Staff profile

Stephen joined the department as Assistant Professor in June 2020, having previously worked at Northumbria University. He completed an ESRC funded PhD at Durham in 2017, examining the UK Government’s Troubled Families Programme. Prior to entering academia, he worked in a number of public sector and voluntary sector roles in the North East of England, working on issues such as community cohesion, tenant participation, health inequalities and child poverty.

Stephen's research interests revolve around policy responses to social disadvantage and inequalities, and the symbolic power of social policies. He has published extensively on issues relating to ‘troubled families’, child poverty and social justice in the past and continues to engage with these topics. However, in recent years, his research interests have primarily focused on the role of local and community sport and leisure clubs and facilities in people's everyday lives and the value that is attached, or not attached, to them.   

Authored book

• Troublemakers: The construction of 'troubled families' as a social problem
  
  Crossley, S. (2018). Troublemakers: The construction of ’troubled families’ as a social problem. Policy Press.
• In Their Place: The Imagined Geographies of Poverty
  
  Crossley, S. (2017). In Their Place: The Imagined Geographies of Poverty. Pluto Press.

Chapter in book

• Social Work as Family Policing
  
  Crossley, S. (2026). Social Work as Family Policing. In C. J. Bald & M. Inés Martínez Herrero (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Criminal Justice Social Work (pp. 387-395). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003717270
• Everyday Life, Informal Care and Grassroots Sports Clubs
  
  Crossley, S. (2024). Everyday Life, Informal Care and Grassroots Sports Clubs. In Care and Coronavirus: Perspectives on Childhood, Youth and Family. Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-310-120241016
• Misrecognising ‘complex’ families: a social harm perspective
  
  Crossley, S. (2021). Misrecognising ‘complex’ families: a social harm perspective. In S. Quaid, C. Hugman, & A. Wilcock (Eds.), Negotiating Families and Personal Lives in the 21st Century: Exploring Diversity, Social Change and Inequalities. Routledge.
• The troubled families programme: In, for and against the state?
  
  Crossley, S. (2016). The troubled families programme: In, for and against the state? In M. Fenger, J. Hudson, & C. Needham (Eds.), Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2016 (pp. 127-146). Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447331803

Journal Article

• ‘It’s a far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Isn’t it?’ the changing space of informal youth football in the UK
  
  Crossley, S., Van Campenhout, G., & Billingham, L. (2025). ‘It’s a far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Isn’t it?’ the changing space of informal youth football in the UK. Leisure Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2024.2446197
• Sports Cages as Social Infrastructure: Sociality, Context, and Contest in Hackney's Cages
  
  Billingham, L., Curry, F., & Crossley, S. (2024). Sports Cages as Social Infrastructure: Sociality, Context, and Contest in Hackney’s Cages. Antipode, 56(6), 2021-2041. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.13090
• ‘You either go on the gang life, or you go on that football life’: class, race, and place in imaginaries of South London’s sports cages
  
  Crossley, S., Curry, F., & Billingham, L. (2024). ‘You either go on the gang life, or you go on that football life’: class, race, and place in imaginaries of South London’s sports cages. Journal of Youth Studies, 27(10), 1494-1509. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2023.2226597
• ‘Fog on the tyne’? The ‘common-sense’ focus on ‘sportswashing’ and the 2021 takeover of Newcastle United
  
  Crossley, S., & Woolf, A. (2024). ‘Fog on the tyne’? The ‘common-sense’ focus on ‘sportswashing’ and the 2021 takeover of Newcastle United. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 16(2), 307-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2024.2342394
• “They Tarred Me with the Same Brush”: Navigating Stigma in the Context of Child Removal
  
  McGrath, J., Lhussier, M., Crossley, S., & Forster, N. (2023). “They Tarred Me with the Same Brush”: Navigating Stigma in the Context of Child Removal. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(12), Article 6162. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20126162
• Family Hubs and the vulnerable care ecologies of child and family welfare in austerity
  
