Books

Four major books based on the PSE UK research have been published.

A two-volume, comprehensive, analysis of the findings of the 2012 Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK research was published by Policy Press on November 29, 2017. 'Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK: Volume 1 - The nature and extent of the problem', edited by Esther Dermott and Gill Main (Policy Press, £24.99), reports on the nature and extent of the problem for different groups while 'Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK: Volume 2 - The dimensions of disadvantage', edited by Glen Bramley and Nick Bailey (Policy Press £29.99), examines a range of dimensions of disadvantage and provides an authorative account of different welfare outcomes achieved across the UK.

 'Breadline Britain – the rise of mass poverty’ by Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack (One World, £9.99), published in 2015, provides an overview of the main findings and trends since 1983 and examines the social, economic and political changes that have led to a doubling of poverty across this period.  

'Families and Poverty: Everyday life on a low income' by Professor Mary Daly and Dr Grace Kelly (Policy Press, £24.99) uses the findings from the qualitative component of the research, to look at the role and significance of family in a context of poverty.

In addition, contributory chapters, based on various aspects of the research have been published in a number of other books. Full details are below.

Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK: Volume 1 - The nature and extent of the problem

Edited by Esther Dermott and Gill Main, 2018, Policy Press, £24.99

Summary

Based on the Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK 2012 survey, this volume provides unique and detailed insights into the nature and extent of poverty and social exclusion in the UK today.

Members of the PSE research team and other leading academics contribute chapters on the extent and nature of poverty for different groups: older and younger people; parents andchildren; ethnics groups; men and women; disabled people; and across regions. Against the backdrop of the recent period of austerity, it reflects on where givernment policies have made an impact.

Endorsements

'Comprehensive, shocking and revealing. How the UK declined and poverty rose as economic inequality spread across the land', Danny Dorling, University of Oxford.

'The PSE survey has made a unique contribution to our understanding of deprivation in modern Britain. This book presents a valuable tabeau of its finding', Donald Hirsch, Loughborough University.

 

Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK: Volume 2 - The dimensions of disadvantage

Edited by Glen Bramley and Nick Bailey, 2018, Policy Press, £29.99

Summary

This second volume, based on the Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK survey, explores how poverty has changed over time and the relationships between poverty and other forms of disadvantage or social exclusion.

Written by members of the PSE research team and other leading academics, chapters consider, along with poverty, access to services, social relations or civic participation, health and well-being to develop a multi-dimensional analysis of disadvanatage and social exclusion. 

Endorsements

'This report's unique analysis highlights the pressing need for a comprehensive and long-term plan to solve poverty in the UK', Campbell Robb, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

'This excellent book achieves the near impossible task of analysing social exclusion quantitatively, while maintaining the sense of the lived experience of poor and excluded inviduals and families', Naomi Eisenstadt, Oxford University.

Breadline Britain – the rise of mass poverty

By Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack, 2015, One World, £9.99

 

Summary

Over the last thirty years national income has doubled. So has poverty. Where did it all go wrong?

Poverty in Britain is at crisis levels. Food bank queues, poor housing and insecure jobs are on the rise, leaving increasing numbers of people with their most basic needs unmet – and millions of children damaged by a lack of opportunities.

Based on exclusive access to a unique series of surveys conducted in the UK over three decades, Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack reveal the shocking state of deprivation in Britain today and debunk the myth that poverty is down to a ‘something for nothing’ benefits system. Instead the blame lies  with the massive shift in power from the workforce to corporation that has led to an increasingly uneven division of the cake.

Hard-hitting and timely, this book argues that only wholly different political choices will reverse the fall in living standards experienced by so many Britons today.

Endorsements

'Hard-hitting… researched and argued so carefully - and sensitively - that it is difficult to disagree' - Times Literary Supplement

'Tells the stories of those who are voiceless. Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack forensically dissect poverty... All politicians should be made to read this book' -Independent

'I remember very clearly my sense of elation when I first saw the material that went into Mack and Lansley’s enlightening, but disturbing, study, Poor Britain, The new book, Breadline Britain, is a brilliant continuation of Mack’s deep engagement with the investigation of unacceptable poverty in Britain’s otherwise prosperous economy.'  - Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics

'Inequality is the biggest challenge of our time. This important book exposes the real causes of poverty in modern Britain and makes a powerful case for the radical change we need to build a fairer and more equal society.' - Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee

'Careful and hard hitting. The book leaves our politicians no excuses.' - Richard Wilkinson, co-author of The Spirit Level

'Indispensable. Analytically sophisticated as well as viscerally stirring.' - David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain, 1945-51

'The big debates about social and economic policy in Western countries are shifting from concerns about poverty to a recognition that growing inequality is our fundamental problem. Stewart Lansley and Joanna Mack, who have been working in this field for a generation, offer a massively convincing analysis of this problem and the policies it calls for.' - David Donnison, Emeritus Professor of Regional and Town Planning, University of Glasgow and former Chair of the Supplementary Benefits Commission

'An impressive attempt to document the scale of mass poverty in contemporary Britain. It follows in the Fabian tradition of rigorous social research on poverty established in the late nineteenth century, painstakingly sifting through empirical data while setting out a practical programme underpinned by a coherent political analysis.' - Journal of Social Policy

Families and Poverty: Everyday life on a low income

By Professor Mary Daly and Dr Grace Kelly, 2015, Policy Press, £24.99

 

 

Summary

The recent radical cutbacks of the welfare state in the UK have meant that poverty and income management continue to be of great importance for intellectual, public and policy discourse. Written by leading authors in the field, the central interest of this innovative book is the role and significance of family in a context of poverty and low-income.

Based on a micro-level study carried out in 2011 and 2012 with 51 families in Northern Ireland, it offers new empirical evidence and a theorisation of the relationship between family life and poverty. Different chapters explore parenting, the management of money, family support and local engagement.

By revealing the ordinary and extraordinary practices involved in constructing and managing family and relationships in circumstances of low incomes, the book will appeal to a wide readership, including policy makers.

 

Endorsements

'A most original reflection on the impact of poverty and austerity on families - theoretically driven and empirically grounded. Wonderful work.' - Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, University of York

'This is both a compelling empirical account of how families live with poverty and a thoughtful theoretical analysis of the relationship between family and poverty.' - Professor Jane Millar, University of Bath

'Its emphasis upon relationships and human interaction gives policy makers richer evidence...around concepts of social, material and economic wellbeing.' - Journal of Social Policy

'This work provides a rare and nuanced insight into the several levels at which the 'sense' of family may enable families on low incomes to survive or 'get by'.' - Professor Hartley Dean, London School of Economics

'This book is an excellent introduction to the study of how poverty affects family life and how families seek to negotiate and resist the impact of low income.' - Stephen Crossley, University of Durham

Chapters based on the PSE UK research in other books

Mack J (2017) 'Child Maltreatment and Child Mortality', The Violence of Austerity (Chapter 7), edited by Cooper, V. and Whyte, D. London: Pluto Press (2017). ISBN 978-0-7453-9948-5

Tomlinson, M., Hillyard, P., & Kelly, G. (2014). ‘Child Poverty in Northern Ireland: Results from the Poverty and Social Exclusion Study.’ In Beneath the Surface: Child Poverty in Northern Ireland. (pp. 11-34). [Chapter 2] Belfast: Child Poverty Alliance. Child Poverty in Northern Ireland: Results from the Poverty and Social Exclusion Study. Full text: http://www.ci-ni.org.uk/DatabaseDocs/nav_4786494__beneaththesurface_web.pdf

Fahmy E (forthcoming) 'Youth Poverty in the UK, 1999-2012: Continuity and change'. In R Rogers, S Blackman (Eds.)  Where Now for Social Justice? The Marginalisation of young people in the UK. Bristol : The Policy Press.

Fahmy E, Bell K (in press, 2016) 'Using paradata to evaluate survey quality: Behaviour coding the 2012 PSE-UK survey'. In Edward R, Goodwin J, O’Connor H, Phoenix A (Eds.) Working with Paradata, Marginalia and Fieldnotes: The Centrality of By-Products of Social Research. London: Edward Elgar.

Fahmy E, Pemberton S, Sutton E (2015) 'Mixed Methods in Poverty Measurement: Determining the ‘necessities of life’ in the 2012 PSE-UK survey'. In L Camfield, K Roelen (Eds.) Mixed methods in Poverty Research: Advancing the Art. London : Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-45250-2.

 

 

 

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