The Peter Townsend Reader

by Peter Townsend

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.

Paperback Bunko

First published January 20, 2010

About the author

Peter Brereton Townsend was a British sociologist who wrote widely on the economics of poverty and was co-founder of the Child Poverty Action Group. The Peter Townsend Policy Press Prize was established by the British Academy in his memory. Townsend was dedicated to studying "very carefully the life of the poorest and most handicapped members of society". [wikipedia]

After early years working for the independent research organisation - Political and Economic Planning (PEP) - and then research at the Institute of Community Studies (1954-57), Peter Townsend became Research Fellow and Lecturer at the London School of Economics (1957-63). He was then appointed Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex in 1963. Subsequently, he held posts in social policy and development at the University of Bristol and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Peter Townsend was regarded as one of the pioneers of research on poverty in the United Kingdom. He was Chairman of the Child Poverty Action Group from 1969 and of the Disability Alliance from 1974. Prior to his death in June 2009 he was Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow of Social Policy at the Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice, University of Bristol, and Centennial Professor of International Social Policy, LSE.

Townsend's work questions many of the philosophical and theoretical models of poverty whilst also playing a key role in developing new measurements, models and definitions of poverty and inequality. [ESDS]