Building on our reputation for publishing high quality student textbooks, and cutting-edge work by leading authors, we are pleased to announce a major new list of titles in social care, suitable for a range of social work students and post-qualifying social workers.
Following in the Polity tradition, the books not only present a critical approach, but also provide exceptionally engaging introductions to the core themes in each area.
Visit our highlights page for more information on our new and forthcoming general interest titles.
Llewellyn, Agu & Mercer: Sociology for Social Workers
"The authors have succeeded in writing a sociology text that is highly relevant to social work practice. Clearly written chapters explore different theoretical explanations and perspectives that will provoke the reader to reflect and challenge their own and others’ world views."
Sheila Furness, University of Bradford
"This book gives sociology immediacy, using case studies, exercises and images to enable social work students to apply sociological theory to scenarios drawn from real life. A very accessible book which should be on every social work programme’s introductory reading list."
Marilyn Gregory, University of Sheffield
Dominelli:
Introducing Social Work
"Lena Dominelli has done it again. Already amongst the most widely read of social work authors, and with an international reputation, Professor Dominelli has written perhaps her most accessible book to date. Let us hope that it helps to attract many more people to the public service ethos of a much maligned and undervalued, yet critically important profession."
Audrey Mullender, Ruskin College
Hammick, Freeth, Copperman & Goodsman: Being Interprofessional
"All the best ideas are obvious when someone has thought of them; after they have read Being Interprofessional, many people will wonder why it was not written before."
Steve Trevillion, University of East London
Working interprofessionally is an essential part of successful health and social care provision in the twenty-first century. This engaging and easy-to-follow new text highlights the need for collaboration between practitioners from all branches of health and social care. It offers an indispensable guide to learning and working better together, and shows what being interprofessional really means.
Barnes & Mercer: Exploring Disability 2nd edition
"If students and teachers want one resource to assist in their exploration of disability studies, then this is it. It’s up-to-date, comprehensive and coherent, outlining the key themes and issues in a readable way. No-one studying disability on an undergraduate, postgraduate or professional training course should be without it."
Mike Oliver, Emeritus Professor, University of Greenwich
Hubley & Copeman: Practical Health Promotion
This introductory health promotion textbook assumes no previous knowledge of the subject. It includes comprehensive coverage of all the key topics in contemporary health promotion, including chapters on health promotion through the lifespan, one-to-one communication, working with groups, using the media and digital technologies, advocacy, and planning and management.
Nettleton: Sociology of Health and Illness 2nd Edition
"Sarah Nettleton’s Sociology of Health and Illness has become a major text for students studying medical sociology. This second edition is a welcome event ... Its up-to-date treatment of changes in research and health care is essential reading for those attempting to understand matters medical in today’s fast changing environment."
Mike Bury, University of London
This series of books provides students with an overview of the challenges and potential of working with various service-user groups, drawing on empirical evidence from practice and theoretical ideas from a range of disciplines.
McDonald: Social Work with Older People
"Eminently accessible in terms of structure, style and content, the book addresses core areas, such as assessment and care planning, but also engages in more original discussion of work with older people within family and community contexts. Above all, it conveys the important message that social work with older people is a highly skilled, challenging and rewarding area of practice."
Denise Tanner, University of Birmingham
Smith: Social Work with Young People
"Roger Smith's book is an excellent critical introduction for social work students and practitioners on working with young people. Blending theory, research and practice it challenges assumptions, champions a user-centred approach and promotes social justice in this contested and contentious area of practice."
Hugh McLaughlin, University of Salford
This series of concise, thoughtful books addresses key skills required for effective practice in the twenty-first century. Confronting key issues and debates, they aim to help students and practitioners across all service-user groups develop skills to work with confidence.
Hill: Working in Statutory Contexts
"This is an excellent book and should be compulsory reading for social work students. It is clearly written, sensitively related to social work practice, with some first-rate examples; above all, it really speaks to the realities of contemporary statutory professional practice in the twenty-first century. Andrew Hill has written a thorough but readable text for students which they will find useful at any stage in their qualification degree."
David Shemmings, University of Kent
Evans & Hardy: Evidence and Knowledge for Practice
"This is a refreshing book from so many angles. I find it engaging as well as sophisticated in its coverage of ideas and issues crucial to the average practitioner. It introduces a broad spread of theories and perspectives in an accessible and meaningful way."
Jan Fook, Royal Holloway, University of London
"The book succeeds in being intellectually rigorous yet accessible and is an invaluable guide to students, lecturers, policy-makers and practitioners on how to understand and use evidence and knowledge in social work."
Harry Ferguson, University of Nottingham
Dominelli: Social Work
Using a broad range of theories, this book outlines the knowledge, skills and values that enable practitioners to respond more effectively to the demands of working in fluid and constantly changing contexts. Underpinning the approach that it takes is the idea that ‘clients’ are citizens with social and human rights which have to be respected.
Phillips: Care
"This book engages the reader in numerous ways by tracking the development of social care, exploring its relevance to professional practice and public services and posing a set of questions about its future. Judith Phillips‘s volume will be a key resource for students, researchers and practitioners in understanding the perplexities of the subject."
Jill Manthorpe, King’s College, London
Barnes & Mercer: Disability
"This book is essential reading for all disability studies scholars. It is historically well-grounded and theoretically rigorous, carefully exploring theories of disability, impairment and the body. The nature of the social oppression experienced by disabled people is analysed, and disability is located in relation to gender, 'race' and social class. Like all good sociology, the book is highly accessible and an excellent read."
Sheila Riddell, University of Glasgow
