitioners, and policy makers.

For too long, disabled people in Britain have been denied access to employment. Now paid work is being presented as the only route out of poverty and dependence on the state. What is the reality?

Working for a living? asks:

Does paid work bring disabled people the benefits they are led to expect, or does it have hidden disadvantages?

Can disabled people who are not able to work expect to enjoy a good standard of living?

The author compares the welfare states of Sweden, Germany and Britain on the basis of social policy provision for disabled people of working age, particularly in the area of income maintenance and employment policy, and uses survey data to analyse the living standards of disabled people both in and out of work.

Working for a living? shows that both employment and welfare policies have a vital role to play in securing a good standard of living. The report brings together policy and outcomes in all three countries, and examines the implications for policy in Britain.

This book explores issues of ethnicity, identity and racialised exclusion in rural Britain, in depth and for the first time. It questions what the countryside 'is', problematises who is seen as belonging to rural spaces, and argues for the recognition of a rural multiculture.

The book brings together the latest and most extensive research findings to provide an authoritative account of current theory, policy and practice. Using interdisciplinary frameworks and new empirical data, the book provides a critical and comprehensive account of the shifting, contested connections between rurality, national identity and ethnicity; discusses the relationships between ethnicity, exclusion, policy, practice and research in a range of rural settings - from the experiences of gypsy traveller children in schools to attempts to encourage black and minority ethnic visitors to National Parks and contributes towards establishing the 'rural-ethnicity-nation' relationship as a key consideration on political and policy agendas.

"The new countryside?" is essential reading for students, academics and researchers in a wide range of disciplines including: sociology; geography; social policy; and cultural, rural and environment studies. It will also be an invaluable resource for practitioners and policy makers across a wide range of sectors and services.

Spanning the complete era of the Conservative governments and the first term of New Labour, this book looks at mechanisms of corporate power and influence; corporate opinion and influence in a range of social policy areas including: education, training, health and social security; changing business influence on social policy in recent years in an international context and business involvement in social policy initiatives and welfare delivery.

By exploring business views and opinions, power, influence and involvement in social provision, this book helps to address important questions in social policy and, in so doing, goes some way towards closing a gaping hole in the current literature. 

The book's breadth and multidisciplinary approach will appeal not only to students of social policy, but also to students of business, public sector management and politics, their teachers and policy makers in the field.

Working within the spirit of David Blunkett's visionary foreword to The learning age: A new renaissance for Britain, David H. Hargreaves' radical analysis challenges the myth that lifelong learning can or should be separated - in any sense - from school education. It asks the critical question: what changes in thinking, policy and practice are needed for the culture and process of lifelong learning, as visualised by David Blunkett, to become a reality?

Starting with a clear, unequivocal statement that "whether people are motivated to learn beyond the end of compulsory education, and have the capacity to do so, depends very much on what happens to them during the school years", the author explores ways in which policy and practice at school level will need to change in order to meet the crucial challenge of sparking and sustaining a person's motivation and capacity to learn throughout life.

This report presents the first ever scientific measurement of the extent and depth of child poverty in developing regions. This measurement is based upon internationally agreed definitions arising from the international framework of child rights.

Indicators of severe deprivation of basic human need for shelter, sanitation, safe water, information, health, education and food were constructed using survey data on nearly 1.2 million children in 46 countries collected mainly during the late 1990's. This is the largest, most accurate survey sample of children ever assembled.

Is lifelong learning the big idea which will deliver economic prosperity and social justice? Or will it prove to be another transient phenomenon? Picture lifelong learning, the editor suggests, as making its way through three overlapping stages - romance, evidence and implementation. Lifelong learning is tentatively entering the second stage, where research evidence is beginning to challenge the vacuous rhetoric of the stage of romance. 

The findings from the Economic and Social Research Council's programme of research into the Learning Society are presented in two volumes, of which this is the second. The editor, Frank Coffield, begins by surveying as a whole the findings of the 14 projects, and summarises them in a number of recurrent themes and policy recommendations. The chapters which follow present the aims, methods, findings and policy implications of six projects. Volume 1 contains similar chapters on the other projects. Taken together, the conclusions suggest very different ways of thinking about a Learning Society and very different policies from those in operation at present. The two volumes demonstrate from empirical evidence the continuing weaknesses of current policies and make proposals, based on hard evidence, for more effective structural changes.

