Jonathan Scourfield – författare

‘This excellent and internationally relevant book provides a range of pertinent material that explores the complexities surrounding gender and child welfare in contemporary society. It addresses a clear gap in current literature and will prove invaluable to those from a range of backgrounds who are involved in a variety of capacities in this highly charged arena.’

Professor Barbara Fawcett, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney

‘The arguments and original research in this book offer more than a feast for thought. The contributors challenge the sidelining of gender in contemporary policy and practice in working with children. This is a valuable collection for practitioners in health and social care, providing practice-focused analyses to demonstrate the crucial role gender sensitivity has for improving interventions, and ultimately outcomes, for children and their families.’

Dr Lorraine Radford, Head of Research, NSPCC

Gender and Child Welfare in Society offers an overview of sociological, psychological and developmental perspectives on family relationships, child welfare and the practice realities of professional interventions with families. It interrogates the current child welfare agenda from a gendered perspective, drawing on developments in thinking about gender relations. Chapters describe a range of service settings, including family support, child health, education, child protection, domestic violence, children who are ‘looked after’, and youth justice.

The book also explores the new challenges facing women and men as parents in the context of family and societal change and diversity. It raises the issue of how gender intersects with ethnicity, religion, class, disability, age and sexuality in families, and what theoretical and practice developments are most promising in promoting both child well-being and gender equity.

With contributions from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand, Gender and Child Welfare in Society takes an international, multidisciplinary, and multi-professional approach to the subject, offering a broad range of views on topics highly relevant to both practitioners and policy makers. Although social work is the dominant discipline, the book also contains contributions from academics in nursing, education, social policy, and family therapy.

In this, the first sociology book to consider the important issue of how children identify with place and nation, the authors use original research and international case studies to explore this topic in depth. The book is rooted in original qualitative research the authors conducted with a diverse sample of children (aged eight to eleven) across Wales, but this data is also located in the context of existing international research on place identity.

The book features analysis of lively exchanges between children on their local, national and global identities, politics, language and race. It engages with important social and political questions such as whether cultural distinctiveness can be preserved in a context of globalization, whether we are destined to passively receive dominant representations of the nation or can creatively construct our own versions; and whether national identities are necessarily exclusive. Most importantly, the book focuses on what local and national identities mean to children in an era of cultural and economic globalization.

Including material on racialization, language, politics, class and gender, Children, Place and Identity will be a valuable resource to students and researchers of childhood studies and the sociology of childhood.

In this, the first sociology book to consider the important issue of how children identify with place and nation, the authors use original research and international case studies to explore this topic in depth. The book is rooted in original qualitative research the authors conducted with a diverse sample of children (aged eight to eleven) across Wales, but this data is also located in the context of existing international research on place identity.

The book features analysis of lively exchanges between children on their local, national and global identities, politics, language and race. It engages with important social and political questions such as whether cultural distinctiveness can be preserved in a context of globalization, whether we are destined to passively receive dominant representations of the nation or can creatively construct our own versions; and whether national identities are necessarily exclusive. Most importantly, the book focuses on what local and national identities mean to children in an era of cultural and economic globalization.

Including material on racialization, language, politics, class and gender, Children, Place and Identity will be a valuable resource to students and researchers of childhood studies and the sociology of childhood.

Working with Men in Health and Social Care is an important and timely book that introduces the complex issues and debates involved in working with men in a range of professional settings. The authors locate academic and popular discourse on masculinities within the specific context of health and social care settings, critically analysing the theory and policy that underpin and inform practice, and continually linking theoretical frameworks to 'real-life' practice examples.

Section 1 contextualises the topic with a discussion of gender theory, social policy and the occupational culture of relevant organisations

Section 2 provides a summary of practice models, examining practice with men as individuals, as well as in groups, families and communities

Section 3 is organised according to specific groups of service users and includes chapters on fathers, abusive men, physical and mental health, boys, and older men

This thought-provoking and topical book will be essential reading for students and academics in social work, health care, probation, counselling, and allied disciplines, and for those facing the reality of working with men in their day-to-day practice.