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Understanding Welfare: Social Issues, Policy and Practice

“This exciting series is essential reading for students across a range of subjects and courses who need to gain a comprehensive understanding of welfare issues.”
Pete Alcock, University of Birmingham and Chair, Social Policy Subject Benchmarking Group

Published in association with the Social Policy Association and Social Policy Subject Benchmark compliant, this series, including many new editions, helps students understand the causes of and responses to social issues.

Each textbook provides chapter-specific summaries, questions for discussion, illustrative boxes and diagrams to help understanding and full bibliographies.

Editorial Advisory Board

Elke Heins, University of Edinburgh, UK
Ruby Chau, University of Nottingham, UK
Lee Gregory, University of Birmingham, UK
Catherine Needham, University of Birmingham, UK
Sam Yu, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
Kathy Boxall, Edith Cowan University, Australia
Gideon Calder, Swansea University, UK
Nathalie Morel, Sciences Po, France

“This is a series containing critically important in-depth analyses of a range of contemporary issues of special relevance to students of Social Policy, but also across the whole of the social sciences and to anybody with concerns for human welfare and social justice.”
Hartley Dean, London School of Economics and Political Science 

The series provides an invaluable resource for students, offering a wide range of engaging and accessible material on key social policy issues and ideas.”
Ruth Lister, Loughborough University and House of Lords 

Understanding Welfare provides a rich tapestry of theoretical principles and empirical case studies of global interest. An essential resource for teachers, students and practitioners to engage with pervasive forms of structural inequalities brought to such sharp relief by the iconic images of Black Lives Matter protests and the pandemic across the world.”
Sangeeta Chattoo, University of York 

fantastic resource for understanding welfare at many levels – the principles and the practicalities; the big picture and the details; the local, national and international; the key issues and debates; the past, present and the future. The longevity of the series is important in providing context, but the books are also revised and refreshed, keeping the contents up to date. A wonderful resource for students. It is also great for authors, working with the Policy Press team is a delight, always clear-sighted and supportive. Highly recommended.
Jane Millar
, Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath

Showing 1-12 of 23 items.

Understanding social citizenship

Themes and perspectives for policy and practice

Policy Press

Understanding the Mixed Economy of Welfare

Edited by Martin Powell

This updated edition, written by social policy and welfare experts, shows how the mixed economy of welfare links with the important conceptual and policy debates.

Policy Press

Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy

Demonstrating the relevance of theory to political and policy debates and practice, this dynamic and fully updated second edition helps students to grasp the real-life implications of social policy theory. It includes a new chapter featuring debates around disability, sexuality and the environment.

Policy Press

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.

Policy Press

Understanding the mixed economy of welfare

Edited by Martin Powell

Although state provision may have dominated in Britain since 1945, there is a growing movement towards welfare pluralism - a mixed economy of welfare - involving private, voluntary and informal sectors. This book, written by social policy and welfare experts, sheds light on this neglected area of social policy.

Policy Press

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.

Policy Press

Understanding Health Policy

This fully updated edition of a bestselling book explores the processes and institutions that make health policy, examining what constitutes health policy, where power lies, and what changes could be made to improve the quality of health policy making.

Policy Press

Understanding Human Need

One of the few resources available to provide an overview of human need as a key concept in the social sciences, this accessible and engaging second edition models existing practical and theoretical approaches to human need while also proposing a radical alternative.

Policy Press

Understanding equal opportunities and diversity

The social differentiations and intersections of inequality

This book challenges the official discourse that shapes the debates on Equal Opportunities and Diversity (EO&D) at national, regional and European level and will be a key text for students and researchers of EO&D in many fields.

Policy Press

Understanding Disability Policy

Understanding disability policy explores the roles of social security, social support, poverty, socio-economic status, community safety, official discourses and spatial change in shaping disabled people's opportunities.

Policy Press

Understanding the environment and social policy

Using an international and multi-disciplinary approach, this book provides a timely overview of the current issues in environmentalism and social policy. It explores many current debates, including: cities, housing and transport; citizenship and care; employment and green jobs; environmental governance and legislation; and globalisation.

Policy Press

Understanding the policy process

Analysing welfare policy and practice

Using core concepts of policy analysis "Understanding the policy process" builds up a full explanation of social policy change that can be applied to any aspect of welfare policy, public and social policy. This second edition of the book updates the first edition for the post-Blair era with international case studies from numerous countries.

Policy Press