Book excerpt: This wide-ranging exploration of the key contemporary relationships between social change and housing is both policy-oriented and theoretical, drawing on a group of internationally-respected academics. It is also multidisciplinary, incorporating sociology, economics, social policy and human geography perspective. Its international perspective is rooted in its examination of issues such as economic insecurity and instability, social diversity, financial and social exclusion, sustainability, privatisation and state legitimacy, the interaction of the global and the local across three continents.