Textbooks
Education is at the heart of our mission to make a difference. Our goal is to support students’ learning with materials that foster understanding, confidence and skills.
We have a diverse and growing programme of textbooks and learning resources that are designed for Social Science courses at university and college level. We take pride in publishing quality content at affordable prices, and we cater to a wide range of learning styles in print and digital formats.
All of our textbooks are available on inspection and e-inspection (order here or use the link on the book pages). Lecturers are welcome to request print or digital inspection copies for potential recommendation on their reading lists and for student and library purchase. In return, we just ask for feedback on the books’ suitability for teaching purposes, in order to help us develop our publishing.
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Take a look at our textbooks below or browse by subject.
Radical social work in practice
Making a difference
This much-needed textbook provides a fresh understanding of the radical tradition and shows how it can be developed in contemporary social work.
The global social policy reader
This reader collects together for the first time a comprehensive range of key papers by leaders in the field from a wide range of sources that explain the concepts, actors and processes that constitute global social policy. The Reader will have broad appeal among undergraduate and postgraduate students in a range of social science subjects.
Understanding social welfare movements
"Understanding social welfare movements" is the first text to bring together social policy and social movement studies. The book provides a timely and much needed overview of the changing nature of social welfare as it has been shaped by the demands of social movements.
Religion, belief and social work
Making a difference
This book examines how religion and related beliefs have varied impacts on the needs and perceptions of practitioners, service users, and the support networks available to them.
The Peter Townsend reader
This reader brings together for the first time a collection of Peter Townsend's most distinctive work, allowing readers to review the changes that have taken place over the past six decades, and reflect on issues that have returned to the fore today.
Embodying identities
Culture, differences and social theory
This book shapes a new language of social theory that allows people to embody their differences with a sense of dignity and self-worth, enabling them to come to terms with the complexities of their lived identities in a post-modern globalised world.
The short guide to social work
This one-stop text for new and prospective social work students is easy to read and full of essential information and practical advice about what is needed to qualify and practice in social work.
Social theory for beginners
Aimed at first-year undergraduates studying sociology and related disciplines, this introductory-level textbook presents key ideas and concepts in social theory and an account of their intellectual background.
Understanding theories and concepts in social policy
This lively textbook, part of the successful Understanding Welfare series, helps us to understand policy, politics and practice. It combines an in-depth exploration of selected theoretical perspectives and concepts with a student-friendly format.
Using Theory to Explore Health, Medicine and Society
This student-friendly textbook uses theoretical perspectives to bring to life social theories relating to health and illness. including binge drinking, obesity, the prominence of therapy and the search for happiness.
Ageing, health and care
The ageing of the population has enormous policy implications for health care. This important new textbook, written by a leader in the field, covers key questions such as the fitness of older people in the future, the widening inequalities in the health of older people and how health in old age reflects habits and behaviour in earlier life.