This second volume presents findings from a national survey of the skills of British workers, and it discusses both the meaning of the Learning Society for adults with learning difficulties, and the use of social capital to explain patterns of lifelong learning. Other chapters present for the first time five different 'trajectories' of lifelong learning, explore the determinants of participation and non-participation in learning, and examine innovation in Higher Education. 

Finally, two differing visions of a Learning Society are contrasted. The first extrapolates existing policies and practices into the next 5-10 years and finds them seriously wanting. The second option calls for more democracy rather than technocracy and develops a kaleidoscopic array of possible futures which find their source in the empirical work of the 14 projects. These volumes are essential reading for politicians, policy makers, practitioners, employers, and all teachers with responsibility for lifelong learning.

Many health, education and social service initiatives aim to implement better multi-agency working between agencies and professionals. But what difference does this sort of organisational change make to those families and children on the receiving end? Making a difference? explores the process and impact of multi-agency working on disabled children with complex health care needs and the families and professionals who support them.

Examining in detail the work of six multi-agency services, the report describes the process of multi-agency working, key success factors, and outcomes for professionals, as well as the impact on families in terms of their daily life, well-being, and contact with services and professionals. A concluding chapter summarises key issues and makes recommendations for policy and practice.

Lifelong learning has been an evidence-free zone for too long. It has been under-researched and under-theorised. This volume, the first of two, is the culmination of years of empirical work undertaken for the ESRC's Learning Society Programme, a major investment in lifelong learning research. It explores the ways lifelong learning can contribute to the development of knowledge and skills for employment, and other areas of adult life.

In this first volume, the contributors address the challenges to social science researchers to study issues that are central and directly relevant to the political and policy debate, and to take into account the reality of people's lives. Each chapter gives an overview of one project, describing its objectives, methods, main findings and policy implications. Some of the main themes explored include the education market post-16, key skills in Higher Education, adult guidance services, and how knowledge can be developed at work. In the introduction, these topics are placed by the editor within the broad context of research and policy on different types of learning societies and lifelong learning.

The evidence provided shows what policies are or are not working and provides the basis for structural reform. Some of the conclusions arrived at by the projects challenge fundamental assumptions of current policy. The contributions demonstrate the value of independent, critical research in an area which is awash with unsubstantiated generalities, armchair musings and banalities without bite. Differing visions of a Learning Society contributes to the public debate on lifelong learning, and is essential reading for politicians, policy makers, practitioners, academics and researchers concerned in any way with lifelong learning.

Parents play an important role in shaping the adult lives of their children. The way they use their time and money while children are growing up can have long-lasting consequences. In particular, the paid work done by fathers and mothers affects both the amount of income coming into the family and the time they have available to spend with their children.

This report examines the links between parents' employment patterns while their children were growing up and what happens in those children's lives when they become young adults. This study focuses on a number of outcomes, notably: educational attainment; employment and economic inactivity; mental health; and for women, childbearing at an early age. Some of its findings carry important implications for public policy and for further research. A number are likely to prove controversial, arousing public debate concerning their meaning and contemporary relevance.

In recent years, tackling health inequalities has become a key policy objective in the UK. However, doubts remain about how best to translate broad policy recommendations into practice. One key area of uncertainty concerns the role of local level initiatives.

This book identifies the key targets for intervention through a detailed exploration of the pathways and processes that give rise to health inequalities across the lifecourse. It sets this against an examination of both local practice and the national policy context, to establish what works in health inequalities policy, how and why. Authoritative yet accessible, the book provides a comprehensive account of theory, policy and practice. It spans the lifecourse from the early years to old age and explores the links between biological, psychological, social, educational and economic factors and a range of health outcomes. In addition it describes key policy initiatives, assesses research evidence of 'what works' and examines the limitations of the existing evidence base and highlights key areas of debate.

What works in tackling health inequalities? is essential reading for academics and students in medical sociology, social psychology, social policy and public health, and for policy makers and practitioners working in public health and social exclusion.