Peter Saunders

THE SIXTIES ARE OVER... The Beatles have disbanded. Ali has lost his heavyweight crown. Crystal Palace are back in Division III. Peter Saunders is married now, and a father. He needs to get his life sorted out. But it's not easy. The country's in a mess. Inflation and unemployment are spiralling, and with the miners out on strike, we're all lighting our homes with candles. Out of the East (Lincolnshire, to be exact) comes a leader who says she can restore peace and harmony to the land. The IRA tries to blow her up. In Germany, they're tearing down a wall. Academics say it's the end of history. But history doesn't end. Radical Islamists hi-jack some jets and y them into skyscrapers in New York City. The global financial system crashes, and scientists warn the planet is incinerating. Kids are addicted to their smart phones, Britain has torn itself in two over Brexit, a deadly virus has escaped from a lab in China, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and men have started wearing dresses, claiming they are women. Part sociology, part social history and part autobiography, this sequel to 'Croydon Boy' asks: How can a man sort his life out when all around him, the world is going potty?

In this unique book, Peter Saunders, a sociologist by trade, blends sociological research with personal anecdotes and memories to paint a picture of how life in Britain changed for ordinary kids like him through the 1950s and 1960s. The reality of life at that time often failed to live up to the hype. Very few young Brits in the Sixties were tripping on acid, demonstrating in Grosvenor Square, or battling among the Mods and Rockers on Brighton beach. Saunders certainly wasn't; he was too busy worrying if he was ever going to lose his virginity. Who was the best-selling recording artist of 1967? Not the Beatles, the Stones, the Who or the Beach Boys. It was Engelbert Humperdink. And the best-selling album that year? No, not Sergeant Pepper. It was The Sound of Music.

Originally published in 1990, and re-issued in 2020 with an updated Preface, this book shows how the UK has become a nation of home owners, and the effect it has had on people’s lives, the impact which it has had on British society and the implications for those who have hitherto been excluded. The book briefly charts the history of the growth of owner-occupation in Britain and considers the evidence on the popularity of owning as opposed to renting. The question of whether and how owner occupiers accumulate wealth from their housing is discussed and the evidence on the political implications of the growth of owner-occupation examined. The influence of buying a house on the way that home is experienced is analysed and the sociological implications in regard to the analysis of social inequalities in Britain discussed. The research for the book was based on in-depth interviews with home-owners and tenants in Burnley, Derby and Slough.

Peter Saunders meets his family. Agricultural labourers from Essex, Lincolnshire and the Scottish borders; hat-makers, pin-headers, shoemakers and coal miners from Gloucestershire; cotton spinners, weavers and piecers from the slums of industrial Lancashire; illiterate Irish peasants from County Cork; rag-pickers, charwomen, abandoned wives and prostitutes; soldiers who died in the Flanders mud and were never found; soldiers who made it home broken men; children sent to convalescent homes and old people dying in the workhouse. Reading their stories is like reading a potted history of the common people of these islands over the last three hundred years. These are the shadowy people who dug the coal that fuelled the industrial revolution; the people who wove and spun the yarn that clothed the world; the people who planted and harvested the crops that fed the cities; the people who fashioned our modern world. They were the unnamed, unrecorded heroes on whose shoulders we now perch.

Originally published in 1990, and re-issued in 2020 with an updated Preface, this book shows how the UK has become a nation of home owners, and the effect it has had on people’s lives, the impact which it has had on British society and the implications for those who have hitherto been excluded. The book briefly charts the history of the growth of owner-occupation in Britain and considers the evidence on the popularity of owning as opposed to renting. The question of whether and how owner occupiers accumulate wealth from their housing is discussed and the evidence on the political implications of the growth of owner-occupation examined. The influence of buying a house on the way that home is experienced is analysed and the sociological implications in regard to the analysis of social inequalities in Britain discussed. The research for the book was based on in-depth interviews with home-owners and tenants in Burnley, Derby and Slough.

