Textbooks

There is a growing recognition of the importance of networking for the vitality and cohesion of community life. Now in its third edition, and substantially updated, this textbook combines practical experience and theory for people working with and for communities.

This student-friendly textbook uses theoretical perspectives to bring to life social theories relating to health and illness. including binge drinking, obesity, the prominence of therapy and the search for happiness.

Drawing on geographical, cinematic and photographic readings, this unique book looks at how places change, the role of planners in bringing about urban change, and the public's attitudes to that change.

This book shows conclusively that inequalities in health are the scandal of our times in the most unequal of rich nations and calls for immediate action to reduce these inequalities in the near future.

This lively textbook, part of the successful Understanding Welfare series, helps us to understand policy, politics and practice. It combines an in-depth exploration of selected theoretical perspectives and concepts with a student-friendly format.

Demonstrating the relevance of theory to political and policy debates and practice, this dynamic and fully updated second edition helps students to grasp the real-life implications of social policy theory. It includes a new chapter featuring debates around disability, sexuality and the environment.

Using core concepts of policy analysis "Understanding the policy process" builds up a full explanation of social policy change that can be applied to any aspect of welfare policy, public and social policy. This second edition of the book updates the first edition for the post-Blair era with international case studies from numerous countries.

This updated edition, written by social policy and welfare experts, shows how the mixed economy of welfare links with the important conceptual and policy debates.

Although state provision may have dominated in Britain since 1945, there is a growing movement towards welfare pluralism - a mixed economy of welfare - involving private, voluntary and informal sectors. This book, written by social policy and welfare experts, sheds light on this neglected area of social policy.

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.

A substantial, authoritative, third edition of this important textbook about the impact of economic priorities and pressures on social policies at a time when neo-liberal arguments for reducing the burden of welfare are more dominant than ever before.

"Understanding social welfare movements" is the first text to bring together social policy and social movement studies. The book provides a timely and much needed overview of the changing nature of social welfare as it has been shaped by the demands of social movements.