Policy Press

Class and classism

As part of an intersectional approach, the role of class in perpetuating social inequality is a vital area of study and self-reflection.

Recognised the importance of listening to different voices, the books here address key issues, including social inequality in academia and the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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 10

You may also be interested in our Global Social Challenges on equality, diversity and inclusion and poverty, inequality and social justice.

Showing 109-120 of 249 items.

Imagining Society

The Case for Sociology

Re-examining C.Wright Mills’s legacy as a jumping off point, this original introduction to sociology illuminates global concepts, themes and practices that are fundamental to the discipline and rethinks and re-imagines what a critically committed, politically engaged and publicly relevant sociology should look like in the 21st century.

Bristol Uni Press

Child Poverty

Aspiring to Survive

Placing children’s experiences, needs and concerns at the centre of its examination of contemporary policies and political discourses surrounding poverty in childhood, this book examines a broad range of structural, institutional and ideological factors common across developed nations and forges a radical new pathway for the future.

Policy Press

Precarity and Ageing

Understanding Insecurity and Risk in Later Life

This edited collection develops an exciting new approach to understanding the changing cultural, economic and social circumstances facing different groups of older people.

Policy Press

Local Social Innovation to Combat Poverty and Exclusion

A Critical Appraisal

Based on more than 30 case studies in eight different countries, this book explores the governance dynamics of local social innovations in the field of poverty reduction, illustrating how different governance dynamics and welfare mixes enable or hinder poverty reduction strategies.

Policy Press

Social Research Matters

A Life in Family Sociology

Drawing from forty years of experience, Julia Brannen offers an invaluable account of how research in family studies is conducted and ‘matters’ at particular times. An exceptional resource for family scholars and those interested in the methodology of social research.

Bristol Uni Press

Parents, Poverty and the State

20 Years of Evolving Family Policy

Naomi Eisenstadt and Carey Oppenheim explore the radical changes in public attitudes and public policy concerning parents and parenting, arguing that a more joined-up approach is needed to improve outcomes for children: both reducing child poverty and improving parental capacity by providing better support systems.

Policy Press

Resisting Neoliberalism in Education

Local, National and Transnational Perspectives

Edited by Lyn Tett and Mary Hamilton

Neoliberalism is having a detrimental impact on wider social and ethical goals in the field of education. Using an international range of contexts, this book provides practical examples that demonstrate how neoliberalism can be challenged and changed at the local, national and transnational level.

Policy Press

Borders, Migration and Class in an Age of Crisis

Producing Workers and Immigrants

Informed by Marxist theory, this book examines how categories of ‘workers’ and ‘migrants’ have been mobilised within representations of a ‘migrant crisis’ and a ‘welfare crisis’ to facilitate capitalist exploitation, and proposes alternative understandings that foreground solidarity.

Bristol Uni Press

Health in Hard Times

Austerity and Health Inequalities

Edited by Clare Bambra

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book is a vital review of the impact of austerity on the wellbeing of the UK. Case studies from Stockton-on-Tees, home to some of the starkest health divides, are combined with a review of the repercussions of budget cuts and welfare reforms to show the vast inequalities in health in the UK today.

Policy Press

The End of Aspiration?

Social Mobility and Our Children’s Fading Prospects

Duncan Exley draws on expert research and real life experiences – including from an actor, a politician, a billionaire entrepreneur and a surgeon – to issue a wake-up call to break through segregated opportunity. He offers a manifesto to reboot our prospects and benefit all.

Policy Press

The Sociology of Debt

Key thinkers with a range of perspectives provide a sociological analysis of debt focused upon its social, political, economic, and cultural meanings. Contributors consider the lived experience of debt and financialisation taking place globally with accounts that span sociological, cultural, and economic forms of analysis.

Policy Press

Dealing with Welfare Conditionality

Implementation and Effects

Edited by Peter Dwyer

This edited collection considers how conditional welfare policies and services are implemented and experienced by a diverse range of welfare service users across a range of UK policy domains including social security, homelessness, migration and criminal justice.

Policy Press