POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Policy

Drawing on a range of perspectives, this international collection goes beyond a sole focus on public sector work to uniquely cover the impact of austerity on work across the private, public and voluntary spheres.

Challenging conventional thinking, leading academics explore how individuals’ relationships with civil society change over time as different lifecourse events and stages trigger and hinder civic engagement and political participation, and highlight the implications for those promoting greater civic and political engagement.

This book examines a participatory approach in child protection practices in Norway and the United States. It explores ways of empowering children; shows how they can be encouraged to express their own opinions and explores tools for child protection workers to negotiate complex boundaries around the inclusion of children in decision-making.

The impacts of austerity and welfare reform on work and employment relations are explored in this perceptive assessment. This book highlights the role of trade unions and social movements in challenging the insecurities and inequalities imposed by work-focused welfare policies such as Universal Credit and proposes progressive new paths for welfare.

Rogowski’s 2nd edition of this bestselling textbook responds to the major changes to social work practice since the first edition published. Fully updated with new material, it evaluates social work’s development over the last 150 years and calls for critical and radical changes to policy and practice based on social justice and social change.

Three leading sociologists examine Italy’s regime of poverty and the frequently misunderstood context of familialism in this in-depth study. With analysis of poverty’s roots and development and modern trends including the migrant ‘new poor’, it adds European perspectives for a better understanding of a persistent crisis.

Bringing together the voices of leading experts in the field, this edition offers an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship over the past year.

As marketisation and privatisation reshape the criminal justice system, this illuminating overview sets out their causes, scale and impacts.

With case studies and economic, sociological and criminological perspectives, leading academics consider the evolving roles of public, private and voluntary sectors and possible future reforms.

Offering important nuances and crucial insights into diverse gender identities and trans-related healthcare inequalities, this ground-breaking research marks an important contribution to the wider fields of gender studies, LGBTQ scholarship and medical policy.

This is the first full-length biography of Richard Titmuss, a pioneer of social policy research and an influential figure in Britain’s post-war welfare debates.

Research into minimum income standards and reference budgets around the world is compared in this illuminating collection from leading academics in the field.

Drawing on access to prominent policy makers, Purcell examines the origins and impact of children’s services reform under recent Labour and Conservative-led governments, including Labour’s Every Child Matters programme and the Munro Review. He also reassesses the impact of high-profile child abuse cases, including Victoria Climbié and Baby P.