Books published by Policy Press

The ageing of the population has enormous policy implications for health care. This important new textbook, written by a leader in the field, covers key questions such as the fitness of older people in the future, the widening inequalities in the health of older people and how health in old age reflects habits and behaviour in earlier life.

This timely book explores how changing territorial politics are impacting on social citizenship rights across the UK.

This book takes a life course perspective, analysing and comparing the biographies of mothers and fathers in seven European countries in context.

Based on an impressive in-depth survey of 25,000 children carried out by the EU Kids Online network, this timely book examines the prospect for young internet users of enhanced opportunities for learning, creativity and communication set against the fear of cyberbullying, pornography and invaded privacy.

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.

Taking a broad international perspective, this highly topical book casts light on patterns and processes that either place groups of older adults at risk of exclusion or are conducive to their inclusion.

Based on an impressive in-depth survey of 25,000 children carried out by the EU Kids Online network, this timely book examines the prospect for young internet users of enhanced opportunities for learning, creativity and communication set against the fear of cyberbullying, pornography and invaded privacy.

Social capital, children and young people is about the relationships and networks - social capital - that children and young people have in and out of school.

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.

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.

Written by criminologists and policy analysts, Criminalisation and advanced marginality offers a constructive but critical application of Wacquant's ideas.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Chief police officers are often shadowy enigmas, even to members of their own forces, yet they make far-reaching strategic command decisions about policing, armed responses, operations against criminals and allocation of resources. What is their background? Where do they come from? How are chief officers selected? What do they think of those who hold them to account? Where do they stand on direct entry at different levels and what do they think of a National Police Force? Bryn Caless has had privileged access to this occupational elite and presents their frank and sometimes controversial views in this ground-breaking social study, which will fascinate serving officers, students of the police, academic commentators, journalists and social scientists, as well as concerned citizens who want to understand those who command our police forces.

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.

"Children, politics and communication" questions many of the conventional ways in which children are perceived. It is about how they communicate and engage, how they organise themselves and their lives, and how they deal with conflict in their relationships and the world around them.

Using an international and multi-disciplinary approach, this book provides a timely overview of the current issues in environmentalism and social policy. It explores many current debates, including: cities, housing and transport; citizenship and care; employment and green jobs; environmental governance and legislation; and globalisation.