Bristol University Press

In a time of increasing social and economic inequality, this book illustrates the precarity experienced by millennials facing both rising rents and wage stagnation. Featuring the voices of those with lived experience of precarity in north-east London, MacNeil Taylor focuses on intimacy, reproduction and emotional labour.

The book widens readers’ understanding of a middle-class ‘generation rent’ beyond those locked out of anticipated home ownership by considering both social and private renters. Situated in a feminist and queer theoretical framework, the book reveals the crucial role of British policy-making on housing, welfare, and immigration in exacerbating inter- and intra-generational inequality.

Escape is an enticing idea in contemporary cities across the world. Austerity, climate breakdown and spatial stigma have led to retreatist behaviours such as gated communities, enclave urbanism and white flight. By contrast, urban community growing projects are often considered by practitioners and commentators as communal havens in a stressful cityscape.

Drawing on ethnographic research in urban growing projects in Glasgow, this book explores the spatial politics and dynamics of community, asking who benefits from such projects and how they relate to the wider city. A timely consideration of localism and community empowerment, the book sheds light on key issues of urban land use, the right to the city and the value of social connection.

Education in India concentrates on exam performance and consequently the teacher in India often acts as a disseminator of textbook material, as well as maintaining class discipline and respect. This book explores low-income female teachers' speech and syntax as a crucial resource in which agency, freedom and empowerment is enacted within a strong oral tradition in India.

The book demonstrates how this socially and economically marginalised group overcome prejudices to develop relational agency and embed their authority. It shows how they establish their values and why their beliefs shape attitudes to aspiration, achievement and freedom of choice. It concludes with recommendations for policy and improvements to reflective practice in teaching.

This book centres on women living with HIV in South Africa who have navigated affective relationships, activist networks, government institutions and global coalitions to transform health policies that govern access to HIV medicines. Drawing on 20 years of ethnographic and policy research in South Africa, Brazil and India, it highlights the value of understanding the embodied and political dimensions of health policy and reveals the networked threads that weave women’s precarity into the governance of technologies and the technologies of governance. It illuminates the entwined histories of health policy evolution, systemic inequality and everyday life and calls for a recognition of the embodied ramifications of democratic politics and global health governance.

By integrating medical anthropology with science studies and political theory, this book traces the history of the struggle to access HIV medicines in the Global South and brings it into the present by articulating the lessons learned by activists and policy makers engaged in shaping these vital health policies.

This book exposes how inequalities based on class and social background arise from employment practices in the digital age. It considers instances where social media is used in recruitment to infiltrate private lives and hide job advertisements based on locality; where algorithms assess socio-economic data to filter candidates; where human interviewers are replaced by artificial intelligence with design that disadvantages users of classed language; and where already vulnerable groups become victims of digitalisation and remote work.

The author examines whether these practices create risks of discrimination based on certain protected attributes, including ‘social origin’ in international labour law and laws in Australia and South Africa, ‘social condition’ and ‘family status’ in laws within Canada, and others. The book proposes essential law reform and improvements to workplace policy.

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.

What does it mean to be a feminist? What can feminism say about ourselves, the work we do, and our ways of living together?

This book draws on the work of Fraser, Butler, and Braidotti to examine how societal and organizational processes shape and are shaped by our perception of work, value, and identity. Disrupting the long-established mind–body dualism, the book reveals its impact on our understanding of value, raising critical questions about how different forms of feminism influence work practices and recognition.

With a foreword by Luigi Maria Sicca and an afterword by Melissa Tyler, this is a unique and insightful analysis that sparks critical reflection, offering a foundation for corporeal ethics to drive meaningful change in organizations and society.

Recent years have seen a rise in far-right activity and protest in Ireland, with an increase in the number of attacks and harassment episodes against minorities, as well as politicians, journalists and activists.

Addressing a lack of research on the subject, this book is the first to analyse the rapidly escalating situation. Contributions from diverse sources, including journalists and former Irish police officers, explore the fundraising and online activities of far-right groups in their opposition to the politics of gender, sexual diversity and multiculturalism. In exposing the rising threat from violent far-right actors, the book promotes a debate on how civil society can prevent and counteract the spread of such ideas.

Since the 2010s, populism and illiberal politics have been on the rise. Demagogue leaders preach simplified rhetoric to vilify the powerless, polarising city and rural areas and sparking such shocking events as the US insurrection on 6th January 2021.

This interdisciplinary book argues for a politics of representativity and accountability to help transform people’s experiences, showing that where they live matters and, therefore, so do they.

This book demonstrates how place-based politics can draw on, and benefit from, collective local knowledge, rather than deferring to a nameless central government. Analysing democratic theory and using rich case studies, from protest movements to citizens’ assemblies it shows how it can return a sense of control to the people.

Building on the pioneering radical approach of Research Justice: Methodologies for Social Change—a seminal text born out of the innovative work of the DataCenter: Research for Justice—this updated edition explores the nexus of research, power, and legitimacy, advocating for equitable knowledge construction.

Challenging traditional models, internationally recognized author Andrew J. Jolivétte offers a much-needed analysis of the intersections between Research Methods, Public Policy, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, and Sociology. Complete with a new introductory chapter, the book champions diverse forms of knowledge, envisioning a future where cultural, spiritual, and experiential insights have equal impact on policy making.

Interdisciplinary and thought-provoking, this is a vital resource for scholars and students alike.

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.

How can feminist scholarship advance the field of foreign policy analysis to better understand contemporary foreign policy actions and challenges?

This groundbreaking book provides the state-of-the-art in the study of gender, feminisms and foreign policy. Bringing together contributors from around the world, chapters offer new analyses of foreign policy topics, including diplomacy, trade, defence, environment, peacebuilding, disinformation and development assistance. The book advances new theories, concepts and empirical knowledge for the emerging field of feminist foreign policy analysis.

The book stands as a vital resource for scholars, students and practitioners seeking to understand and respond to the multifaceted gendered dynamics of global politics.

How can feminist scholarship advance the field of foreign policy analysis to better understand contemporary foreign policy actions and challenges?

This groundbreaking book provides the state-of-the-art in the study of gender, feminisms and foreign policy. Bringing together contributors from around the world, chapters offer new analyses of foreign policy topics, including diplomacy, trade, defence, environment, peacebuilding, disinformation and development assistance. The book advances new theories, concepts and empirical knowledge for the emerging field of feminist foreign policy analysis.

