Policy Press

Austerity

Touted as a short, sharp adjustment to the economy in the wake of the financial crisis, the cuts and slashing of the welfare state has caused a multitude of harms to individuals, communities and society as a whole as a result.

As a publisher who has had tackling inequality at its heart for 25 years, we have published many research outputs that tackle the topic of austerity, including many articles in our Journal of Poverty and Social Justice.

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In this cross-cutting theme, we aim to address the following goal:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 1SDG 2SDG 10

You may also be interested in our Global Social Challenges on hunger, food, water and shelter, poverty, inequality and social justice and democracy, power and governance.

Showing 25-36 of 150 items.

Rural Poverty Today

Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain

Many people living in rural areas face hardship but the UK’s welfare system is poorly adapted to meet their needs, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and cutbacks exacerbating pressures. This book combines person-based and place-based approaches to tackling rural poverty.

Policy Press

COVID-19 and Social Determinants of Health

Wicked Issues and Relationalism

Edited by Adrian Bonner

Extending the ideas developed in the previous volumes in the Social Determinants of Health series, this book reviews the impact of COVID-19 on local and national governance from the perspectives of public health, social care and economic development.

Policy Press

Psychology at the Heart of Social Change

Developing a Progressive Vision for Society

This book shows why we need, and can create, a progressive politics that is profoundly informed by insights from the psychotherapeutic and psychological domain, moving us from a politics of blame to a politics of understanding.

Policy Press

Affective Capitalism in Academia

Revealing Public Secrets

Drawing on affect theory and research on academic capitalism and 11 international case studies, this book examines the contemporary crisis of universities, from the coloniality of academic capitalism to performance management and the experience of being performance-managed.

Policy Press

A Political Sociology of Education Policy

This book aims to restore the role of political analysis in education policy by presenting a new political sociology for framing, conducting and presenting research. In doing so, it will be the first in the field to connect political thinking from Arendt with sociological thinking from Bourdieu.

Policy Press

Social Exclusion of Youth in Europe

The Multifaceted Consequences of Labour Market Insecurity

Adopting a mixed-method and multilevel perspective, this book provides a comprehensive investigation into the multifaceted consequences of social exclusion of young people and derives crucial new policy recommendations. Contributors offer fresh insights into areas including youth well-being, health, leaving home and risks of poverty.

Policy Press

Making a Life on Mean Welfare

Voices from Multicultural Sydney

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and the author’s own experience, this book explores how diverse welfare users navigate the personal and practical hurdles of Australia’s social security system.

Policy Press

Stay Home

Housing and Home in the UK during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically exposed weaknesses in UK housing, with housing inequality contributing to the unequal impact of the disease. Becky Tunstall assesses the position of housing in public policy and health, and the most immediate responses to the pandemic in one convenient resource for students, scholars and practitioners.

Policy Press

The Impacts of Welfare Conditionality

Sanctions Support and Behaviour Change

This book uses qualitative longitudinal data, from repeat interviews with people subject to compulsion and sanction in their everyday lives, to analyse the effectiveness and ethicality of welfare conditionality in promoting and sustaining behaviour change in the UK.

Policy Press

When Social Workers Impact Policy and Don’t Just Implement It

A Framework for Understanding Policy Engagement

Rather than being seen simply as social policy implementors, in recent decades there has been recognition of the unique insights that social workers can bring to policy formulation. This book offers a theoretical framework for understanding why social workers engage in policy, and the implications for research, education and practice.

Policy Press

Politics of the Gift

Towards a Convivial Society

Drawing on French sociologist Marcel Mauss' influential theory of 'the gift', this book shows that trust is the only glue that holds societies together, and people are giving beings and they who can cooperate for the benefit of all when the logic of maximizing utility personal gain in capitalism is broken.

Bristol Uni Press

Poverty and International Migration

A Multi-Site and Intergenerational Perspective

Drawing on the largest database available on labour migration to Europe, this book examines the poverty outcomes for three generations of settler migrants spanning multiple European destinations, as compared with their returnee and stayer counterparts living in Turkey.

Policy Press