Books published by Bristol University Press

This is the first book to take a sociological approach to grandparenting across diverse country contexts and combines new theorising with up-to-date empirical findings to document the changing nature of grandparenting across global contexts.

Social justice and social policy in Scotland offers a critical engagement with the state of social policy in Scotland, focusing on a diverse range of topics and issues, including income inequalities, work and welfare, criminal justice, housing, education, health and poverty, each reflecting the themes of social inequality and social justice.

This highly topical book presents recent, significant research from eight nations where childcare markets are the norm.

In examining how our identity shapes the knowledge we produce, Mental health service users in research considers ways of 'doing research' which bring multiple understandings together effectively, and explains the sociological use of autobiography and its relevance.

This original and topical book tells the untold stories of migrants' experiences of, and responses to, financial exclusion in London. Breaking important new ground, it offers an insight into migrants' lives which is often overlooked, yet is increasingly vital for their broader integration into advanced financialised societies. Adopting a holistic focus, Migrants and their Money investigates migrants' complex financial lives which extend far beyond remittance sending, exploring their banking, saving, credit and debt related practices. It highlights how migrants negotiate the complex financial landscape they encounter and the diverse formal and informal ways in which they manage their money in the financial capital of the world. Drawing upon a rich evidence base, this book will be of particular interest to academics, local authorities, policy makers and the financial services industry.

This is the first book to take a sociological approach to grandparenting across diverse country contexts and combines new theorising with up-to-date empirical findings to document the changing nature of grandparenting across global contexts.

Based on documentary research and extensive interviews, this book breaks new ground by relating the personal histories of child care pioneers to wider policy and practice developments.

This is the first comprehensive text on commissioning for health and social care taking students, practitioners and managers through key stages of the commissioning cycle as well as addressing cross-cutting themes.

This original book explores the importance of geographical processes for policies and professional practices related to childhood and youth. Contributors from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds explore how concepts such as place, scale, mobility and boundary-making are important for policies and practices in diverse contexts.

This important textbook makes a timely contribution to international agendas in social work with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people. It examines how practitioners and student social workers can provide appropriate care across the lifespan (including work with children and families and older people) and considers key challenges in social work practice, for example asylum, mental health, and substance misuse. Drawing on practice scenarios, the book takes an enquiry-based learning approach to facilitate critical reflection. Its distinctive approach includes: * use of the concepts of the Professional Capabilities Framework for social work * key theoretical perspectives including human rights * structuring of the text around the framework of the UK National Occupational Standards for Social Work * student-friendly features including key questions and exercises * a complete glossary of key terms and concepts * examination of the UK policy and legislative context It is informed by international research in social work with LGBT people The book is essential reading for students on qualifying social work programmes and practitioners in statutory, voluntary and independent sectors.

Obama and the Biracial Factor is the first book to explore the significance of mixed-race identity as a key factor in the election of President Obama and examines the sociological and political relationship between race, power, and public policy in the United States.

Social justice and social policy in Scotland offers a critical engagement with the state of social policy in Scotland, focusing on a diverse range of topics and issues, including income inequalities, work and welfare, criminal justice, housing, education, health and poverty, each reflecting the themes of social inequality and social justice.

The relationship between gender and welfare states is of key importance in understanding welfare states and gender equality and inequality. Western welfare states of the post-war era were built on assumptions about gender difference: they treated men as breadwinners and women as carers. Now governments are committed in principle to gender equality. But how far have they come from male breadwinner assumptions to gender equality assumptions? How much do gender differences continue in UK social policy and social practice? The book analyses the male breadwinner model in terms of power, employment, care, time and income, providing a framework for chapters which ask about policies and practices for gender equality in each of these. This new approach to analysis of gender equality in social welfare contextualises national policies and debates within comparative theoretical analysis and data, making the volume interesting to a wide audience.