The book stands as a vital resource for scholars, students and practitioners seeking to understand and respond to the multifaceted gendered dynamics of global politics.

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

‘Panic buying’ at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic generated enduring media images of empty supermarket shelves and calls for food rationing. The fragility of the 'just-in-time' food system was seemingly exposed yet, as the pandemic progressed in the UK, there were remarkably few food shortages. This book reveals the changing patterns of food provision in the UK during that period, looking at how diets changed and how retail, processing, distribution and production businesses adapted. But beneath the apparent logistical success story, there were injustices as the more vulnerable struggled to access good quality food and some businesses received inadequate help.

The authors consider the winners and losers in a time of rapid social change, the lasting impacts on the UK food system and lessons to be learned for a food system dependent on imports and large retailers and with a high burden of diet-related health issues.

Three decades of neoliberal efficiency thinking about caring and care systems have resulted in a greater need for relationality in healthcare and social work than ever before. These support services extend beyond the giving of care and support to include the development of relationships between caregivers and their care recipients in their socio-institutional contexts.

The culmination of over 30 years of research, this book provides an extensive and critical introduction to relational working in care, education and welfare. It explains what relational work is and proposes a new, human-orientated theory beyond the simple needs provision model. Demonstrating the kind of professionalism required for such work, it explores why it is as important to be present with and for people, especially those in precarious conditions, as it is to give care.

This is essential reading for researchers, educators, quality officers, policy makers, students and practitioners interested in understanding the growing scholarship related to both care theory and presence theory.

International Organizations (IOs) have been at the forefront of responding to crises in the 21st century, and yet there is little comparative research on how, and how effectively, they have done this.

This book fills this gap by exploring what roles IOs take in response to global crises and to what effect. Bringing together a range of international contributors, the book examines a vast array of international and regional organizations, including the International Organization for Migration, World Health Organization, African Union and European Union. Aiming to answer key questions about IO behaviour, the book investigates these IOs’ responses to pressing issues including the global COVID-19 pandemic, the liberal order and security, and the climate crisis.

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.

Building on the pioneering radical approach of Research Justice: Methodologies for Social Change—a seminal text born out of the innovative work of the DataCenter: Research for Justice—this updated edition explores the nexus of research, power, and legitimacy, advocating for equitable knowledge construction.

Challenging traditional models, internationally recognized author Andrew J. Jolivétte offers a much-needed analysis of the intersections between Research Methods, Public Policy, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, and Sociology. Complete with a new introductory chapter, the book champions diverse forms of knowledge, envisioning a future where cultural, spiritual, and experiential insights have equal impact on policy making.

Interdisciplinary and thought-provoking, this is a vital resource for scholars and students alike.

The COVID-19 pandemic thrust fear into the heart of political debate and policy making. In the wake of the pandemic, it is critical to clarify the role of fear in these processes to avoid repeating past mistakes and to learn crucial lessons for future crises.

This book draws on case studies from across the world, including the UK, Turkey, Brazil and the US, to provide thought-provoking and practical insights into how fear and related emotions can shape politics under extraordinary and ordinary circumstances. Offering interdisciplinary perspectives from leading and emerging scholars in politics, philosophy, sociology and anthropology, the book enables a better understanding of post-pandemic politics for students, researchers and policy makers alike.

Bringing together contributors from Europe, North America and Australia, this book questions the purpose and outcomes of speculation in practical settings.

In the context of interrelated and complex global challenges, speculation is not just useful but necessary. The chapters in this book present a cross-disciplinary dialogue of people that are developing work in speculation and interrogates its practices and ethical and political charges. Through these discussions, the book explores the potential of speculation in addressing issues such as climate change, urban futures and new political practices.

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

The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland has functioned without interruption for over a century, yet its intermediate position can obscure the importance of its judgments.

This book demonstrates the Court of Appeal’s pivotal role in securing justice, both by correcting lower court decisions and by developing the common law. It examines, in particular, how the Court has applied and developed the rule of law in a post-conflict society.

Authored by experts in the law of Northern Ireland, this compelling text is based on archival research, statistical and qualitative case analyses, court observations, and exclusive interviews with senior judges.

In today's digital societies, parenting is shaped by algorithms daily - in search engines, social media, kids' entertainment, the news and more. But how much are parents aware of the algorithms shaping their parenting and daily lives? How can they prepare for children’s futures in a world dominated by data, algorithms, automation and AI?

This groundbreaking study of 30 English families sheds light on parents’ hopes and fears, their experiences with algorithms in searching, sharing and consuming news and information, and their awareness and knowledge of algorithms at large.

Looking beyond tech skills and media panics, this book is an essential read for social scientists, policy makers and general readers seeking to understand parenting in datafied societies.

In today's digital societies, parenting is shaped by algorithms daily - in search engines, social media, kids' entertainment, the news and more. But how much are parents aware of the algorithms shaping their parenting and daily lives? How can they prepare for children’s futures in a world dominated by data, algorithms, automation and AI?

This groundbreaking study of 30 English families sheds light on parents’ hopes and fears, their experiences with algorithms in searching, sharing and consuming news and information, and their awareness and knowledge of algorithms at large.

Looking beyond tech skills and media panics, this book is an essential read for social scientists, policy makers and general readers seeking to understand parenting in datafied societies.

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

Bringing together interdisciplinary climate change scholarship and grassroots activism, this book considers the possibilities of planetary justice across human difference, generations, species and the concept of life and non-life. Writing amidst bushfires, cyclones, global climate strikes and a global pandemic, contributors from the Earth Unbound Collective share stories from India, Australia, Canada and Scotland. Chapters draw on Indigenous, Black, Southern, ecosocialist and ecofeminist perspectives to call for more radical and interconnected ideas of justice and solidarity.

This accessible book features diverse voices that speak with the planet in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss and extinction. It explores the politics and practices of working towards a future where the planet thrives.

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

During the cost-of-living crisis, schools and nurseries have had to step beyond their educational purpose to offer free food to families through food banks. This book explores how these food banks operate, why families use them and how they affect children’s participation and wellbeing. Drawing on case studies of 12 primary schools and early years settings across England, it examines the impact on family wellbeing, home-school relationships and staff.

The authors argue that the situation will remain unsustainable if this welfare work continues to be unfunded and unrecognised, raising a significant question of who should and who can be responsible for alleviating child poverty.

