Books published by Bristol University Press

Multidisciplinary in approach, this book is the first to draw together insights from a range of leading academics and thinkers in 'behaviour change' across a range of disciplines including public health, transport, marketing and the environment to discuss new innovations in practice and research.

Presenting unique and critical reflections on international policy and practice, this book addresses the global dominance of neoliberalism. It examines the extent to which community development practitioners, activists and programmes can challenge, critique, engage with or resist its influence.

A comprehensive multi-disciplinary overview of the very latest research on ageing, concentrating on three major themes: active ageing, design for ageing well and the relationship between ageing and socio-economic development.

This unique book represents the first multi-disciplinary examination of ageing, from basic cell biology to social participation in later life, drawing on the pioneering New Dynamics of Ageing Programme, the UK's largest research programme in ageing.

This comprehensive, accessibly written resource, is designed to help students and practitioners explore partnerships in creating, contributing, consuming, commissioning or critiquing evidence in and for social work practice.

An exploration of the rise of sustainable development policies in London by international authors. Essential reading for urban practitioners and policy makers, and students in social, urban and environmental geography, sociology and urban studies.

Essential reading for students, this book uses a problem based learning approach through the application of case studies to explain the transformation agenda and the implications for adult health and social care.

Bringing together international research in social work, this book examines key concepts including the social determinants of health (SDoH) and human rights approaches to LGBT health.

The novel theoretical framework offered in this book presents a radical reconception of the place of knowledge in contemporary policy making in Europe.

The processes for allocating places at secondary schools in England are perennially controversial. Providing integrated coverage of the policy, practice and outcomes from 1944 to 2012, this book addresses the issues relevant to school admissions arising from three different approaches adopted in this period: planning via local authorities, quasi-market mechanisms, and random allocation. Each approach is assessed on its own terms, but constitutional and legal analysis is also utilised to reflect on the extent to which each meets expectations and values associated with schooling, especially democratic expectations associated with citizenship. Repeated failure to identify and pursue specific values for schooling, and hence admissions, can be found to underlie questions regarding the 'fairness' of the process, while also limiting the potential utility of judicial responses to legal actions relating to school admissions. The book adopts an interdisciplinary approach which makes it relevant and accessible to a wide readership in education, social policy and socio-legal studies.

This book offers a radical rethink of family policy in the UK. Clem Henricson, the family policy expert, analyses in detail the major shift in the role of the state viz a viz personal relationships in recent years, with its aspirations to reduce child poverty, increase social mobility and deliver social cohesion.Brought in by New Labour and carried forward, albeit in diluted form, by the Coalition, Henricson asks whether this philosophy of social betterment through manipulating the parent-child relationship is appropriate for family policy. She challenges the thinking behind the expectation that you can change a highly unequal society through the family route.Instead the argument is made for a family policy with its own raison d'etre, free of other government agendas. A premium is set on the need to manage the multiple core tensions in families of affection, empathy and supportiveness on the one hand and aggression, deception and self interest on the other. A set of coherent support and control polices for family relations are developed which endorse this awareness and embrace a fundamental shift in perspective for future progressive governments.

Realism and constructivism are often viewed as competing paradigms for understanding International Relations, but this innovative and cutting-edge volume provides an exposition of the realist constructivist approach and uses a series of international case studies to show what realist constructivist research can look like in practice.

From the vantage point of forty years in social research and the study of families, Julia Brannen offers an invaluable account of how research is conducted and 'matters' at particular times. This fascinating work covers key developments in the field that remain of vital concern to society and demonstrates how social research is an art as well as a science - a process that involves craft and creativity.

With contributions from over 90 authors and more than 60 individual contributions this collection summarises the findings of a large-scale EU funding project on Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (STYLE).

Examining what makes something evidence-based and not merely evidence-informed, this book unifies the voices of police practitioners, academics, and pracademics. It provides real world examples of evidence-based police practices and how police research can be created and applied in the field.

This edited collection critically explores the funding arrangements governing contemporary community development and how they shape its theory and practice.

Exploring in depth the journeys migrant youth take through the UK legal and care systems, this book contributes new thinking, from a social justice perspective, on migration and human rights for policy, practice and future research.

Understanding street-level bureaucracy gathers internationally acclaimed scholars to provide a state of the art account of theory and research on modern street-level bureaucracy, filling an important gap in the literature on public policy delivery.

Social Policy First Hand is the first comprehensive international social policy text from a participatory perspective and presents a new service user-led social policy that addresses the current challenges in welfare provision.

Gary Craig and his contributors blend theory and practice-based case studies to review how different community development approaches can empower minority ethnic communities to confront racism and overcome social, economic and political disadvantage.

This book maps out the contours of the European 'social investment' strategy, both at the ideational level and in terms of the policies implemented throughout Europe. It will appeal to both social policy scholars and policy experts.

This original and insightful reader provides a critical stock take of the state of user involvement and will be an important resource for students studying health and social care and social work, researchers and user activists.

This book summarises and builds on current knowledge and research about direct payments in the UK and considers developments in other European countries. It identifies good practice in the area and explores the implications of direct payments, both for service users and for social work staff.

Health policy thinking must change. This book explores the fundamental currents and tensions that lie behind recent trends such as shared decision-making, co-production, and personalisation. These are often discussed in relation to an epidemiological transition but this text argues that they embody a philosophical transition - a change in our conceptions of healthcare and of appropriate forms of knowledge and analysis. As clinical concerns are increasingly nested within social concerns then policy analysis must engage with the multiple philosophical tensions that are now centre stage. This focus on key underlying ideas and tensions in healthcare couldn't have come at a better time. With international relevance, the book's arguments help fuel a shift away from a 'delivery' model towards a more deliberative model of healthcare.

In this provocative new book, Peter Latham argues that the UK Conservative Government's devolution agenda conceals their real intention: to complete the privatisation of local government and other public services. Using illustrative examples from across the UK, including the so-called 'Northern Powerhouse' and the Midlands, the book explains the far-reaching implications of the reorganisation of local government that is already affecting vital public services, including education, health, housing and policing. Proposing an overhaul of the taxation system to include land value taxation, a wealth tax and more progressive income tax to fund an increase in directly provided services, the author argues that a new basis for federal, regional and local democracy is vital.

An up-to-date assessment by prominent scholars of the impacts of recent changes on key areas of urban planning, including housing, transport, and the environment, and core areas for future research.

The economic crisis has revealed the dark side of deregulation in the labour market: rising unemployment, limited access to social security and, due to low wages, no savings to count upon in bad times. This book casts light on the empirical relationship between labour market deregulation through non-standard contracts and the three main dimensions of worker security: employment, income and social security. Focusing on individual work histories, it looks at how labour market dynamics interact with the social protection system in bringing about inequality and insecurity. In this context Italy is put forward as the epitome of flexibility through non-standard work and compared with three similar countries: Germany, Spain and Japan. Results show that when flexibility is carried out as a mere cost-reduction device and social security only relies on insurance principles, deregulation leads to insecurity. 'The political economy of work security and flexibility' is essential reading for academics, students, practitioners and policy makers interested in the outcomes of labour market developments in advanced economies over the past twenty years.