Books published by Bristol University Press

Providing innovative insights, this book moves the debate on migration and integration policies in the enlarged European Union and its member states onto new terrain.

This book examines the decriminalisation of all sectors of sex work in New Zealand. It provides first hand views and experience on this policy from the point of view of those involved in the sex industry, as well as people involved in developing, implementing, researching and reviewing the policies.

This book explores the economic, religious, political and personal forces that led to some 80,000 British children being sent to Canada between 1867 and 1915 and provides a vivid look at one aspect of the history of child welfare practices.

This review of research and development initiatives intended to help disabled people get (or stay in) work, takes views of disabled people as a yardstick by which to assess good practice. It pinpoints gaps in existing research, and highlights the varying requirements of disabled people, employers and service providers as users of research.

Focusing on a range of welfare issues this book examines the views, values and perceptions of a number of theorists from ancient times to the 19th century, including Plato, St Aquinas, Hobbes, Wollstonecraft and Marx.

This book seeks to understand the Right to Buy, the most controversial housing policy of the last 30 years, on its own terms, rather than most studies which focus on its negative impact. It explains how the policy links with a coherent ideology based on self-interest and the care of things close to us.

Health systems everywhere are experiencing rapid change in response to new threats to health, including from lifestyle diseases, risks of pandemic flu, and the global effects of climate change but health inequalities continue to widen. Such developments have profound implications for the future direction of public health policy and practice. The public health system in England offers a wide-ranging, provocative and accessible assessment of challenges confronting a public health system, exploring how its parameters have shifted and what the origins of dilemmas in public health practice are. The book will therefore appeal to public health professionals and students of health policy, potentially engaging them in political and social advocacy.

This updated edition of Understanding social citizenship provides an understanding of citizenship in relation to UK, EU and global welfare institutions. The second edition contains new topical sections on 'Cameron's Conservatism' and the EU and A8/10 migration in the UK.

Having a clear sense of which leadership ideas and practices are rooted in sound theory and convincing evidence, and which are more speculative, is vital for healthcare leaders. This book provides a coherent framework through which to scrutinise the leadership literature relevant to healthcare.

This fascinating fictional account will introduce the reader to key ideas in social and political philosophy. It presents crucial skills of philosophical investigation in an accessible, rigorous and light-hearted way. The novel is funny, informative and entertaining, allowing the reader to experience often complex ideas from the 'inside' by using skills they will have acquired, unconsciously, from films, TV and novels. The reader will learn about freedom, responsibility, justice and fairness and see how these are played out in the different utopian futures of a range of socio-political regimes. The book is supported by a companion website, containing additional materials for both students and lecturers using the book, which is available from the link above. This work of fiction covers the following philosophies: Market Liberal; Marxist/Communist; Communitarian/Republican; Moral Conservative; Egalitarian/Socialist; Social Democratic; Feminist; and Ecological.

Aimed at first-year undergraduates studying sociology and related disciplines, this introductory-level textbook presents key ideas and concepts in social theory and an account of their intellectual background.

Short-term prisoners have exceptionally high reconviction rates. Growing recognition of this and of deficiencies in prison-probation coordination has accelerated 'resettlement' of ex-prisoners up the penal agenda. This report looks at the effectiveness of these strategies in detail through three case studies of 'Resettlement Pathfinders' projects.

This highly topical book explores the conflicting demands on social workers as they record information on case files, and will stimulate a debate on how to achieve more effective recording in social work.

Essential reading for academics and students in the field, Social Policy Review 22: Analysis and debate in social policy, 2010 presents an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship, including an assessment of Labour's social policy after three terms in office.

This highly original book examines, for the first time, how the patient movement, which works to improve the quality of healthcare, can actually be considered an emancipation movement when led by its radical elements.

This book explores economic, social and environmental transformations in Europe and the USA to inform the regeneration of 'weak market cities'.

This book rethinks the public, public communication and public action in a globalising world. It looks at how publics are brought into being and how to develop research agendas into their formation, offering a rich set of methodological resources and stressing the need to examine the boundaries between theory, research and politics.

In this timely book, the author, with his life-long experience of international social security, advocates reinstating social insurance by reducing the volume of income redistribution, increasing the transparency of money flows and improving citizen information.

This student-friendly textbook uses theoretical perspectives to bring to life social theories relating to health and illness. including binge drinking, obesity, the prominence of therapy and the search for happiness.

The growth of the economy and the spread of prosperity are increasingly seen as problematic rather than positive - a trend Daniel Ben-Ami has termed 'growth scepticism'. Prosperity is accused of encourage greed, damaging the environment, causing unhappiness and widening social inequalities. Ferraris for all: A defence of economic progress is a rejoinder to the growth sceptics. Using examples from a range of countries, including the US, the author argues that society as a whole benefits from greater affluence. Action is needed - but to increase abundance and spread it worldwide, not to limit prosperity, as the sceptics would have it. The lively and provocative hardback edition was published to widespread coverage in 2010, and triggered debate and dissent in equal measure.

This book examines how religion and related beliefs have varied impacts on the needs and perceptions of practitioners, service users, and the support networks available to them.

This book documents the first five years of life of the children of the influential Millennium Cohort Study, looking at the children's lives and development as they begin formal education and the implications for family policy, and service planning in health and social services.

Choice pervades our society: it is founded on political rights to choose and our economy on market choices, but we have now reached the point where choice is extended almost everywhere. This lively and topical book provides a critique of choice in contemporary society and policy, arguing that we can have too much of a good thing. And there are alternatives. In part one, the author shows how choice works at a personal level, its demands, and how it can fail. By examining healthcare, education and pensions, he then explores the alternatives, such as provision. In part two the book reviews the impact of choice through the life cycle, in areas such as careers, relationships fertility, retirement and death. The author considers whether this enhances or burdens our lives, and questions the assumption that more choice is always for the better.

Government policy has steadfastly been against drug legalisation, but increasingly critics have argued that this is unsustainable. This book is a timely examination of the issues this raises. Numerous suggestions have been offered. Some seek complete legalisation, others a more modified form, yet still others want an increasing commitment to harm reduction policies. Philip Bean examines the implications of these proposals for individuals, especially juveniles, and for society, when set against crime reduction claims. He concludes with the necessary questions a rational drug policy must answer. The book will be essential reading for students and academics in criminology, sociology and social policy, as well as policy makers, practitioners and the general public.

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.

This original book analyses the links between development, population ageing and the experiences of older people, especially in developing countries where more than 80% of the increase in people aged over 60 will take place over the coming decades.

'Street capital' is aimed at postgraduates and academics in criminology, race and ethnicity, sociology, social theory and methodology. It will also be of interest to a wider social science audience, particularly those interested in using Bourdieu as a theoretical model.

This classic text presents Blair's Beveridge Lecture alongside the views of some of Britain's foremost policy analysts and commentators. It provides a rich tapestry of analysis, insight and reflection that will stimulate critical debate about the shape of British welfare for some time to come.

This book examines the principles and values that support an ethical approach to public health practice and provides examples of complex areas which those practising, analysing and planning the health of populations have to navigate.

"Faith in the public realm" takes an explicitly multi-faith perspective, exploring the controversies, policies and practices of 'public faith'. It questions perceptions of a fixed divide between religious and secular participants in public life and challenges prevailing concepts of a monolithic 'neutral' public realm.