This book is a manifesto for change that showcases new policy ideas for an incoming Labour government.

Organised by the Society of Labour Lawyers, the Labour Party’s legal think tank, the contributors inspire debate about Britain’s future, exploring a wide range of issues from access to justice to family law reform, housing, employment, EU and trade law, asylum and refugee law, immigration and citizenship, international law and constitutional reform.

This book is a must-have collection of new insights into how a Labour government can renew Britain.

This book explores how to establish peace in societies recovering from large-scale, armed conflicts by introducing the sustaining peace scale as a continuous measure for peacebuilding success.

Drawing on an extensive data collection of peacebuilding episodes over almost three decades, the author analyses the impact of four peacebuilding practices - international commitment, power-sharing, security sector reform and transitional justice. Having established the framework, the author applies it to the peacebuilding processes in Sierra Leone and South Africa.

An important contribution to the literature on successful peacebuilding, this book will be essential reading for peacebuilding scholars and practitioners.

Trajectories of Governance studies the complex dynamics of order-making, violence and governance in peripheral cities in Latin America from a comparative, historical and multi-scalar approach.

It aims to discover more about the drivers, contexts and uneven levels of violence through the case studies of Chalatenango and Sonsonate in El Salvador and Pereira and Tunja in Colombia.

Based on a multidisciplinary analytical framework, it explains why and how some peripheral cities have become the locus of violent orders, whereas others have managed to control violence, and to examine the role of violence in the workings of local governance.

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

The gender pay gap is economically irrational and yet stubbornly persistent.

Focusing on the UK finance industry which is known for its gender pay disparity, this book explores the initiatives to fix gendered inequities in the workplace. Rachel Verdin crafts a unique framework, weaving extensive organizational data with women's lived experiences. Interviews uncover gaps in pay transparency, obstacles hindering workplace policies and the factors that are stalling progress for the future.

This is an invaluable resource that offers key insights into gender equality and EDI measures shaped by legal regulations as well as corporate-driven initiatives.

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.

The ultimate expression of power is the ability to act beyond the confines of law, with contemporary society enabling elite groups to wield “panoramic power”. From the murderous crimes of the corporate giants that provide us with life’s luxuries and necessities to the data gathering activities of media and educational institutions, the authors offer new thinking on damaging structures of power and privilege.

This accessible book provides a comprehensive understanding of elite corporate wrongdoing, and the late capitalist society that enables harm, considering both how we got into this mess and how we get out of it.

In a world facing multiple intersecting crises, the push for healthier, more resilient societies has never been more urgent. This timely book reveals how empowered and organised communities can lead this change. It offers policy makers, academics, and activists research-driven insights, decolonial perspectives and real-world examples of organising and collective actions from across the global North and South.

By centring on the power of community development, participation, and social movements, the book delivers actionable frameworks to tackle inequality and advance the right to health, making it an essential resource for anyone committed to health justice and for building equitable and sustainable health systems worldwide.

In recent years, security actors have become increasingly concerned with health issues. This book reveals how understandings of race, sexuality and gender are produced/reproduced through healthcare policy.

Analysing the plasma of paid Mexicana/o donors in the US, airport vomit in Ebola epidemics and the semen of soldiers with genitourinary injuries, this book shows how security practices focus upon governing bodily fluids.

Using a variety of critical scholarship – feminist technoscience, queer studies and critical race studies – this book uses fluids to reveal unequal distributions of life and death.

The ultimate expression of power is the ability to act beyond the confines of law, with contemporary society enabling elite groups to wield “panoramic power”. From the murderous crimes of the corporate giants that provide us with life’s luxuries and necessities to the data gathering activities of media and educational institutions, the authors offer new thinking on damaging structures of power and privilege.

This accessible book provides a comprehensive understanding of elite corporate wrongdoing, and the late capitalist society that enables harm, considering both how we got into this mess and how we get out of it.

Can society be healthy, and how? Is Britain a ‘healthy society’ in the 21st century?

When people ponder health, they usually consider the health of the individual, but individuals co-exist in a social environment so attention should be placed on the health of communities and populations.

Re-examining health, healthcare and societal health using the latest data and research, this book provides a clear, accessible account of the current state of play. Addressing definitions of health in individuals, communities and populations, definitions of society itself, changes in health over time and the contribution of healthcare to health and longevity, it also suggests ways of effectively tackling obstacles to improving health and healthcare in 21st century Britain.

The rich and the poor in the UK are subject to radically different legislative approaches. While the behaviours of the poor are relentlessly scrutinised, those of the rich are ignored or enabled.

In this book, Sarah Kerr suggests that we live in a state of ‘wealtherty’, characterised by the hyper-concentration of wealth and a stark distinction between the rich and the rest. Drawing on evidence from the 1500s onwards, she reveals a long history of government scrutiny of the poor and ignorance of the rich. She contests contemporary policy and practice which disregards the enduring role of the rich in the production of poverty and poverty in the production of the rich.

In pursuit of social and economic justice, this radical book challenges policy makers and researchers to stop talking about poverty and to start addressing the problems caused by wealtherty.

Generation Z has grown up with a global financial crisis, a pandemic, the climate emergency, growing autocracy and wars. Survival, not just equity, is at stake.

As debate rages about how to ensure a fairer and sustainable society, this book challenges short-sighted economic policies, asking where we want to be in 20 years’ time and how we might get there.

Offering fresh, and sometimes counterintuitive, thinking on a range of economic issues including monetary policy, housing and university funding, it argues in favour of policy guardrails to protect the future, higher interest rates, and a burst of inflation. Robots and AI should be seen as positive replacements for population growth.

This is an original, readable and entertaining take on how we can change course before it is too late.

This book provides a decolonial critique of dominant global agendas concerning teacher professionalism and proposes a new understanding based on UNESCO-funded research with teachers based in Colombia, Ethiopia (Tigray), India, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Outlining from a teacher’s perspective how teacher professionalism may be conceptualized, this book critiques dominant global narratives and conceptions based on deficit discourses. The authors argue that a decolonial lens can help to contextualize the perspectives, experiences and material conditions of teachers in the global South, and the value of such a framework for informing global debates and decision-making in education.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY licence.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a drug taken by HIV-negative people that reduces the risk of getting HIV. Comparing two case studies in Denmark and Zimbabwe, this book demonstrates six paradoxes that users often encounter in navigating their PrEP journey. These paradoxes lead to contentions, uncertainties, dilemmas and ambiguities that need to be carefully and pensively responded to through what the author terms ‘everyday PrEP negotiations’.

