Susanne MacGregor – författare

First published in 1989, Drugs and British Society (now with a new preface by Susanne MacGregor) provides information on the drugs problem in Britain in the 1980s, based on extensive research and experience, and places it in its international and historical context.

The contributors to this book are all experts in this field, and are drawn from a range of disciplines, including epidemiology, sociology, social psychiatry, social policy, anthropology, and history. They share a social rather than a narrowly medical or individualistic perspective on drugs, stressing that policy and practice about drugs must be based not on prejudice, alarm or outdated ideas, but on clear, reliable and detailed evidence and the informed judgements of people who have a thorough understanding of the issues. They explain the problem by referring it to its social and political context, from the level of the local community and local services to the wider national and structural levels.

First published in 1989, Drugs and British Society (now with a new preface by Susanne MacGregor) provides information on the drugs problem in Britain in the 1980s, based on extensive research and experience, and places it in its international and historical context.

The contributors to this book are all experts in this field, and are drawn from a range of disciplines, including epidemiology, sociology, social psychiatry, social policy, anthropology, and history. They share a social rather than a narrowly medical or individualistic perspective on drugs, stressing that policy and practice about drugs must be based not on prejudice, alarm or outdated ideas, but on clear, reliable and detailed evidence and the informed judgements of people who have a thorough understanding of the issues. They explain the problem by referring it to its social and political context, from the level of the local community and local services to the wider national and structural levels.

After the landslide election of a new Labour government in May 1997, what are the key social policy issues and problems which the new government needs to address?Social Issues and Party Politics looks at the manifestos of the main parties and the way social issues figured in the 1997 election campaign and the early days of the new government. Chapters discuss green issues, the management and financing of welfare in contemporary Britain, the delivery of key services in health, education, employment, criminal justice, housing, personal social services, pensions and other areas of social security. The particular circumstances of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are also examined.Social Issues and Party Politics takes social policy beyond the soundbite and provides a convincing and incisive analysis of current social policy approaches and inherited problems. It identifies the deep social questions which will need to be addressed if Labour is to deliver on its promise of a new Britain.

After the landslide election of a new Labour government in May 1997, what are the key social policy issues and problems which the new government needs to address?Social Issues and Party Politics looks at the manifestos of the main parties and the way social issues figured in the 1997 election campaign and the early days of the new government. Chapters discuss green issues, the management and financing of welfare in contemporary Britain, the delivery of key services in health, education, employment, criminal justice, housing, personal social services, pensions and other areas of social security. The particular circumstances of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are also examined.Social Issues and Party Politics takes social policy beyond the soundbite and provides a convincing and incisive analysis of current social policy approaches and inherited problems. It identifies the deep social questions which will need to be addressed if Labour is to deliver on its promise of a new Britain.

Responding to Drug Misuse provides a unique insight into the current shape of the drugs treatment system in England.

Reporting findings from research linked to the government''s ten year drugs strategy Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, the book places these in the context of policy, practice, and service development. It goes on to discuss the implications of these findings for the government’s new strategy Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities. Throughout the book contributors reflect on current debates on drug strategies and social policy and consider the relevance of the findings for policy and practice. Topics discussed include:

This timely addition to the literature on drug misuse will be essential for substance use practitioners, including social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and nurses. It will also supply helpful guidance for health and social care commissioners and policy providers.

Responding to Drug Misuse provides a unique insight into the current shape of the drugs treatment system in England.

Reporting findings from research linked to the government''s ten year drugs strategy Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, the book places these in the context of policy, practice, and service development. It goes on to discuss the implications of these findings for the government’s new strategy Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities. Throughout the book contributors reflect on current debates on drug strategies and social policy and consider the relevance of the findings for policy and practice. Topics discussed include:

This timely addition to the literature on drug misuse will be essential for substance use practitioners, including social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and nurses. It will also supply helpful guidance for health and social care commissioners and policy providers.

Contributors to this highly original book address the many questions raised by researchers and policymakers about the complex and often uneasy relationship between evidence and policy from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. They explore both the institutions acting as evidence brokers and the different methods used to collect, assess and use evidence in a variety of national and international settings, by drawing on their experience of working in international contexts and in different disciplinary and policy environments, and in some cases analysing their own involvement in the evidence-based policy process. The policy areas covered range from national and state level economic and social policies more generally to specific areas of intervention, such as EU bio-fuels targets, the Active Ageing Index, mental health and media, the construction of second-language learning policies, microfinance and alcohol policy. The authors highlight the strengths and weaknesses, the use and abuse, or successes and failures, of different institutional and methodological approaches to evidence-based policy. They consider what elements of the lessons learned might be transferable across national and cultural boundaries, and if so under what conditions. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

Contributors to this highly original book address the many questions raised by researchers and policymakers about the complex and often uneasy relationship between evidence and policy from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. They explore both the institutions acting as evidence brokers and the different methods used to collect, assess and use evidence in a variety of national and international settings, by drawing on their experience of working in international contexts and in different disciplinary and policy environments, and in some cases analysing their own involvement in the evidence-based policy process. The policy areas covered range from national and state level economic and social policies more generally to specific areas of intervention, such as EU bio-fuels targets, the Active Ageing Index, mental health and media, the construction of second-language learning policies, microfinance and alcohol policy. The authors highlight the strengths and weaknesses, the use and abuse, or successes and failures, of different institutional and methodological approaches to evidence-based policy. They consider what elements of the lessons learned might be transferable across national and cultural boundaries, and if so under what conditions. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

This interdisciplinary collection examines the role that alcohol, tobacco and other drugs have played in framing certain groups and spaces as ‘dangerous’ and in influencing the nature of formal responses to the perceived threat.

Taking a historical and cross-national perspective, it explores how such groups and spaces are defined and bounded as well as the processes by which they come to be seen as ‘risky’. It discusses how issues of perceived danger highlight questions of control and the management of behaviours, people and environments, and it pays attention to the way in which sanctions and regulations have been implemented in a variety of often inconsistent ways that frequently impact differently on different sections of the population.

Bringing together a range of case studies drawn from different countries and across different periods of time, the chapters collected here illustrate issues of marginalisation, stigmatisation, human rights and social expectations. It is of interest to a diverse audience of historians, philosophers, human geographers, anthropologists, sociologists and criminologists interested in substance use and misuse, deviance, risk and power among other topics.

This interdisciplinary collection examines the role that alcohol, tobacco and other drugs have played in framing certain groups and spaces as ‘dangerous’ and in influencing the nature of formal responses to the perceived threat.

Taking a historical and cross-national perspective, it explores how such groups and spaces are defined and bounded as well as the processes by which they come to be seen as ‘risky’. It discusses how issues of perceived danger highlight questions of control and the management of behaviours, people and environments, and it pays attention to the way in which sanctions and regulations have been implemented in a variety of often inconsistent ways that frequently impact differently on different sections of the population.

Bringing together a range of case studies drawn from different countries and across different periods of time, the chapters collected here illustrate issues of marginalisation, stigmatisation, human rights and social expectations. It is of interest to a diverse audience of historians, philosophers, human geographers, anthropologists, sociologists and criminologists interested in substance use and misuse, deviance, risk and power among other topics.

Transforming Cities examines the profound changes that have characterised cities of the advanced capitalist societies in the final decades of the twentieth century. It analyses ways in which relationships of contest, conflict and co-operation are realised in and through the social and spatial forms of contemporary urban life. This book focuses on the impact of economic restructuring and changing forms of urban deprivation and social exclusion. It contends that these processes are creating new patterns of social division and new forms of regulation and control.