Böcker utgivna av Policy Press

This book examines who is likely to have a baby as a teenager, the consequences of early motherhood and how teenage pregnancy is dealt with in the media. The author argues that society's negative attitude to young mothers marginalises an already excluded group and that efforts should be focused on support.

The politics of parental leave policies addresses how and why, and by whom, particular policies are created and subsequently developed in particular countries. It examines the factors that bring about variations in leave policy, covering fifteen countries in Europe and beyond.

A wide-ranging review of the literature relating to poverty and ethnicity has identified the stark differences in rates of poverty according to ethnic group. This review brings together the available evidence on different aspects of poverty and examines what has been studied in relation to its causes. A free pdf is available at www.jrf.org.uk

Modernising health care: Reinventing professions, the state and the public is a crucial contribution to debates about the rapid modernisation of health care systems and the dynamics of changing modes of governance and citizenship.

This much-needed new textbook introduces readers to the development of China's welfare polices since its conception of an open-door policy in 1978. Setting out basic concepts and issues, including key terms and the process of policy making, it overcomes a major barrier to understanding Chinese social policy. The book explores in detail the five key policy areas of employment, social security, health, education and housing. Each is examined using a human well-being framework comprising both qualitative and quantitative data and eight dimensions: physical and psychological well-being, social integration, fulfilment of caring duties, human learning and development, self-determination, equal value and just polity. This enables the authors to provide not only factual information on policies but also an in-depth understanding of the impact of welfare changes on the quality of life of Chinese people over the past three decades. A major strength of the book lies in its use of primary Chinese language sources, including relevant White Papers, central and local government policy documents, academic research studies and newspapers for each policy area. There are very few books in English on social policy in China, and this book will be welcomed both by academics and students of China and East Asian studies and comparative social policy and by those who want to know more about China's social development.

Policies to increase participation in learning need to concern themselves not only with increasing access and appreciating the different contexts in which learning takes place, but also with the different forms of learning. This report constitutes an exploratory study of the submerged mass of learning, which takes place informally and implicitly.

With new devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, this book provides a study of developments in the major areas of social policy and a full comparison between the four UK nations.

Specialist forms of housing with care are becoming increasingly popular in the United Kingdom, largely as a result of the ageing of the population and the relative wealth of the latest generation of older people. Retirement villages and extra care housing are two models of provision that have seen particularly spectacular growth. This is partly because in many ways they are perceived to promote government agendas for increasing independence and wellbeing for older people. They also aim to meet older people's aspirations for a good quality of life in their retirement years and to live somewhere they feel they belong. Many such housing developments are marketed as 'communities of like minded people', offering security, peace of mind, a range of facilities and new opportunities for friendship and social interaction. This important book investigates changing concepts and experiences of community across the lifecourse and into older age and how they play out in housing with care settings. An overview of how the housing with care sector has developed, both in the UK and internationally, is provided. The book emphasizes the central importance of a sense of community for older people's quality of life and explores the impact of a range of factors including social networks, inclusive activities, diversity and the built environment. The book will be of particular interest to students in the fields of gerontology, social policy, housing, planning, the built environment and community development. It will also appeal to academics, policy makers, practitioners, service providers and researchers, both in the UK and other countries with similar housing with care options, including the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

This book examines income-related housing allowance schemes in advanced welfare states as well as in transition economies of central and eastern Europe as a more efficient way to help tenants than rent controls or 'bricks and mortar' subsidies to landlords.

This book identifies key topics in the policy arena, subjecting them to sustained theoretical and practical appraisal. It shows the advantage of applying a cross-disciplinary lens to the study of 'policy', presenting critical and reflective engagements with theory and practice at all levels of political organisation within a range of contexts.

Immigration under New Labour presents the first comprehensive account of immigration policy over the last ten years, providing an in-depth analysis of policy and legislation since Tony Blair and New Labour were first elected.

The book provides a broad and critical look at policy and practice in residential child care and the ideas that have shaped the development of the sector.