The social nature and need for such everyday PrEP negotiations help explain why PrEP works for some people and not for others. This book argues that such insight is critical to make PrEP work for more people and to inform social public health responses.

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

This book offers an in-depth exploration of the lives of EU migrant workers in the UK following Brexit and COVID-19.

Drawing on a longitudinal study, the book delves into the legal problems migrant workers face and sheds much-needed light on the hidden interactions between the law and communities around issues such as employment, housing, welfare and health. Through personal narratives and insights gathered from interviews, it reveals how (clustered) legal problems arise, are resolved and often bypass formal legal resolution pathways.

This is an invaluable resource that provides a rich picture of everyday life for migrant workers in the UK and highlights the vital role of NGOs working to support them.

Life expectancy is about more than just health – it’s about the kind of society we live in. And in the early 2010s, after decades of continual improvement, life expectancy in the UK, US and many other rich countries stopped increasing. For millions of people, it actually declined. Despite hundreds of thousands of extra deaths, governments and officials remained silent.

Combining robust evidence with real-life stories, this book demonstrates how austerity policies caused this scandal. It argues that this shocking and tragic suffering was predictable, caused by a dereliction of duty from those in power.

The book concludes with an optimistic vision of what can be done to restore life expectancy improvements and reduce health inequalities.

This book offers a unique perspective on Sweden’s COVID-19 response in its publicly funded welfare sector, which was initially highly criticised but later recognised as exemplary on the global stage in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Using diaries, stories and interviews from 73 workers across 30 professions, it reveals the everyday experiences of those maintaining welfare services, both on the front lines and behind the scenes. Covering 2020 to 2022, it spans major cities and smaller municipalities across Gothenburg, Uppsala and Stockholm and introduces 'pandemicracy,' a concept exploring pandemic-era governance and organisation of the public sector.

This insightful analysis sparks a wider discussion on adapting to unforeseen challenges in public welfare.

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.

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

Although non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancers, diabetes, and heart diseases are preventable, they have risen dramatically over the last 30 years. This is in part due to increased international trade and foreign direct investment in the tobacco, alcohol and food industries.

As governments attempt to regulate these industries, this book raises important and timely questions about the relationship between public health and international trade and investment law.

Providing a clear and succinct analysis of the relevant trade and investment regimes and the obligations they impose, this book identifies the key principles that must be considered when formulating and implementing NCD prevention strategies that are both effective and able to withstand legal challenges.

Fiscal welfare (or social tax expenditures) is a policy instrument associated with Liberal welfare states that has been on the rise across many European welfare states.

This book sheds light on the use and effects of fiscal welfare in France and Sweden. Focusing on the introduction of a 50% tax deduction on domiciliary care and household services, it explores the politics behind this scheme, its effects on care provision as well as on labour market dualisation, highlighting how fiscal welfare contributes to structuring both a social division of welfare and a social division of labour.

This ground-breaking book opens a new field of research by exploring fiscal welfare, the political uses of this policy instrument, the patterns of inequalities it gives rise to and its policy feedback effects.

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

Comparative practices are integral to global security politics. The balance of power politics, status competitions and global security governance would not be possible without them. Yet, they are rarely treated as the main object of study.

Exploring the varied uses of comparisons, this book addresses three key questions:

• How is comparative knowledge produced?

• How does it become politically relevant?

• How do comparative practices shape security politics?

This book takes a bold new step in uniting disparate streams of research to show how comparative practices order governance processes and modulate competitive dynamics in world politics.

This collection offers a unique exploration of critical racial literacy and anti-racist praxis in Australia's educational landscape. Combining critical race and Indigenous theories and perspectives, contributors articulate a decolonial liberatory imperative for our times. In an age when 'decolonization' has become a buzzword, the book demystifies 'critical anti-racism praxis,' advocating for critical and multidisciplinary approaches.

Educators from a range of disciplines including Law, Indigenous Studies, Health, Sociology, Policy and the Arts collectively share compelling stories of educating on race, racism and anti-racism, offering strategies that can be put into practice in classrooms, activism and structural reforms.

Chapter 17 is available open access under a CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Interactive documentaries, or i-docs, are web based, multimedia documentaries that immerse audiences through dynamic, interactive platforms. This book unlocks the value of i-docs as a creative research method, providing an engaging guide on how to use i-docs to examine and communicate research subjects.

With examples, conceptual discussion, and practical advice, the book explores how i-docs can illuminate topics including temporalities, power and space, affect and feeling, freedom, and epistemic justice. The book addresses i-docs as a digital form but also shows that even just planning an i-doc on paper can open up new analytical perspectives.

Key features of the book include:

- An easy to use template for planning your own i-doc;

- Advice on how researchers can ‘think with i-docs’ without even producing one;

- Discussion of methodological work with i-docs including participatory i-doc making;

Insights into a range of examples of commercial, activist and research i-docs from around the world.

This book is a valuable resource for scholars, students, community researchers, creatives and activists who want to enlist and ignite the possibilities of i-docs.

The second edition of this best-selling book provides an essential guide to best practice in adult safeguarding. It has been updated to include recent legislative, guidance and research-based developments and relates them to useful practice examples.

Featuring new support materials and key case studies, it includes:

• a focus on working with marginalised groups under the safeguarding and prevention duties, including ‘transitional’ safeguarding;

• an exploration of best practice in light of changes to national guidance and research;

• findings from a range of Safeguarding Adults Reviews with reflections on the outcomes of two national (England) Safeguarding Review Audits; and

• an expansion of the concepts of professional curiosity and trauma-informed/-aware approaches.

Students and practitioners are guided to reflect on practice and to extend their skills, knowledge and values to become confident and competent in the complex area of adult safeguarding.

Life expectancy is about more than just health – it’s about the kind of society we live in. And in the early 2010s, after decades of continual improvement, life expectancy in the UK, US and many other rich countries stopped increasing. For millions of people, it actually declined. Despite hundreds of thousands of extra deaths, governments and officials remained silent.

Combining robust evidence with real-life stories, this book demonstrates how austerity policies caused this scandal. It argues that this shocking and tragic suffering was predictable, caused by a dereliction of duty from those in power.

The book concludes with an optimistic vision of what can be done to restore life expectancy improvements and reduce health inequalities.