The questions raised by a study of class and inequality are important, but often complex. This book succeeds in making them understandable without oversimplifying, and its breadth, originality, and easy style will appeal to a wide readership. Peter Saunders covers theories of social class as well as evidence on class inequalities in the contemporary period. He analyses why class inequalities exist, whether they are inevitable, whether they are unjust, and how they are changing. The analysis is comprehensive and up-to-date and includes information on how the distribution of wealth and income and social mobility chances have been changing during the Thatcher years. It also explores how the class structure is being affected by developments such as the spread of privatization and individual shareholdings, the rise of the 'yuppies', and the emergence of an underclass. On the theoretical side Professor Saunders gives equal weight to marxist, social-democratic, and neo-liberal perspectives on class and inequality, and writers as diverse a Karl Marx, John Rawls, and Friedrich Hayek all receive serious and balanced consideration.

First published in 1986. For this new edition of Social Theory and the Urban Question Peter Saunders has updated the text to take account of major theoretical developments in the 1980s and has also considerably developed his own approach. Three chapters have been completely rewritten and others have been appropriately revised. The revisions ensure that Social Theory and the Urban Question will retain its position as a major textbook in urban sociology and an important contribution to the development of urban social theory. The book begins with a review of the ways in which Weber, Durkheim, Marx and Engels approached the analysis of the city. It goes on to consider the four major theoretical approaches which have been developed in twentieth-century urban sociology - those of human ecology, cultural theories, neo-Weberianism and neo-Marxism. Recent innovations and new directions arising out of the work of contemporary writers such as Castells, Pahl, Harvey and Giddens are discussed and evaluated, and the book concludes by identifying a new 'sociology of consumption' which may now be emerging in the urban studies literature.

In this book, the author provides a critical examination and evaluation of a number of the central political questions currently being posed in urban studies. The book is divided into two interrelated sections. Part One critically discussed the theoretical problems raised by recent work in Britain, Europe and the United States and covers such issues as 'non-decision making' and the mobilisation of bias in political systems, the significance of owner-occupation as a basis for political action, the potential importance of 'urban social movements', and the nature of the relationship between urban management, the state and private capital. Throughout these chapters, the author attempts to develop a theoretical position which avoids the weaknesses of contemporary pluralist, Weberian and Marxist formations. Part Two systematically relates this theoretical discussion to an analysis of empirical material generated in a case study of an Outer London Borough. Thus, in addition to a chapter on local government policy making and the operation of strategies of political exclusion, this section contains analysis of political struggles involving suburban owner-occupiers, council tenants and large town centre business enterprises in a town which has undergone massive urban development over the last few years. Taken as a whole, the book constitutes an original and challenging contribution, both theoretical and empirical, to the contemporary analysis of urban politics. This book was first published in 1979.

This landmark study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the nature and associations between the three main forms of social disadvantage in Australia: poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. Drawing on the author's extensive research expertise and his links with welfare practitioners, it explains the limitations of existing approaches and presents new findings that build on the insights of disadvantaged Australians and views about the essentials of life, providing the basis for a new deprivation-based poverty measure.

This landmark study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the nature and associations between the three main forms of social disadvantage in Australia: poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. Drawing on the author's extensive research expertise and his links with welfare practitioners, it explains the limitations of existing approaches and presents new findings that build on the insights of disadvantaged Australians and views about the essentials of life, providing the basis for a new deprivation-based poverty measure.

In this book, the author provides a critical examination and evaluation of a number of the central political questions currently being posed in urban studies. The book is divided into two interrelated sections. Part One critically discussed the theoretical problems raised by recent work in Britain, Europe and the United States and covers such issues as 'non-decision making' and the mobilisation of bias in political systems, the significance of owner-occupation as a basis for political action, the potential importance of 'urban social movements', and the nature of the relationship between urban management, the state and private capital. Throughout these chapters, the author attempts to develop a theoretical position which avoids the weaknesses of contemporary pluralist, Weberian and Marxist formations. Part Two systematically relates this theoretical discussion to an analysis of empirical material generated in a case study of an Outer London Borough. Thus, in addition to a chapter on local government policy making and the operation of strategies of political exclusion, this section contains analysis of political struggles involving suburban owner-occupiers, council tenants and large town centre business enterprises in a town which has undergone massive urban development over the last few years. Taken as a whole, the book constitutes an original and challenging contribution, both theoretical and empirical, to the contemporary analysis of urban politics. This book was first published in 1979.

