Books published by Policy Press

The study, when published in 2002, received coverage across the globe from Brazil to Greece and attracted the support of the then High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. Anyone interested in understanding, campaigning or simply debating the issues facing policy makers today will find this book a rich and compelling resource.

This book challenges the underlying presupposition that regular employment is the royal road to inclusion. Drawing on original empirical research, it investigates the inclusionary and exclusionary potentials of different types of work, including activation programmes.

This book provides an essential introduction to the key concepts, issues, policies and practices affecting child welfare, with particular emphasis on the changing nature of relationships between child welfare and social policy. No other book brings together such a wide selection of material to form an indispensable teaching and learning resource.

This is the first in-depth study of children and young people caring for parents affected by severe and enduring mental illness. Drawing on primary research data collected from 40 families, the book presents the perspectives of children (young carers), their parents and the key professionals in contact with them.

Throughout Europe, standardised approaches to social policy and practice are being radically questioned and modified. Beginning from the narrative detail of individual lives, this book re-thinks welfare predicaments, emphasising gender, generation, ethnic and class implications of economic and social deregulation.

This classic text provides the first comprehensive examination of the social policy of New Labour. It compares and contrasts current policy areas with both the Old Left and the New Right and applies the concept of the 'third way' to both individual policy areas and broader cross-cutting themes.

This book is an invaluable resource, employing a 'bottom-up' approach to learning. It presents vivid examples of social work practice with children and families and real life illustrations of the challenges facing practitioners. With analysis of each section, it provides essential guidance for students and sets standards for training and practice.

This book explores the complex relationship between family change and public policy responses in EU member states and candidate countries. It combines broad-brush scrutiny of demographic trends, policy contexts and debates in contemporary European societies with a fine-grain analysis of the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of families.

This ground-breaking study provides important new insights into the dynamics of Britain's social and economic life. A total of 10,000 adults (from 5,500 households) were interviewed every year between 1991 and 1997, providing a unique picture of the processes and outcomes of important events in their lives.

The principle of service user involvement in decisions that affect them directly is now generally supported, but many voluntary organisations remain under scrutiny because of slow implementation. This report explores the processes of change in eleven voluntary organisations to draw out lessons relevant to the wider sector.

This groundbreaking book investigates and documents corporate influence on social policies at global/regional, national and local levels. It argues that we cannot understand the recent history and present direction of the welfare state unless we focus on the role that business has played in its development.

This revised edition includes a new foreword and an updated introduction and conclusion providing insights into the key issues. The book's contributors are all leading experts in their fields, and have studied the extent of child poverty, its consequences for children and the effectiveness of policies of prevention.

This second volume discusses both the meaning of the Learning Society for adults with learning difficulties, and use of social capital to explain patterns of lifelong learning. It presents five different 'trajectories' of lifelong learning, explores determinants of participation and non-participation in learning, and innovation in Higher Education.

This book provides an overview of key social issues set in the context of housing. From minority ethnic housing needs to the housing implications of domestic violence, this broad-ranging study shows how difference is regulated and deploys a distinctive theoretical perspective applicable to other aspects of welfare.

Can and should asset-based policies become a new pillar of the welfare state? Can they form the basis for a more egalitarian form of market economy? The citizen's stake throws open the debate by bringing together the ideas of leading thinkers in academia and policy to explore the future scope of asset-based policies in Britain.

This report presents the findings of the first ever national survey in the UK, in which nearly 600 parents took part and which looked at the needs and circumstances of minority ethnic families caring for a severely disabled child. The quantitative survey was then compared with data on the circumstances and experiences of white families.

This book examines the role of participants in research and how research ethics can be put into practice. Health, social, and journalistic research are currently subject to very different forms of regulation and codes of practice. By including the experiences of researchers and their subjects the book explores the disciplinary divides.

This first volume explores the ways lifelong learning can contribute to the development of knowledge and skills for employment, and other areas of adult life. It addresses the challenges for researchers to study issues that are central and directly relevant to the political and policy debate, and to take into account the reality of people's lives.