In February 2021, Myanmar experienced the third coup d’état in its modern history. Unprecedented strength was displayed by Myanmar civil society as it fought back against these new authoritarian drives. Where did this strength come from?

Fearing the loss of the benefits gained in the previous decade of reforms (2011–2021), students, teachers, professors, and activists fuelled the Spring Revolution. To understand what is happening in Myanmar, this book outlines the historical efforts by Myanmar universities to advocate for a more just society and offers unique insight into the long-lasting struggle of education against authoritarianism.

By exploring Myanmar’s social and political struggles through the lens of higher education resistance, the book offers a compelling narrative about the life of the country following the latest coup d’état, an event that continues to puzzle the international community.

Love is fundamental to the flourishing of society and nature. However, the competition of the market economy has resulted in a fractured and traumatized modern world.

Revisiting philosophical developments and countercultures since the Enlightenment, this book offers a ‘loving critique’. It shows how learning to love better is the key to releasing ourselves from the alienating grip of the market.

The utopian template presented draws on archaeology, the witch trials, hippies, Hinduism, Buddhism, quantum mechanics and psychedelics to describe how we can build a more loving society that can survive and flourish through the ecological, ethical, economic and existential crises that we all now face.

Moomins, beloved troll creatures of Moominvalley, have captivated hearts worldwide since the 1940s.

This book unveils the Moomin business management journey, from Tove Jansson's creations to a global art-based brand and a growing ecosystem of companies. Emphasising generosity as a key management principle, it champions caring for people as vital for a thriving organisation.

Generosity, rooted in love, courage and belief in equality, shapes the Moomin ethos, underpinning not just the brand, but also strategic partnerships, engagement with technologies and the virtual world.

Offering rare insights from the Moomin inner circle, this management guide advocates sustainable practices. It unveils the keys to a business devoted to comforting people and fostering good, inspiring a blueprint for lasting success.

Love is fundamental to the flourishing of society and nature. However, the competition of the market economy has resulted in a fractured and traumatized modern world.

Revisiting philosophical developments and countercultures since the Enlightenment, this book offers a ‘loving critique’. It shows how learning to love better is the key to releasing ourselves from the alienating grip of the market.

The utopian template presented draws on archaeology, the witch trials, hippies, Hinduism, Buddhism, quantum mechanics and psychedelics to describe how we can build a more loving society that can survive and flourish through the ecological, ethical, economic and existential crises that we all now face.

Drawing on the perspectives of women and children displaced from Ukraine, as well as local authority policy makers and service providers, this book provides a unique view of the direct and indirect consequences of war in Europe.

Part of the Social Determinants of Health series, this book reviews the socioeconomic challenges faced by the UK and other European countries and suggests ways that these ‘wicked issues’ should be addressed. It is essential reading for local authorities, national governments and humanitarian organisations.

Are we accepting of death, or in denial of it? What insights can we gain from the ways death has been imagined, theorized, and organized throughout Western social and intellectual history that might help us respond meaningfully to the climate emergency?

This interdisciplinary study begins with the role of tragedy in Greek antiquity and examines European attitudes toward death, especially their entanglement with colonial atrocities and politically organized killings.

Drawing on the work of philosophers, sociologists, historians, and psychoanalysts, this is a resounding call to confront our responsibility for the lives of others—and the future of life itself—amid the existential threats of the Anthropocene.

Austerity has proven deadly. Over the last decade, the damage caused by austerity measures in the UK has had a long-lasting and profound effect on many lives. The first edition of Austerity Bites offered on-the-ground reportage of one of the most significantly regressive economic strategies of any post-war government. Over a year Mary O’Hara toured the UK to gauge the immediate impact – and expectations of people affected – and found many clinging to the hope that austerity cuts would not last long as the damage became increasingly apparent. Alas, this was not how things unfolded.

Instead, much of the Welfare State had its vital support systems systematically undermined. The public sector, including the NHS, is now on its knees. Schools are buckling under multiple structural and budgetary pressures. Councils – even big ones – are going broke. Homelessness is rampant.

While Brexit, the pandemic, and war have no doubt impacted the economic health of the country, previous austerity cuts left the UK less prepared to weather such extraordinary events.

With new commentary, Austerity Bites 10 Years On assesses on the true scale of the damage these policies have inflicted on the country’s most vulnerable groups, public institutions and on the wider society. It reflects on where we have been, where we are now and what needs to happen next to undo the damage and avoid the same mistakes again.

The need for paid care workers to provide professional, good quality care for those needing daily support continues to grow throughout the world.

This book explores the recent experiences of diverse paid care workers in four very different national contexts – Finland, Canada, South Africa and England – to learn from their experiences during COVID-19 and its aftermath. Drawing on care workers’ own perspectives, this book shows how recruitment and retention of paid care workers remains challenging due to the pandemic and demographic changes, their precarious labour market position, low pay and the difficulties of delivering care.

With over five billion internet users globally, it is crucial to understand social media activism and legal change for women and girls.

This insightful book examines the impact of international Twitter (now X) campaigns on domestic laws affecting women and girls. Exploring the complexities of legal change for women and girls across seven countries from Latin America to Middle East and Africa, the book offers empirical insights into the effectiveness of hashtag advocacy and sheds light on the role of social media in shaping different outcomes.

This is a key resource for understanding the dynamics driving social media activism and its potential impact on the rights of women and girls worldwide.

Moomins, beloved troll creatures of Moominvalley, have captivated hearts worldwide since the 1940s.

This book unveils the Moomin business management journey, from Tove Jansson's creations to a global art-based brand and a growing ecosystem of companies. Emphasising generosity as a key management principle, it champions caring for people as vital for a thriving organisation.

Generosity, rooted in love, courage and belief in equality, shapes the Moomin ethos, underpinning not just the brand, but also strategic partnerships, engagement with technologies and the virtual world.

Offering rare insights from the Moomin inner circle, this management guide advocates sustainable practices. It unveils the keys to a business devoted to comforting people and fostering good, inspiring a blueprint for lasting success.

Interactive documentaries, or i-docs, are web based, multimedia documentaries that immerse audiences through dynamic, interactive platforms. This book unlocks the value of i-docs as a creative research method, providing an engaging guide on how to use i-docs to examine and communicate research subjects.

With examples, conceptual discussion, and practical advice, the book explores how i-docs can illuminate topics including temporalities, power and space, affect and feeling, freedom, and epistemic justice. The book addresses i-docs as a digital form but also shows that even just planning an i-doc on paper can open up new analytical perspectives.

