Poverty, inequality and social justice

Jane Millar and Peter Whiteford look at how benefits systems can create unjust debts. This article is based on their recent paper in The Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, winner of the 2019 Best Paper Prize of the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS).…Read more

In 'The Shame Game: Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative', out later this month, Mary O’Hara shows why the ‘shame game’ being played out against poorer people in the US and the UK is so destructive and effective. Danny Dorling explains why this new book is so important - and how you can change things - in his foreword.…Read more

Following the announcement of £165 million extra funding for the Troubled Families Programme, Stephen Crossley, author of 'Troublemakers’, reminds us that we have yet to see any significant impact on most of the ‘complex inter-connected problems’ it has allegedly been tackling.…Read more

Morag Treanor, author of Child Poverty: Aspiring to Survive, looks at how the Conservative government's lack of pledges to mitigate the effects of social security cuts will increase, not just levels of poverty for children, but consequent problems for them in relation to health, wellbeing, family stress and physical safety, among other issues.…Read more

Jessica Gay, Senior Community and Events Fundraiser at Julian House, a homeless charity based in Bath, shows how the charity offers direct support through projects and services which not only address the symptoms of homelessness but also the underlying reasons why men and women are forced onto the streets. Julian House is Bristol University Press's chosen charity for 2020.…Read more

Sue Konzelmann shows why the next government, which will be faced with the consequences of a decade’s worth of cuts, should not focus on 'where’s the money coming from?' but ask the question 'where’s our society and economy going?'.…Read more

After a year characterised by political uncertainty, one thing that seems clear during this election campaign is that the two largest parties have their work cut out to build enough support to achieve a clear majority. British politics is experiencing an unprecedented level of fragmentation. Traditional divides along the lines of class are blurring, as Read More

The extract below from Peak Inequality, published in 2018, sums up the conclusion to that book and remains pertinent today. Jeremy Corbyn, like all of us, may have many faults, but he also epitomises both something that is fundamentally decent and the possibility for change. It is significant that elections are held in December in Read More

In this long read, Roger Brown, author of The Inequality Crisis: The Facts and What We Can Do About It, outlines causes of the Neoliberal turn and shows how it has created vastly increased and unjust social inequality. Crucially, he explains where we need to begin in order to reverse the tide. In November 1984, Read More

Research having an impact on policy, and the wider world, can be extremely hard to quantify, but on occasion we find an example that illustrates the great potential we have to make a difference. …Read more