In this short, passionate and very readable book, Peter Saunders - one of Australia's leading social policy researchers - expresses his core viewpoint that, although poverty is deeply rooted in the experience of people's lives, it all too often is reduced to a set of statistics. But, without evidence of the experiences of the poor, statistics alone cannot shed light on the underlying causes and indicate what kinds of responses are needed. Saunders' vision is of a society free from 'the national disgrace' of poverty, as identified by the Poverty Commission over three decades ago. ""The Poverty Wars"" sets out the ideas and arguments for such a national re-examination and reorientation by examining existing theories and evidence on poverty and other forms of disadvantage. Saunders develops a set of accessible ideas designed to change the way we think about poverty and to encourage a revitalised commitment to its eradication. He claims that the goal of ending poverty lies well within our reach, arguing that we can eliminate financial poverty by 2020 using the funds generated by economic growth. The fact that we don't do so is a matter of choice, not affordability - as the experience of other countries demonstrates. In challenging this idea, this book focuses on how looking at poverty differently can help to make a world without poverty a practical reality.

This new textbook provides a concise but comprehensive guide to quantitative research methods for undergraduate and postgraduate students in all of the social sciences, as well as established researchers. Presented in an interesting and original way, it offers all you need to know about social survey methodology – from planning the research and developing the hypotheses to carrying out the fieldwork and analysing the findings.

This new textbook provides a concise but comprehensive guide to quantitative research methods for undergraduate and postgraduate students in all of the social sciences, as well as established researchers. Presented in an interesting and original way, it offers all you need to know about social survey methodology – from planning the research and developing the hypotheses to carrying out the fieldwork and analysing the findings.

This book, first published in 2002, explores the relation between economic liberalism and social policy in Australia. How do social policies operate in a fiercely individualist market economy, and if the market is expected to provide solutions to social problems, what role ought the government take to ensure that it does so? Why is it that quality of life in Australia has diminished as the economy has undergone sustained growth? These are just a few of the key questions Peter Saunders asks in this thoroughly researched book. Saunders draws upon the most up-to-date research, and particularly national surveys conducted by the Social Policy Research Centre. What the book does very well is cover the key trends in economic and social policy over the past 25 years, showing how economic liberalism, despite all positive economic indicators, has contributed to an increase in unemployment, inequality, social dysfunction and alienation.

This book, first published in 2002, explores the relation between economic liberalism and social policy in Australia. How do social policies operate in a fiercely individualist market economy, and if the market is expected to provide solutions to social problems, what role ought the government take to ensure that it does so? Why is it that quality of life in Australia has diminished as the economy has undergone sustained growth? These are just a few of the key questions Peter Saunders asks in this thoroughly researched book. Saunders draws upon the most up-to-date research, and particularly national surveys conducted by the Social Policy Research Centre. What the book does very well is cover the key trends in economic and social policy over the past 25 years, showing how economic liberalism, despite all positive economic indicators, has contributed to an increase in unemployment, inequality, social dysfunction and alienation.

This is the long-awaited third edition of Dearlove and Saunders' highly acclaimed, best-selling, textbook on British politics. The book has been completely rewritten, reorganized and updated, while retaining the distinctive style and approach of the earlier editions. At root, this book is about political power - how it is organized formally within the State and how it is exercised and influenced informally from outside. Written in lively and provocative prose, the volume presents the most systematic and penetrating analysis of who really runs Britain, to what end, and to whose advantage. Fully up to date, this new edition provides comprehensive coverage of the issues of the day - constitutional change, welfare reform, New Labour's Third Way, the European common currency, globalization, and much more. The volume also provides students with a highly readable and engaging guide to the key theoretical perspectives that have shaped the study of British politics. This outstanding volume will prove invaluable reading for all students of British politics, whether they are studying for A-level or undergraduate university courses. Please visit the accompanying website at: http://www.polity.co.uk/britpol