Key features of the book include:

- An easy to use template for planning your own i-doc;

- Advice on how researchers can ‘think with i-docs’ without even producing one;

- Discussion of methodological work with i-docs including participatory i-doc making;

Insights into a range of examples of commercial, activist and research i-docs from around the world.

This book is a valuable resource for scholars, students, community researchers, creatives and activists who want to enlist and ignite the possibilities of i-docs.

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.

Basic income can no longer be dismissed as a utopian idea — it’s being tested worldwide. But can it truly transform economies and societies?

This book dives into real-world examples, revealing how basic income reshapes lives. It explores the ripple effects of financial security—better health, stronger communities, more education, meaningful work, and engaged citizenship. By breaking the cycle of poverty, basic income unlocks access to essentials like food and housing, empowers people, and fuels long-term thinking and entrepreneurship

Tying together theory with groundbreaking evidence from real-world trials, this book shows why basic income isn’t just possible—it’s the vital solution to our age of crisis, paving the way for a fairer society.

How do young people participate in democratic societies? This book introduces the concept of ‘doing society’ as a new theory of political action. Focused on Finnish youth, it innovatively blends cutting-edge empirical research with agenda-setting theoretical development. Redefining political action, the authors expand beyond traditional public-sphere, scaling from formal to informal and unconventional modes of engaging.

The book captures diverse engagement from memes to social movements, from participatory budgeting to street parties and from sleek politicians to detached people in the margins. In doing so, it provides a holistic view of the ways in which young people participate (or do not participate) in society, and their role in cultural change.

Drawing on the perspectives of women and children displaced from Ukraine, as well as local authority policy makers and service providers, this book provides a unique view of the direct and indirect consequences of war in Europe.

Part of the Social Determinants of Health series, this book reviews the socioeconomic challenges faced by the UK and other European countries and suggests ways that these ‘wicked issues’ should be addressed. It is essential reading for local authorities, national governments and humanitarian organisations.

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

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

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

Most people hate and fear uncertainty. It causes such stress and anxiety that we often choose certain surrender over doubt, becoming passive, dependent, addicted—and more anxious than ever. Doubling down on the certainties promised by technology and micro-management only makes things worse, leaving no opportunity for innovation, adaptation or invention.

Artists live with uncertainty constantly—but instead of waiting for the future, they run towards making it, with agency and freedom. What can we learn from them, about facing into a future that grows more uncertain daily?

At a time when organizations of all kinds crave innovation but complain their people lack creativity and initiative, the arts have never been so essential to our future. We may not all be artists, but we can learn to think like them.

Margaret Heffernan makes a compelling argument for the vital integration of art into all aspects of our lives and for artists to guide us with their stamina, freedom and endurance.

Billionaires are an ultra-elite social class whose numbers are growing alongside their obscene wealth while others struggle, suffer or even die.

They represent a scourge of economic inequality, but how do they get away with it? A set of dangerous and deceptive inter-connected myths portrays them as a ‘force for good’:

- the ‘heroic billionaire’ asserts they are gallant protagonists of the American Dream gone global

- the ‘generous billionaire’ pretends that their philanthropic efforts and personal good deeds should be lauded for generosity and benevolence

- the ‘meritorious billionaire’ insists that extreme wealth is a worthy reward for individual hard work and talent

- the ‘vigilante billionaire’ claims to be able to solve the world’s biggest problems where bureaucrats and politicians have failed.

Each of these myths enables billionaire wealth and power to set us back to old-style feudalism and plutocracy.

Offering a trenchant critique, this incisive book testifies to the growing international political will to take concrete actions in supporting economic justice and democratic equality.

Discussions around digital technologies, new media, platforms and information have long centred on the protection of personal data and privacy. This timely volume extends the conversation to address fundamental societal and structural issues from three perspectives: people, practices and politics.

Organised around an international collection of case studies, the book provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of the challenges of privacy in the digital sphere, from emerging regulatory programmes to surveillance capitalism and big tech companies.

Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this is a new and innovative perspective on our datafied societies that goes beyond privacy. It will be a key resource for scholars and students of communication and media studies, and science and technology studies.

By 2024 a majority of parents in the UK with three or more children were going hungry to feed their families. Children in the UK are becoming shorter and childhood mortality has been rising. What part does living with high inequality play in understanding how we have got to the point of peak injustice, when surely the situation cannot become worse?

Although 2018 was a year of peak income and wealth inequality in the UK, absolute deprivation has continued to grow since then, especially after the pandemic.

Peak Injustice follows up the best-selling Peak Inequality (2018), offering a carefully curated selection of Danny Dorling’s latest published writing with brand new content looking to the future, including challenges for a new government in 2024/25, the impact of Jeremy Corbyn’s legacy, and the implications of Keir Starmer’s many blind spots.

An essential addition to readers’ Dorling collections.

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

Pathways to Sustainable Welfare critically examines how cities can address the dual challenges of climate change and sustainability while ensuring the welfare of their populations.

Focused on three Swedish cities, it explores the integration of environmental and welfare concerns in local policies, urban movements and public opinions. Based on theories of inertia, emergence and transformation, it identifies factors driving or obstructing sustainable welfare advancements.

This book is a crucial resource for scholars interested in sustainable transformation, urban governance and social policy. It offers frameworks and empirical evidence relevant to academics, policy makers and practitioners seeking to understand and engage in urban sustainable welfare development.

Identifying victims and perpetrators of trafficking and modern slavery has become increasingly challenging as traffickers have become more sophisticated in their recruitment and control of victims and seizure of new opportunities. Written by an experienced practitioner and academic, this book presents the ‘Circles of Analysis’, a unique model to assist professionals and researchers working in the criminal justice, safeguarding and social work sectors.

Focusing on factors around the victim, offender and environment, this innovative model equips professionals to consider prevention, protection, intervention and disruption activity rather than limiting action to criminal justice-related outcomes.

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

Drawing on the voices and experiences of refugees, activists and professional practitioners, this collection illustrates the complexities of migration with real world case studies, and the possibilities of innovative and compassionate interventions.

Highlighting the use of creative and narrative methods in the social, therapeutic and community sectors, all chapters provide clear practice implications. Rather than presenting migration as a problem to be avoided, this book offers original insights on how research and practice can be better informed by the voices of those seeking a better way.