  Disney, T., Crossley, S., King, H., Phillips, J., Robson, I., & Smith, R. (2023). Family Hubs and the vulnerable care ecologies of child and family welfare in austerity. The Geographical Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12505
• Social capital and women’s narratives of homelessness and multiple exclusion in northern England
  
  McGrath, J., Crossley, S., Lhussier, M., & Forster, N. (2023). Social capital and women’s narratives of homelessness and multiple exclusion in northern England. International Journal for Equity in Health, 22, Article 41. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01846-1
• Responsibility, resilience and symbolic power
  
  King, H., Crossley, S., & Smith, R. (2021). Responsibility, resilience and symbolic power. Sociological Review, 69(5), 920-936. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026120986108
• ‘We know it works..’: The Troubled Families Programme and the pre-determined boundary judgements of decontextualised policy evaluation
  
  Silver, D., & Crossley, S. (2020). ‘We know it works..’: The Troubled Families Programme and the pre-determined boundary judgements of decontextualised policy evaluation. Critical Social Policy, 40(4), 566-585. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018319892443
• The uk government's troubled families programme: Delivering social justice?
  
  Crossley, S. (2018). The uk government’s troubled families programme: Delivering social justice? Social Inclusion, 6(3), 301-309. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v6i3.1514
• 'Getting with the (troubled families) programme': A review
  
  Lambert, M., & Crossley, S. (2017). ’Getting with the (troubled families) programme’: A review. Social Policy and Society, 16(1), 87-97. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474746416000385
• Guest editorial: Professionalism, de-professionalisation and austerity
  
  Crossley, S. (2017). Guest editorial: Professionalism, de-professionalisation and austerity. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 19(1), 3-6.
• The 'official' social justice: An examination of the Coalition government's concept of social justice
  
  Crossley, S. (2017). The ’official’ social justice: An examination of the Coalition government’s concept of social justice. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 25(1), 21-33. https://doi.org/10.1332/175982717x14842282011532
• Introduction: 'Looking for Trouble?' Critically Examining the UK Government's Troubled Families Programme
  
  Crossley, S., & Lambert, M. (2017). Introduction: ’Looking for Trouble?’ Critically Examining the UK Government’s Troubled Families Programme. Social Policy and Society, 16(1), 81-85. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474746416000476
• Consumption of energy drinks by children and young people: a rapid review examining evidence of physical effects and consumer attitudes
  
  Visram, S., Cheetham, M., Riby, D., Crossley, S., & Lake, A. (2016). Consumption of energy drinks by children and young people: a rapid review examining evidence of physical effects and consumer attitudes. BMJ Open, 6(10), Article e010380. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010380
• The ‘troubled families’ numbers game
  
  Crossley, S. (2016). The ‘troubled families’ numbers game. Environment and Planning A, 48(1), 4-6. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x15614709
• ‘Realising the (troubled) family’, ‘crafting the neoliberal state’
  
  Crossley, S. (2015). ‘Realising the (troubled) family’, ‘crafting the neoliberal state’. Families, Relationships and Societies, 5(2), 263-279. https://doi.org/10.1332/204674315x14326465757666

Report

• Reducing the need for foodbanks in County Durham
  
  Crossley, S., Orton, A., Corrigan, D., Davidson, L., Diamond, N., Hall, C., McGrother, I., Smith, K., & Wayte, M. (2024). Reducing the need for foodbanks in County Durham. Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (CSJCA), Durham Christian Partnership (DCP).
• An evidence-based plan for addressing poverty with and through education settings
  
  Balmer, S., Black, N. M., Brown, C., Cookson, R., Crossley, S., Eddy, L., Fairbrother, H., James, M., Kapree, M., Laing, K., Larbi, R., Munford, L., O’Donovan, L., Papen, U., See, B., Simpson, A., Sinha, I., Mazzoli Smith, L., & Taylor-Robinson, D. (2024). An evidence-based plan for addressing poverty with and through education settings (C. Ayadurai, L. Todd, M. Mon-Williams, & M. Wood, Eds.). N8 Research Partnership.