The Peter Townsend reader

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.

Alan Walker is Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology at The University of Sheffield. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, holds lifetime achievement awards from the British Gerontological Society and the Social Policy Association and was the ESRC’s first Impact Champion (2013). He directed the New Dynamics of Ageing Programme 2005-14.

David Gordon is Professor of Social Justice and Director of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristolat the University of Bristol.

Ruth Levitas is Professor of Sociology and (from 2006) Head of Department at the University of Bristol, UK.

I am a social anthropologist based within Newcastle Sociology, and throughout my career much of my research has been collaborative - working particularly with other social scientists and epidemiologists. Since my PhD, most of my writing has been either on health-related topics or on environmental politics, and sometimes at the intersection of the two. I retired in 2015 and now hold the position of Visiting Professor of Social Anthropology.

Chris Phillipson is Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester. He has published a number of general books in the field of ageing as well a number of papers on age-friendly issues.