Collection: Bristol University Press and Policy Press comprehensive eBook and Journals collection

 

If you are an institution that prides itself on having a comprehensive bank of the latest social science research, then access our entire eBook and journals list. It is a wonderful opportunity to provide a truly unique collection of award-winning research from one of the UK's leading social science publishers.  

You can have instant access to over 2,000 eBooks and 8,000 journal articles from our incredible range of 22 journals including 50 years of Policy & Politics. This collection gives you full DRM-free access to a vast range of the research we have been publishing since 1996 and is a truly premium collection with access to the full Policy & Politics archive (1972–present). 

Journals included in this collection include: Consumption and Society; Critical and Radical Social Work; Emotions and Society; European Journal of Politics and Gender; European Social Work ResearchEvidence & Policy; Families, Relationships and Societies; Gender and Justice; Global Discourse; Global Political Economy; International Journal of Care and Caring; Journal of Gender-Based Violence; Journal of Global Ageing; Journal of Poverty & Social Justice (2002–present); Journal of Psychosocial Studies; Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice (2018–present); Justice, Power and Resistance; Longitudinal and Life Course Studies; Policy & Politics (2000–present); Voluntary Sector Review; Work in the Global Economy.

Within our eBook collection, you will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long- and short-form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive of over 2,000 titles. Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical and accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced. 

This collection also means you will never miss a journal article, eBook or Open Access publication because your content will be refreshed as part of an ongoing renewal process. We will update the collection on an annual basis which includes over 220 new books and 450 new journal articles a year. 

Bristol University Press and Policy Press Complete eBooks and Journals Collection

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Power, Critique, Responsibility

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

In a world where artificial intelligence increasingly influences the fabric of our daily lives, this accessible book offers a critical examination of AI and its deep entanglement with power structures. Rather than focusing on doomsday scenarios, it emphasizes how AI impacts our everyday interactions and social norms in ways that fundamentally reshape society. By examining the different forms of exploitation and manipulation in the relationship between humans and AI, the book advocates for collective responsibility, better regulation and systemic change.

This is a resounding manifesto for rethinking AI ethics through a power-aware lens. With detailed analysis of real-world examples and technological insights, it is an essential reading for anyone invested in the future of AI policy, scholarly critique and societal integration.

Open access
Ethnographies of Surveillance and Time

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Studies of surveillance have emphasised how technology is used to control space. This innovative collection examines how new monitoring technologies are also affecting the experience of time.

Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s concept of rhythm, the book brings together ethnographic research from Europe, China and the US, to show how digital monitoring is transforming spatio-temporal relations across the Global North.

As digital technologies continue to reshape the rhythms of life, this book makes a valuable contribution to both anthropology and surveillance studies.

Open access

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

The realities of autonomous weapons are a complex blend of both existing military technologies and visions of their future capabilities. The expected ramifications are profound and always point to the interplay between fact and fiction, actual developments and creative imagination.

This book explores how these realities shape and become themselves shaped by popular culture, regulatory and ethics debates, military doctrines, policies and research. It analyses phenomena ranging from film and artistic interpretations to warfare scenarios and weaponised artificial intelligence.

Intended for researchers (including the disciplines of political and social sciences, media, culture and technology), policy-makers, educators and journalists, this is a key resource that uncovers how autonomous weapons are constructed as both a technological reality and a futuristic possibility.

Open access
Are Social Media Campaigns Really Making Laws Better for Women and Girls?

With over five billion internet users globally, it is crucial to understand social media activism and legal change for women and girls.

This insightful book examines the impact of international Twitter (now X) campaigns on domestic laws affecting women and girls. Exploring the complexities of legal change for women and girls across seven countries from Latin America to Middle East and Africa, the book offers empirical insights into the effectiveness of hashtag advocacy and sheds light on the role of social media in shaping different outcomes.

This is a key resource for understanding the dynamics driving social media activism and its potential impact on the rights of women and girls worldwide.

Restricted access
People, Practices, Politics

Discussions around digital technologies, new media, platforms and information have long centred on the protection of personal data and privacy. This timely volume extends the conversation to address fundamental societal and structural issues from three perspectives: people, practices and politics.

Organised around an international collection of case studies, the book provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of the challenges of privacy in the digital sphere, from emerging regulatory programmes to surveillance capitalism and big tech companies.

Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this is a new and innovative perspective on our datafied societies that goes beyond privacy. It will be a key resource for scholars and students of communication and media studies, and science and technology studies.

Restricted access
The Social Lives of Digital Miracles
Author:

In healthcare, we come across daily promises of miraculous cures for various ailments. However, in the digital era, the dynamics of experiencing and practicing these remedies have changed.

This book explores the intersection of miracle cures and technology, showcasing their transformation into hybrid forms, such as handwritten recipes captured in photos or tutorials streamed through videos. Combining computational social media data with ethnographic insights from Vietnam and the US, the book captures the interconnected lives of these cures in the digital realm with a unique methodology.

Unravelling the intricate connections between social, technological, biomedical and non-biomedical spheres, this is a significant contribution to how social scientists study online media.

Restricted access
An Ethnography of Marketing Analytics, Consumer Insight, and Data Science
Author:

This book explores data science in practice through an ethnographic study at a global marketing technology and research firm.

The book shows that, while businesses have embraced data science methods to understand markets and consumers, in practice they produce too much information. Consequently, they must be combined with creative practices that simplify and make sense of analytics. Cluley shows that in the age of data science, business is increasingly artistic. In this case, marketing science is more like marketing science fiction.

This is essential reading for understanding contemporary data-driven business and marketing as well as social and economic relations in the age of surveillance capitalism, with lessons for academics and students of marketing, technology and data science.

Restricted access
Navigating Datafication and Family Life in Digital Societies
Author:

In today's digital societies, parenting is shaped by algorithms daily - in search engines, social media, kids' entertainment, the news and more. But how much are parents aware of the algorithms shaping their parenting and daily lives? How can they prepare for children’s futures in a world dominated by data, algorithms, automation and AI?

This groundbreaking study of 30 English families sheds light on parents’ hopes and fears, their experiences with algorithms in searching, sharing and consuming news and information, and their awareness and knowledge of algorithms at large.

Looking beyond tech skills and media panics, this book is an essential read for social scientists, policy-makers and general readers seeking to understand parenting in datafied societies.

Restricted access
Corporate Power, Grassroots Movements and the Sharing Economy
Author:

The platform economy, powered by companies like Airbnb, Uber and Deliveroo, promised to revolutionize the way we work and live. But what are the actual benefits to our society and economy?

This book interrogates the ‘sharing economy’, showing how platform capitalism is not only shaped by business decisions, but is a result of struggles involving social movements, consumer politics and state interventions. It focuses in particular on the controversial tactics used by platform giants to avoid regulation.

Drawing on cutting-edge research and analysis, this book provides a critical overview of this important topic, and imagines the different possible futures of the platform economy.

Full Access
How Digital Technologies Are Stifling Public Debate and What to Do About It
Author:

How can we have meaningful public conversations in the algorithmic age?

This book explores how digital technologies shape our opinions and interactions, often in ways that limit our exposure to diverse perspectives and fuel polarization. Drawing on the ancient art of arguing all sides of a case, the book offers a way to revive public debate as a source of trust and legitimacy in democratic societies.

This is a timely and urgent book for anyone who cares about the future of democracy in the digital era.

Open access