Are you a health and social care commissioner navigating the ever-changing commissioning landscape? With challenges such as limited funding, changing demands and global pandemics, we need to be clear on why, what and how we commission effectively.

This book offers you a warm welcome into the often-complex world of healthcare commissioning. Amanda J. Hughes shares personal insights from her commissioning career and practical guidance that will demystify the commissioning cycle and ease the journey as you strive to achieve the best outcomes for the population.

This book will help you to ensure valuable resources are directed to those with most need, that care is fair and accessible and that the solutions you put into place are sustainable for the longer term.

This edited volume examines the crucial, yet overlooked, role narratives play in the rapidly changing relationship between Europe and China.

Its contributors analyse the role of narratives in different societies and arenas ranging from economic and foreign policy to history and social media. Emphasizing the social dimension of narrative, the volume challenges traditional state-centric and strategic approaches in international politics. It also engages with the ubiquity of stories about the “other” in present manifold crises, and underscores the need for a heightened awareness of narratives and their consequences in decision-making processes.

How can we have meaningful public conversations in the algorithmic age?

This book explores how digital technologies shape our opinions and interactions, often in ways that limit our exposure to diverse perspectives and fuel polarization. Drawing on the ancient art of arguing all sides of a case, the book offers a way to revive public debate as a source of trust and legitimacy in democratic societies.

This is a timely and urgent book for anyone who cares about the future of democracy in the digital era.

Based on unique empirical research into Colombia’s Santos-FARC-EP peace process (2012-2016), this book interrogates how, if at all, survivors and victims may assert agency and contribute to formal peacemaking and transitional justice initiatives.

The book argues that victim inclusion meaningfully transformed victim-perpetrator relations and dynamics in Havana, while partially shaping the content of both the Victims’ Agreement and Final Agreement. As such, the delegations created paths for empowerment at the individual and, in part, collective levels. However, victim inclusion also precipitated experiences of victim depoliticization, revictimization, retraumatization and instrumentalization.

Drawing on insights from across academic disciplines, the book proposes an instrumentalization / empowerment spectrum to analyse the complex impact of victim-centred approaches to peacemaking/transitional justice, and is valuable for both researchers and practitioners.

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.

Is it legitimate to prohibit political activities in a shopping centre, or the wearing of the full Islamic veil in a public space? This book addresses such questions of pluralism in a time of increasing ethnic, religious and cultural diversity in the public and private spaces of our cities.

Analysing different types of regulation — property rights, municipal ordinances and urban planning — the authors reflect on the kinds of rules public institutions should accept in relation to private spaces, and should promote in relation to public spaces, in order to protect and support pluralism.

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

This book presents emerging themes and future directions in the interdisciplinary field of critical data studies, loosely themed around the notion of shifting response-abilities in a datafied world.

In each chapter an interdisciplinary group of scholars discuss a specific theme, ranging from questions around data power and the configuring of data subjects to the intersection of technology and the environment.

The book is an invaluable dialogue between disciplines that introduces readers to cutting edge arguments within the field. It will be a key resource for scholars and students who require a guide to this rapidly evolving area of research.

Covering a range of important social theorists – from W.E.B. Du Bois to Judith Butler – this accessibly written textbook encourages critical thinking and critical approaches to social work, providing an entry point for anyone interested in thinking theoretically about practice.

Key features include:

• essential terms explained throughout;

• end-of-chapter prompts to promote further thinking from students;

• suggestions for further reading complete with commentary; and

• companion website with links to videos, a lesson plan and additional resources.

Written for introductory audiences and experts alike, this book will appeal to students studying social work or other related social and allied professions at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as practitioners engaged in professional development.

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

This book proposes a conception of social justice according to international human rights law. Social rights include everyday rights such as housing, food, fuel and social security.

Drawing on extensive research with frontline practitioners, the book frames access to social justice as a journey that should end with the realisation of an effective remedy. It highlights discourses that marginalise and disempower rights holders and reclaims the narrative around social rights as legal rights.

This is a unique contribution to our understanding of access to social justice from a social rights perspective complete with key recommendations for policy and practice.

In this book, Sally King interrogates the diagnostic label of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) to expose and challenge sexist assumptions within medical research and practice. She powerfully demonstrates how the concept of the ‘hormonal’ premenstrual woman is merely the latest iteration of the ‘hysterical’ female myth. By blaming the healthy reproductive body (first our wombs, now our hormones) for the female-prevalence of emotional distress and physical pain, gender myths appear to have trumped all empirical evidence to the contrary.

The book also provides a primer on menstrual physiology beyond hormones, and a short history of how hormonal metaphors came to dominate medical and popular discourses. The author calls for clinicians, researchers, educators and activists to help improve women’s health without unintentionally reproducing damaging stereotypes.

Our knowledge and awareness of mental health has never been greater. Yet little progress has been made in addressing a key cause of population mental ill-health: financial insecurity.

This book argues that tackling inequalities through the social security system could offer a new focus to help stop our current trajectory of worsening poverty and distress.

Featuring original research and focusing on three key areas: prevention, support and investment, it sets out how well-designed social security systems could play a central role in our collective mental health and discusses the changes that are needed to get there.

Foreign policy analysis is a major part of international relations scholarship, yet many models are ill-equipped to examine the effects of individual leadership on policy. Written by a leading figure in the field, this innovative account challenges traditional views in international relations by theorising the influence of individual leaders on foreign policy change. It examines how and why leaders have shaped policy throughout history, showcasing Obama's Cuba pivot as a prime example.

Using an original theoretical approach, this book will appeal to academics and practitioners in foreign policy analysis, international relations and comparative politics.

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.

In this book, Sally King interrogates the diagnostic label of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) to expose and challenge sexist assumptions within medical research and practice. She powerfully demonstrates how the concept of the ‘hormonal’ premenstrual woman is merely the latest iteration of the ‘hysterical’ female myth. By blaming the healthy reproductive body (first our wombs, now our hormones) for the female-prevalence of emotional distress and physical pain, gender myths appear to have trumped all empirical evidence to the contrary.

The book also provides a primer on menstrual physiology beyond hormones, and a short history of how hormonal metaphors came to dominate medical and popular discourses. The author calls for clinicians, researchers, educators and activists to help improve women’s health without unintentionally reproducing damaging stereotypes.

Illuminating the often-overlooked perspectives of marginalised groups, this essential textbook offers a transformative exploration of health law and ethics.