The starting point of Ann Oakley's fascinating book is the fracture of her right arm in the grounds of a hotel in the USA. What begins as an accident becomes a journey into some critical themes of modern Western culture: the crisis of embodiment and the perfect self; the confusion between body and identity; the commodification of bodies and body parts; the intrusive surveillance and profiteering of medicine and the law; the problem of ageing; and the identification of women, particularly, with bodies - from the intensely ambiguous two-in-one state of pregnancy to women's later transformation into unproductive, brittle skeletons. Fracture mixes personal experience (the author's and other people's) with 'facts' derived from other literatures, including the history of medicine, neurology, the sociology of health and illness, philosophy, and legal discourses on the right to life and people as victims of a greedy litigation system. The book's genre spans fiction/non-fiction, autobiography and social theory.

There has already been much discussion and critique of the New Public Management, and the impact of auditing and inspection on professional work in schools, hospitals, local government and the police. This study, by a qualitative sociologist, uses interpretive methods to examine this new form of regulation from the inside. Based on interviews with inspectors, quality assurance managers, and auditors, as well as with professionals struggling with red tape, it offers a critical and insightful account of organisational change. The author includes vivid accounts of how quality assurance procedures and systems work in practice, conveying a sense of what is practically involved in the work of counting, measuring and managing quality, and the everyday frustrations of professionals dealing with ever-increasing amounts of paper work and red tape. This book should be essential reading for anyone concerned about the rise of this new bureaucracy and the contemporary state of the professions. It is intended to support courses on quality assurance and the New Public Management in public administration and management. It also provides an accessible introduction for students in socio-legal studies, sociology and social policy about the effects of neo-liberalism on public sector work.

This book builds upon popular texts addressing anti-discriminatory frameworks but focuses specifically upon black perspectives in social work. It addresses new developments and charts the impact of social changes and new literature shaping social work theory and practice with black and minority individuals, families and communities.

New Labour have set themselves up to specifically address women's issues and attract women voters, but how successful have they been? This book offers an analysis of New Labour's politics and policies from a gendered perspective.

This Handbook is the definitive resource for anyone wishing to quickly look up and understand key concepts and measurements relating to socioeconomic position and inequalities.

"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 book provides one of the first assessments of the widely used but extremely controversial Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) as a method for dealing with anti-social behaviour in the UK.

This book examines the key issues of what policing is about and who defines it by exploring the notion of zero tolerance and its application in different settings.

Making a committed argument for a participative, inclusive understanding of the term, Paul Spicker examines views about what poverty is and what should be done about it.

This book analyses male violence against women and children, and the mechanisms society develops to push it out of sight.

This important book addresses a growing international interest in 'age-friendly' communities, examining the conflicting stereotypes of rural communities as either idyllic and supportive or isolated and bereft of services.

"Social Policy Review" provides students, academics and all those interested in welfare issues with critical analyses of progress and change in areas of major interest during the past year.

This attractive and accessible textbook analyses and examines the policies, services and practice skills needed for collaborative, effective and equitable work with children.

This accessible textbook illustrates how good communication and positive and participative relationships can be developed with children across the range of universal and specialist children's services.

This in-depth study explores the motivations for 'planned' teenage pregnancy in England. The findings have important implications for the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy and the increasing political agenda on young people and health. A free pdf version of this report is available online at www.jrf.org.uk

This book considers what makes us happy, using a new approach that directly addresses the circumstances under which highly subjective well-being is experienced, often with surprising results.

Contributions reflect key developments in the UK and internationally. and focus on developments and change in core UK social policy areas. Additional chapters provide in-depth analyses of topical issues in UK and international perspective, while this year's themed section is 'New Labour'.

Recent trends and policy developments have called into question the divide between the provision of income support and social care services. This book addresses this theme with reference to key trends: individualisation, citizen responsibility, the decline of the married male breadwinner and new ways of supporting disabled and older people.