Policy Press

General non-fiction

We publish serious non-fiction social commentary and debate for a wide audience. These high quality books are written by academics, professionals and other experts in an accessible way bringing key issues of social, political and cultural significance to a wide readership. These books have an impact: advancing knowledge, raising awareness and encouraging social change.

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Showing 49-60 of 97 items.

The End of Aspiration?

Social Mobility and Our Children’s Fading Prospects

Duncan Exley draws on expert research and real life experiences – including from an actor, a politician, a billionaire entrepreneur and a surgeon – to issue a wake-up call to break through segregated opportunity. He offers a manifesto to reboot our prospects and benefit all.

Policy Press

English Universities in Crisis

Markets without Competition

Student fees have saddled graduates with enormous debt, satisfaction rates are low, a high proportion of graduates are in non-graduate jobs, and public debt from unpaid loans is rocketing. This timely and challenging analysis gives robust new policy proposals to encourage excellence and ultimately benefit society.

Bristol Uni Press

The Class Ceiling

Why it Pays to be Privileged

This important book takes readers behind the closed doors of elite employers to reveal how class affects who gets to the top. Drawing on 200 interviews across four case studies - television, accountancy, architecture, and acting – it explores the complex barriers facing the upwardly mobile.

Policy Press

The Economics of Arrival

Ideas for a Grown-Up Economy

In this ground-breaking book, Trebeck and Williams challenge us to make ourselves at home with economic wealth, to ensure that everyone is included. They explore the possibility of ‘Arrival’, urging us to move from enlarging the economy to improving it, and the benefits this would bring for all.

Policy Press

The Lies We Were Told

Politics, Economics, Austerity and Brexit

Simon Wren-Lewis' widely-read Mainly Macro blog is an influential resource for policymakers, academics and social commentators. This book tells how damaging political and economic events of recent years became inevitable and serves as a warning to avert future disasters on this scale.

Bristol Uni Press

Invisible Britain

Portraits of Hope and Resilience

Edited by Paul Sng

A photographic ethnography book that features the stories and portraits of individuals across the UK who have been impacted by social issues such as austerity, Brexit, deindustrialisation, nationalism and cuts to public services.

Policy Press

The Right Amount of Panic

How Women Trade Freedom for Safety

With real-life accounts of women’s experiences, and based on the author’s original research, this book challenges the culture of victim-blaming and shows how much energy women put into avoiding sexual violence in public spaces.

Policy Press

Peak Inequality

Britain's Ticking Time Bomb

Dorling brings together new material alongside a selection of his most recent writing on inequality from publications including the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, New Statesman, Financial Times and the China People’s Daily. He explores whether we have now reached ‘peak inequality’ and concludes by predicting what the future holds for Britain.

Policy Press

The New Working Class

How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes

Who is working class today and how do political parties gain their support? This insightful book proposes what needs to be done to address the issues of the 'new working class'. It provides practical recommendations for political parties to reconnect with the electorate and regain trust.

Policy Press

White Privilege

The Myth of a Post-Racial Society

Why and how do those from black and minority ethnic communities continue to be marginalised? Bhopal explores how neoliberal policy-making has increased discrimination faced by those from non-white backgrounds. This important book examines the impact of race on wider issues of inequality and difference in society.

Policy Press

Kill It to Save It

An Autopsy of Capitalism’s Triumph over Democracy

Kill it to save it lays bare the hypocrisy of US political discourse by documenting the story of capitalism’s triumph over democracy. Dolgon argues that American citizens now accept policies that destroy the public sector and promote political stories that feel right “in the gut”, regardless of science or facts.

Policy Press

It's Basic Income

The Global Debate

Contributors including Brian Eno, Demos Helsinki, California’s Y Combinator Research and prominent academics explore the impact Universal Basic Income could have on work, welfare and inequality in the 21st century.

Policy Press