Ruth Levitas – författare

Interpreting Official Statistics examines the official statistics produced about the current state of British society. It documents some of the ways in which information has been suppressed, manipulated and misinterpreted since 1979. This invaluable guide is designed to help students know what figures are available, and to discover when and how politicians are misusing statistics.Data sets covered include:* Households below average income* Administrative and survey methods of unemployment and crime* Population census data on ethnicity* Data sources on women and work* Data on the relationship between class and health, and safety at work* New data sources on disability* Labour Force Survey.

Interpreting Official Statistics examines the official statistics produced about the current state of British society. It documents some of the ways in which information has been suppressed, manipulated and misinterpreted since 1979. This invaluable guide is designed to help students know what figures are available, and to discover when and how politicians are misusing statistics.Data sets covered include:* Households below average income* Administrative and survey methods of unemployment and crime* Population census data on ethnicity* Data sources on women and work* Data on the relationship between class and health, and safety at work* New data sources on disability* Labour Force Survey.

The idea of social exclusion is part of the new political language. Ruth Levitas argues that there has been a shift away from understanding social exclusion as primarily a problem of poverty, towards questions of social integration through paid work and moral regulation.

Peter Townsend, who sadly passed away in June 2009, had a long career researching an exceptional range of topics within the social sciences and campaigning against social inequalities.This reader brings together for the first time a collection of his most distinctive work, allowing readers to review changes and continuities over the past six decades, and reflect on social issues that have returned to the fore today. A particular feature of the volume is in tracing the links between empirical evidence and both social theory and social policy, and how those disciplines intersect. This reader will provide a teaching and learning resource for students in different disciplines of the social sciences and will also provide an insight into the development of one scientist's entire intellectual approach. We hope it will be a fitting memorial to his life and work.

Peter Townsend, who sadly passed away in June 2009, had a long career researching an exceptional range of topics within the social sciences and campaigning against social inequalities.This reader brings together for the first time a collection of his most distinctive work, allowing readers to review changes and continuities over the past six decades, and reflect on social issues that have returned to the fore today. A particular feature of the volume is in tracing the links between empirical evidence and both social theory and social policy, and how those disciplines intersect. This reader will provide a teaching and learning resource for students in different disciplines of the social sciences and will also provide an insight into the development of one scientist's entire intellectual approach. We hope it will be a fitting memorial to his life and work.

This book is the most authoritative study of poverty and social exclusion in Britain at the start of the 21st century. It reports on the most comprehensive survey of poverty and social exclusion, ever to be undertaken in Britain: The Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey. This enormously rich data set records levels of poverty not just in terms of income and wealth but by including information about the goods and services which the British public say are necessary to avoid poverty.The relationship between poverty and factors such as age, gender and paid work are explored, as well as other social issues such as crime and neighbourhood disadvantage. Poverty and social exclusion in Britain charts the extent and nature of material and social deprivation and exclusion in Britain at the end of the 20th century; makes the first ever measurement of the extent of social exclusion based on a survey specifically designed for this purpose and provides a clear conceptual understanding of poverty and social exclusion from both an national and international perspective. This important book should be read by officials and policy makers in national and local government, NGOs, charities and voluntary organisations dealing with poverty and social exclusion. It will also be required reading for academics and students of social policy, sociology, public health, economics and politics.