Social work and social care services should treat older people as citizens with the same humanity and rights as every other citizen. That means services of all kinds engaging older people in a fulfilling, creative life in the mainstream of each community. Informed by a wide international literature, Malcolm Payne, a leading social work author, develops a critical and creative social work practice focused on social inclusion to achieve a high quality of life for all older people and explores how advance care planning allows older people to influence the space they live in and the quality of care that they need, and support at the end of life. He shows how integrated services can provide a secure place for older people, with opportunities for personal development and creativity in their lives and that groupwork should be a crucial part of any service to facilitate mutual support and advocacy for older people and their carers. This clearly written and well-structured textbook uses case examples and reflective points to illustrate concepts and will be essential reading for all social work students. CUSTOMERS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA: Copies of this title are available from Lyceum Publishing, www.lyceumbooks.com

This is the first comprehensive text on commissioning for health and social care taking students, practitioners and managers through key stages of the commissioning cycle as well as addressing cross-cutting themes.

Collaborative working is an established feature of the public, business and third sector environments, but its effectiveness can be hampered by complex structural and personal variants. This original book explores the influence of agency through the role of individual actors in collaborative working processes, known as boundary spanners. It examines the different aspects of the boundary spanner's role and discusses the skills, abilities, and experience that are necessary. It will be of interest to academics, researchers and students interested in this field of study, and provides learning for policy makers and practitioners active in the fields of collaboration.

This book examines how new dimensions of diversity and difference, so often debated in the national context, are emerging at the neighbourhood level.

This new edition for advanced students and practitioners is substantially updated to reflect the changes in the field since the publication of the first edition and contains multiple additional chapters discussing new and emerging topics for those in the fields of social work, education and health care.

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.

Presenting the latest thinking in the field, this book bridges a major gap in knowledge by considering both theoretical and practical issues relating to community research methodologies.

Western politicians consider that leadership is essential for the delivery of educational reform. This important and timely book examines how leaders, leading and leadership became the dominant theme in education. It presents an analysis of the relationship between the state, public policy and the types of knowledge that New Labour used to make policy and break professional cultures. It is essential reading for all those interested in public policy, education policy, and debates about governance and will be of interest to policymakers, researchers and educational professionals.

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 describes China's contribution to global warming and analyzes its policy responses, examining China's practical and ethical responsibility from a variety of perspectives.

This book tells the story of Sure Start, one of the flagship programmes of the last government. It tells how Sure Start was set up, the numerous changes it went through, and how it has changed the landscape of services for all young children in England. Offering insight into the key debates on services for young children, as well as how decisions are made in a highly political context, it will be of keen interest to policy academics, senior managers of public services and all those with a keen interest in developing services for young children.

Minimum income protection provides the last social safety net for people in need. The book provides a systematic comparative and longitudinal analysis of minimum income protection systems in 17 EU countries based on a newly developed dataset. Country-specific chapters providing institutional overviews are combined with comparative quantitative indicators on issues such as benefit levels, expenditures and beneficiaries. The book will be of major interest to researchers, scholars and experts in income protection, poverty and the welfare state.

This book offers a unique perspective on ideas about late life as expressed in social policy and socio-cultural constructs of age with lived experience.

Successive governments have promised to reform criminal justice in England and Wales and to make it more efficient and more effective in preventing and reducing crime. And yet there is still a feeling that not enough has been achieved and more has to be done - a feeling that the English riots in August 2011 painfully revived. Where Next for Criminal Justice? offers a principled framework for the development of policy, legislation and practice, and argues with examples for an approach to criminal justice which acknowledges the limitations on what governments and reforms of criminal justice can achieve on their own, and where the focus is on promoting procedural justice and legitimacy; fostering human decency and civility; and enabling prevention, restoration and desistance from crime.

How can we understand older people as real human beings, value their wisdom, and appreciate that their norms and purposes both matter in themselves and are affected by those of others? Using a life-course approach this book argues that the complexity and potential creativity of later life demand a humanistic vision of older people and ageing.

This book explores the exchange of support between generations and examines variations in contemporary practice and theory in different societies around the world. It draws on theoretical perspectives to discuss both newly emerging patterns of family reciprocity and more established ones affected by changing issues in contemporary societies.

Drawing on the best available research evidence, 'Managing transitions' highlights issues common to all experiencing transition as well as the dilemmas specific to particular situations. It addresses significant transitions relevant to policy and practice, covering key transition points in social care from childhood to old age.