Communities and Social Action

This highly accessible guide equips community work and related professionals and students to make the best use of theory in their work. Linking contemporary theory and practice, the book guides the reader through such diverse areas as young people, adult learning, health, social media and leadership in community work.

This book brings a critical perspective to post-disaster reconstruction in Italy, and the sometimes radical changes in individual and collective behaviours that persist following such events. Considering the impacts of climate change and COVID-19, this edited book will stimulate debate on policy and practice in disaster recovery.

Based on decades of research, this book explores global social change processes through the concepts of social change organisations (SCOs) and social change makers (SCMs) – the individuals working within and alongside SCOs.

Using the example of Turkey, where neoliberal economics combined with authoritarian politics formed conditions that have profound social consequences, this book investigates Alternative Consumer Cooperatives (ACCs) as spaces for prefigurative food politics.

This book, offering in-depth analysis from a native scholar, is a critical examination of the world-renowned community Auroville located in Tamil Nadu, South India as a site of spiritually prefigurative utopian practice.

Exploring what it means to enact feminist geography, this book joins cases of collaborative research with social justice activist movements. From Black feminist organizing in the American South to feminist geography collectives in Latin America, the book showcases activist-engaged scholarship from the global north and south.

This book is a step toward curating our existing knowledge in the emerging field of ‘disaster philanthropy’. It aims to build a robust base for future research, practice and public policy, whilst recognising that philanthropic responses to disasters are complex, conditional and subject to change.

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.

Ten percent of the world’s population lives on islands, but until now the place and space characteristics of islands in criminological theory have not been deeply considered. This book addresses issues of how, and by whom, crime is defined in island settings, informed by the distinctive social structures of their communities.

This ground-breaking and compelling book shows in fine detail the life struggles of those who live on a public housing estate in Dublin. Combining long-term research into residents’ lived experience with critical realist theory, it provides a completely fresh perspective on public housing in Ireland and arguably, beyond.

How can local communities effectively build peace and reconciliation before, during and after open violence? This trailblazing book gives practical examples, from the Global North and Global South, on communities alleviating conflict and enabling transformation in divided societies.

Focusing on youth activism for greater equality, liberty and mutual care - radical democracy - this timely collection explores the movement’s impacts on community organisations and workers. Essays from the Global North and Global South cover the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental activism and the struggles of refugees.