Sociology

Written by an international team of authors, this ambitious volume offers radical alternatives to staid ways of thinking on the most crucial global challenges of our times. Bridging real examples of political agency, collective action and mutual aid with big-picture concepts, the book encourages readers to ‘be a Zapatista’, wherever they are.

This book offers both a road map and a vision of what being a scholar can be when reimagined in the digital era to enliven the public good. It discusses digital innovations in higher education as well as reflecting upon what these mean in an age of austerity.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book draws on the accounts of 170 individuals who had, or led, a wedding ceremony outside the legal framework. The authors examine what these ceremonies can tell us about how couples want to marry, and what aspects of the current law preclude them from doing so.

Ainley explains how English education is now driven by the economy and politics, having failed to deliver upward social mobility and a brighter future. Concludes with suggestions for positive change.

The year 2023 marks 50 years of mass incarceration in the United States and this timely volume addresses the ramifications of this policy on justice-impacted people and our communities. It offers practical solutions for advocates, policy and lawmakers for addressing mass incarceration and its effects to create a more just, fair and safer society.

This controversial book argues that concepts such as ‘successful’ and ‘active’ ageing are potentially dangerous paradigms that reflect and exacerbate inequalities in older populations. Essential reading for anyone seeking to make sense of social constructions of ageing in contemporary societies.

This volume challenges the idea of wage employment as the global norm, comparing lived experiences of ‘ordinary work’ across conceptual and geographical boundaries and opening up new possibilities for how work, income, identity and care might be woven together differently.

"Beyond the workfare state" explores equality, discrimination and human rights in relation to employability and 'welfare-to-work' policies bringing together a wide and distinctive range of illustrative studies that gives voice to a variety of potentially marginalised groups.

This volume focuses on the place of biographical research in social futures and its creative applications in the new unprecedented societal circumstances, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What does mothering mean in different cultures and societies? This book extensively applies biographical and narrative research methods to mothering from international perspectives. Considering self-care, rapport, trust and self-reflection, the collection advances methodological practice in the study of mothers, carers and childless women’s lives.

This sociological collection advances the argument that the concept of a "turning point" expands our understanding of life experiences from a descriptive to a deeper and more abstract level of analysis.