Health and wellbeing

Alisoun Milne, author of 'Mental Health in Later Life' argues that we need to challenge ‘the usual culprits’ when thinking about the causes of mental ill health amongst older people. Age related losses undermine mental health, but lifecourse and structural risks play a significant role too.…Read more

Mary Holmes and Åsa Wettergren talk about how the Emotions and Society journal came about and the importance of the sociology of emotions to our understanding of society.…Read more

In advance of Thursday's General Election, Professor Judith Smith, Director of the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham, examines the main causes of NHS pressure that need attention by a new Government and the manifesto pledges that promise to address them…Read more

In this episode of the Transforming Society podcast we speak to Sam Wren-Lewis, author of The Happiness Problem: Expecting Better in an Uncertain World. In his book, Sam argues that the way we’re thinking about happiness in modern societies is wrong. We’re not seeing the bigger picture because we’re so focused on control and distracted Read More

Sam Wren-Lewis talks about his book The Happiness Problem: Expecting Better in an Uncertain World.  He argues that we are thinking about happiness in the wrong way, but that by changing our approach away from control and towards understanding, we might have a chance of transforming society for the better.   The Happiness Problem by Read More

In their ground-breaking book, The Economics of Arrival, Katherine Trebeck and Jeremy Williams argue that, although everyday economics tells us there is no such thing as enough growth, we have, in fact, ‘arrived’. Economic growth has already brought unrivalled prosperity for GDP-rich countries; we have enough. The challenge is now to make ourselves at home Read More

Does the practice of hiring nannies and au pairs challenge inequalities in and between families, or does it reproduce them? Sara Eldén and Terese Anving, the authors of the first book in the Sociology of Children and Families series, Nanny Families: Practices of Care by Nannies, Au Pairs, Parents and Children in Sweden, answer this Read More

This week Bristol University Press proudly launches the first issue of Emotions and Society. Editors in Chief Mary Holmes and Åsa Wettergren, and Co-Editor Nathan Manning introduce the inaugural issue out now. With a sense of amused irony, the editorial team have reflected on the highly emotional, as well as long intellectual and administrative journey Read More

In the middle of 2017, a postgraduate student walked into my office to speak to my colleague, announcing that he was about to share some sensitive information. I made moves to leave the room to give him some privacy. ‘No’, he said, ‘I want you to hear this, too’, and informed me that he was going to go on trial accused of rape. He wanted everybody to know, so that he could be transparent. So that we would understand, if he was upset in class sometimes, why this was.…Read more

By Sam Wren-Lewis, author of The Happiness Problem: Rethinking Individual Success and Societal Progress. You may not know it, but today is the International Day of Happiness. This celebration takes place on the 20th March every year, to coincide with the Spring Equinox, and is a modern day tradition that’s been going since 2013, after Read More