Designed as a replacement for (or complement to) foundational health law texts, the book amplifies the voices of those frequently silenced in teaching materials: racialised communities, ethnic minorities, women, disabled individuals, LGBTQI+ people and those disadvantaged by socio-economic and structural factors.

Chapters cover key topics such as abortion, medical negligence, and public health, scrutinising how traditional legal narratives can neglect the nuanced impacts on these diverse groups. Contributors challenge readers to reflect on the production and perpetuation of health inequalities, enriching the curriculum with critical viewpoints.

Teaching tools include:

- accessible summaries throughout the chapters;

- critical reflection questions at the end of each chapter for students and teachers;

- further reading lists and links to external resources..

This is an invaluable text that encourages students and academics to engage deeply with the intersections of law, health(care) and social justice. It is an indispensable companion for any health law course, fostering a more inclusive and well-rounded approach to legal and medical education and practice.

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.

Child protection systems across the globe are developing at pace, each reflecting their unique economic, social, and cultural contexts.

This book provides an overview of 11 child protection systems from low- and middle-income countries and discusses the formal and informal responses countries are making to the shared problem of child abuse and maltreatment. Within each chapter, vignettes give readers a window into how each country’s child protection system operates in practice.

This is essential reading for academics, social work professionals and anybody working within child and family welfare.

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.

Can society be healthy, and how? Is Britain a ‘healthy society’ in the 21st century?

When people ponder health, they usually consider the health of the individual, but individuals co-exist in a social environment so attention should be placed on the health of communities and populations.

Re-examining health, healthcare and societal health using the latest data and research, this book provides a clear, accessible account of the current state of play. Addressing definitions of health in individuals, communities and populations, definitions of society itself, changes in health over time and the contribution of healthcare to health and longevity, it also suggests ways of effectively tackling obstacles to improving health and healthcare in 21st century Britain.

Illuminating the often-overlooked perspectives of marginalised groups, this essential textbook offers a transformative exploration of health law and ethics.

Designed as a replacement for (or complement to) foundational health law texts, the book amplifies the voices of those frequently silenced in teaching materials: racialised communities, ethnic minorities, women, disabled individuals, LGBTQI+ people and those disadvantaged by socio-economic and structural factors.

Chapters cover key topics such as abortion, medical negligence, and public health, scrutinising how traditional legal narratives can neglect the nuanced impacts on these diverse groups. Contributors challenge readers to reflect on the production and perpetuation of health inequalities, enriching the curriculum with critical viewpoints.

Teaching tools include:

- accessible summaries throughout the chapters;

- critical reflection questions at the end of each chapter for students and teachers;

- further reading lists and links to external resources..

This is an invaluable text that encourages students and academics to engage deeply with the intersections of law, health(care) and social justice. It is an indispensable companion for any health law course, fostering a more inclusive and well-rounded approach to legal and medical education and practice.

There has been a rebirth of interest in bringing community back into social work, but what does community social work mean when applied to practice? What are the opportunities in a landscape dominated by shrinking budgets with their attendant procedural and risk-obsessed assessment and care management models?

In this accessibly written book, Colin Turbett explores the erratic history of community social work. He goes on to demonstrate through contemporary examples how this preventative and relationship-based model can work for the individuals and communities served, and also provide an answer to the recruitment and retention issues adversely affecting mainstream settings.

If a measure of our humanity is how we treat the most vulnerable, our report card is bleak. Our politics is divided, people in need are too often treated with cruelty, and the systems we built to support others are creaking. Welfare too often fails, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Yet, the help we give to others can be more effective, more accepted, and more just if we cultivate greater levels of compassion to put it at the heart of public life and potentially resolve these challenges. In this book, Jason Wood reviews the research and talks to experts from across the world to make the moving case for greater compassion in public life.

Addressing a neglected area in academic research, media coverage and public understanding, this book takes a critical political economy approach to understanding food insecurity in Canada and the UK.

It examines how current economic and political systems create food insecurity and why food charity does little to address the problem, diverting the attention of policy makers, the media and the public from the sources of food insecurity.

This book provides a vision of a future whereby public control over the distribution of resources –including food – will eliminate food insecurity and other conditions that threaten health.

Despite the pivotal role played by parents in the child protection process, little attention has been paid to how social workers perceive them. Exploring representations of parents within Children’s Services – at the levels of policy, organisation and frontline practice – the concept of citizenship is used to construct a typology with ten variants of parent-citizenship. The typology reveals the complexities of parental representations and their relationship to the content of policy, organisational environments and dominant societal themes, as it uncovers how social workers represent parents in their day-to-day practice.

The book is a resource that can be used by students, practitioners, researchers and parent advocacy organisations to evaluate policy and practice and to contribute to the search for the best possible outcomes for families. Arguing that parental participation in the child protection process is essential, the book increases the visibility of parents and contributes to a much-needed dialogue about working with parents in Children’s Services.

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

How can we use evidence to improve deradicalisation and violence prevention outcomes?

Based on work developed during the implementation of the cross-European INDEED project, this is an essential reference book for practitioners, researchers and policy makers. It sets out the three pillars of best evidence-based practice – scientific evidence, professional judgement and consideration of clients’ preferences, values and beliefs. Demonstrating both successful and unsuccessful approaches with case studies from the field, the book offers practical strategies for prevention teams designing and evaluating their programmes.

In health care, we come across daily promises of miraculous cures for various ailments. However, in the digital era, the dynamics of experiencing and practicing these remedies have changed.

This book explores the intersection of miracle cures and technology, showcasing their transformation into hybrid forms, such as handwritten recipes captured in photos or tutorials streamed through videos. Combining computational social media data with ethnographic insights from Vietnam and the US, the book captures the interconnected lives of these cures in the digital realm with a unique methodology.

Unravelling the intricate connections between social, technological, biomedical and non-biomedical spheres, this is a significant contribution to how social scientists study online media.

Questions as to the mental capacity of an individual to consent to sex are an increasingly important aspect of legal scholarship and professional practice for those working in care. Recent case law has added new layers of complexity, requiring that a person must be able to understand that the other person needs to consent and can withdraw that consent. While this has been welcomed for asserting the importance of the interpersonal dynamics of sex, it has significant implications for practice and for the day-to-day lives of people with cognitive impairments.

This collection brings together academics, practitioners and organizations to consider the challenges posed by the current legal framework, and future directions for law, policy and practice.