The disciplines of economics and sociology, normally quite separate, are reconciled in this volume. Amongst the many questions considered are: the formal relationship between the two disciplines in terms of logical structure, types of hypotheses and explanatory models, the distinctive ranges of empirical data which each discipline calls into question, how the substantive findings of one discipline can modify the assumptions of the other. The book explores the historical development of economic theories of society from Marx through Weber, Schumpeter, Polanyi, Parsons and debates on rationality placed in context. The contribution of economic sociology is demonstrated through critical assessments of key areas of the literature such as the state/market division in capitalist and socialist economies, the informal economy and the relation of states and economies to the international arena.
Economic Development and Public Housing in Hong Kong and Singapore
In one of the most striking paradoxes of urban policy in the world, Hong Kong and Singapore, the two market economies with the highest rates of economic growth in the last twenty-five years, are also those with the largest public housing programmes in the capitalist world (about 46% and 86% respectively). Such experience shatters the ideological ......
The impact of the environment on disease causation and control has become a key item on the political agenda. Each contributor to this book addresses one of the contemporary debates concerning issues such as the interpretation of cancer clusters, the provision of care for the mentally ill and the likely progress of the AIDS epidemic. The book will ......
Demands made on the management skills of Britain's 2.5 million managers increase continually. Each year 90,000 people take courses to improve their management skills. Colleges and universities are expanding to meet this demand for better qualified managers. Employers increasingly regard training as an investment in people. But companies often do not fully understand the challenge of combining a career with study and individuals may underestimate the demands of part-time study. Study Skills for Managers has been developed with all managers in mind. It emphasizes the needs of those beginning a part-time MBA or Diploma, but is also relevant to all managers concerned with self development and with keeping up-to-date. The author brings together practical ideas and advice for busy managers wishing to improve the effectiveness of their self-development and study skills. The book covers a wide range of topics including: information and memory; diagrams as an aid to thinking and learning; reading and report writing; time management; and stress management. Readers are encouraged to test and develop their own skills at every stage and to assess their own strengths and weaknesses. A series of exercises increases the reader's self-confidence and builds links between the world of work and the world of management learning.
What determines the loyalties of voters? The factors identified by social scientists range from a last-minute television appeal by a politician to the social class of the voter's parents. But which of the many influences are most important electorally? "Loyalties of Voters" offers an answer based on an analysis of three decades of electoral behaviour. A sophisticated lifetime learning model is developed. Family loyalties absorbed as a child, adult socio-economic interests and enduring political values cumulate to shape the voter's judgement of the government of the day, the party leaders of the moment. Marshalling evidence from British elections from 1964 to the present, Rose and McAllister determine the critical steps in a lifetime of learning. They tabulate the influence (or lack of influence) of each potentially formative factor. The book illuminates the transition from the regular two-party pendulum of the 1960s: for the left and centre, the need to meld voters with differing values about the economy, the environment and international affairs into a winning coalition; for the right, what happens when Margaret Thatcher steps down.
This analysis offers an explanation of the changing nature of the State. The author argues that the state is not being transcended; the architecture of politics is not moving beyond the nation-State despite the emergence of transnational structures. He points to the movement of many states towards the model of the "Competition State", and away from the model of "Welfare State", as the major contemporary change in the role of the state. He asserts that new forms of political action will have to evolve if the state itself is to be controlled and used for the pursuit of deeper human values in the 21st century.
This book attempts to provide a comprehensive account of the state of the art of multicriteria evaluation methodology, particularly in urban and regional planning. The contributors discuss problems that impact in different ways on the decision-making process. Topics addressed include neighbourhood revitalization, environmental projects, regional ......
The contributors to this book assess the state of the debate on the privatization of justice. Key aspects of the arguments are examined and compared, as the authors clarify both the theoretical issues and the practical problems involved in the privatization of justice. The nature of the state and its relation to a monopoly of violence constitutes the main theoretical issue. Other debates which are covered include the existing role of private security firms in policing, the historical precedents for private justice and the experience of private prisons, particularly in North America. This book will be of interest to academics and professionals in criminology and criminal justice.
