Introduction

This book aims to encourage and support a concerted campaign against poverty, inequality and social injustice and to provide a reasoned case for a new approach to social policy and politics to achieve this goal. It seeks to do so in the name of one of the 20th-century's great champions of social justice, Peter Townsend. Peter dedicated his professional life to fighting poverty, inequality and injustice, and this book stands as a tribute to that legacy, in partnership with The Peter Townsend reader (Walker et al, 2010). It is not intended to reflect back on the work of its central character in the style of a festschrift, but to apply Peter Townsend's analyses to the contemporary debates on different key aspects of social policy and to develop new ideas for achieving a more socially just society. Apart, for obvious reasons, from Chapter Two, those are the tasks that each contributor was set and they have all responded magnificently. Most were friends or colleagues of Peter's (hence the preference for his first name), and shared his mission, even if they disagreed on aspects of analysis or tactics, and where there were such disagreements, these are stated openly. However, the main focus is on current and likely future policy debates.

As well as being an indefatigable campaigner against poverty and injustice, Peter was an outstanding contributor to the social sciences, without question one of a handful of global academic giants of the 20th century. His academic reputation was built on a corpus that is awe-inspiring in both its breadth and quality. It is unusual enough, these days, for academics to span other fields, as Peter did in campaigning and politics, but to contribute seminal texts to so many diverse aspects of social policy is unheard of. Yet, in a career spanning six decades, this is exactly what he did with regard to ageing, disability, poverty, health inequalities, human rights and international social policy. Before the age of 40 he had laid the foundations of the sociology of ageing, or social gerontology, producing texts that are still regarded as classics. In their depth and quality Peter's books and articles are finely written models of empiricism, social analysis and policy relevance. Remarkably he maintained this impressive quality throughout the bulk of his massive production of books, reports and scientific papers: his publication list is nearly 600 items long.