POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare

This book analyses fresh empirical evidence which demonstrates the gendered impacts of the new conditionality regime within Universal Credit. Drawing on in-depth interviews with mothers, it offers a compelling narrative and policy recommendations to make the social citizenship framework in the UK more inclusive of women.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and the author’s own experience, this book explores how diverse welfare users navigate the personal and practical hurdles of Australia’s social security system.

Inspired by ideas from economic theology, this provocative book uncovers deep-rooted religious concepts and shows how they continue to influence contemporary views of work and unemployment.

This book traces the journey of victims/survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking into and within the UK, from recruitment to representation to (re)integration. It offers crucial suggestions for better public awareness, policies and practices that will impact interventions in the UK and beyond.

The governance of illegal drug use is often subject to polarized debate, with political preferences seemingly driven by the need to appeal to populist fears. Based upon research with ‘elite’ insiders, David Brewster explores global cannabis policy approaches and offers future directions for policy making and comparative criminology.

This book uses qualitative longitudinal data, from repeat interviews with people subject to compulsion and sanction in their everyday lives, to analyse the effectiveness and ethicality of welfare conditionality in promoting and sustaining behaviour change in the UK.

Rather than being seen simply as social policy implementors, in recent decades there has been recognition of the unique insights that social workers can bring to policy formulation. This book offers a theoretical framework for understanding why social workers engage in policy, and the implications for research, education and practice.

Most governments in the world have taken responsibility for social policy and elected to develop services in health, education and social security. This book explores the role of government and the state in the contemporary world and discusses views about government responsibility for social welfare services.

This book sets out practical and theoretically robust approaches for understanding and tracking change that any organisation can use to evaluate their contribution to social change and become more efficient and effective.

Drawing on the history of social care, international comparisons and lived experience, this vital book outlines a different vision of social care as an essential part of England’s economic and social infrastructure that enables people to live good lives.

Essential reading for Best Interests Assessor students and practitioners, this fully-updated handbook gives practical advice on the legal aspects, values and practice elements of the role. It takes account of the Mental Capacity Amendment Act 2019 and the new context for practice in the Approved Mental Capacity Professional role.

This book explores how the uncertainties of the 21st century present existential challenges to civil society. Presenting original empirical findings, it highlights transferable lessons that will inform policy and practice in today’s age of uncertainty.