Policy Press

Human rights and civil rights

Human rights and civil rights are one of the most important and fundamental parts of our society, offering guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, gender or other personal characteristics. However these rights are not always universally upheld, leading to extereme injustices around the world.

The books below explore these rights and the impact being denied these rights can have on both individuals and societies. 

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In this cross-cutting theme, we aim to address the following goal:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 10

You may also be interested in our Global Social Challenge on justice, law and human rights.

Showing 73-84 of 200 items.

Polygamy, Policy and Postcolonialism in English Marriage Law

A Critical Feminist Analysis

Using a critical postcolonial feminist lens, this book provides a contextualised exploration of English legal responses to polygamy.

Bristol Uni Press

Welfare That Works for Women?

Mothers’ Experiences of the Conditionality within Universal Credit

This book analyses fresh empirical evidence which demonstrates the gendered impacts of the new conditionality regime within Universal Credit. Drawing on in-depth interviews with mothers, it offers a compelling narrative and policy recommendations to make the social citizenship framework in the UK more inclusive of women.

Policy Press

COVID-19 and Social Determinants of Health

Wicked Issues and Relationalism

Edited by Adrian Bonner

Extending the ideas developed in the previous volumes in the Social Determinants of Health series, this book reviews the impact of COVID-19 on local and national governance from the perspectives of public health, social care and economic development.

Policy Press

Migrants and Refugees in Europe

Work Integration in Comparative Perspective

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book explores the labour market integration of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers across seven European countries. It investigates how legal, political, social and personal circumstances combine to determine the work trajectory for migrants who choose Europe as their home.

Policy Press

Migration and Social Work

Approaches, Visions and Challenges

With cross-cultural perspectives from eight European countries, this book provides much-needed research on migration and social work. Focusing on the experiences and integration of refugees and asylum seekers, the text considers the impact of EU policies on borders and integration, and the rise of racism across European societies.

Policy Press

Island Criminology

Ten percent of the world’s population lives on islands, but until now the place and space characteristics of islands in criminological theory have not been deeply considered. This book addresses issues of how, and by whom, crime is defined in island settings, informed by the distinctive social structures of their communities.

Bristol Uni Press

Social Networks and Migration

Relocations, Relationships and Resources

This intersectional study provides fresh insights into the complex networks of migrants. More than 200 interviews with people following multiple routes over eight decades help to illustrate how social support and trust are developed, how networks evolve over time, and how they impact the opportunities and obstacles migrants encounter.

Bristol Uni Press

Mediated Emotions of Migration

Reclaiming Affect for Agency

Drawing on empirical research and mediated stories of migration and asylum seeking from the Global North, this book unpacks how emotions and affect are key conceptual lenses for understanding contemporary processes and discourses around migration.

Bristol Uni Press

Making a Life on Mean Welfare

Voices from Multicultural Sydney

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and the author’s own experience, this book explores how diverse welfare users navigate the personal and practical hurdles of Australia’s social security system.

Policy Press

Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

The Victim Journey

This book traces the journey of victims/survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking into and within the UK, from recruitment to representation to (re)integration. It offers crucial suggestions for better public awareness, policies and practices that will impact interventions in the UK and beyond.

Policy Press

The EU Migrant Generation in Asia

Middle-Class Aspirations in Asian Global Cities

Drawing on a comparative study with individuals who migrated to Singapore and Tokyo in 2010s, this book demonstrates how migration to Asian business centres has become an alternative to a middle-class life in Europe and how the perceived insecurities of life in the crisis-ridden EU result in these migrants’ prolonged stay in Asia.

Bristol Uni Press

Intersex Embodiment

Legal Frameworks beyond Identity and Disorder

This book examines the divergent medical, political and legal constructions of intersex. The authors use empirical data to explore how intersex people are embodied through these frameworks which in turn influence their lived experiences.

Bristol Uni Press