Gorbachev s accession to General Secretary promised great changes to the Soviet Union and its relationship with the rest of the world. This book, first published in 1987, discusses the problems faced by Gorbachev when he entered office and how he planned to tackle them. Gorbachev was a figure of genuine debate in the mid-1980s, raising doubts from Western specialists regarding his radicalism and ability to reform the Soviet economic system in particular. Here, Dyker and his colleagues assess the changes Gorbachev had already made to consolidate his power base, alongside those that he was...

When "Sociological Impressionism" was first published in 1981, it was the first comprehensive study on Simmel s social theory to appear in English since 1925. A pioneering work, it did much to bring about the rediscovery of Georg Simmel as one of the key sociologists of the twentieth century. David Frisby provides a provocative introduction to aspects of Simmel s social theory, seriously challenging many interpretations of his work, most notably the view that Simmel produced a "formal "sociology. By drawing on many little-known essays and pieces by Simmel and his contemporaries, the book...

This book, first published in 1983, with a second edition in 1992, investigates the emergence of the sociology of knowledge in Germany in the critical period from 1918 to 1933. These years witnessed the development of distinctive paradigms centred on the works of Max Scheler, Georg Luk cs and Karl Mannheim. Each theorist sought to confront the base-superstructure models of the relationship between knowledge and society, which originated in Orthodox Marxism. David Frisbsy illustrates how these and other themes in the sociology of knowledge were contested through a detailed account of the...

First published in 1988, this book examines pollution and natural resources in relation to economic analysis. The section on pollution looks at areas such as the main problems in the field at the time, possible remedies and the environmental costs involved. In regards to natural resources, the book considers both the exploitation of non-renewable resources and commercial fishing. The non-technical introduction to the main problems set out in each chapter will appeal to the general reader whilst the formal models and more technical parts make the material equally suitable for more advanced...

First published in 1981, Labour Market Economics develops the basic economic theory of introductory courses within the context of labour market analysis and applies it both to particular features and special problems of the subject. The author begins by outlining the nature of the area and the structure of the UK labour market at the time, and proceeds to explain and elaborate the tools of theoretical analysis. These are then applied in subsequent chapters to a variety of issues, including the economic analysis of trade unions, collective bargaining and the effects of unions, unemployment,...

First published in 1972, this book contains a collection of ten essays that document the feminine stereotypes that women fought against, and only partially erased, a hundred years ago. In an introductory essay, Martha Vicinus describes the perfect Victorian lady, showing that the ideal was a combination of sexual innocence, conspicuous consumption and worship of the family hearth. Indeed, this model in some form was the ideal of all classes as the perfect lady s only functions were marriage and procreation. The text offers a valuable insight into Victorian culture and society.

First published in 1977, this book is a companion volume to "Suffer and Be Still. "It looks at the widening sphere of women s activities in the Victorian age and testifies to the dual nature of the legal and social constraints of the period: on the one hand, the ideal of the perfect lady and the restrictive laws governing marriage and property posed limits to women s independence; on the other hand, some Victorian women chose to live lives of great variety and complexity. By uncovering new data and reinterpreting old, the contributors in this volume debunk some of the myths surrounding the...

First published in 1992, this book examines Soviet foreign policy towards Southeast Asia in the context of the transformation of the "perestro ka "era in the Soviet Union, beginning in 1985 and ending in 1989 with the Soviet partial withdrawal from Cam Ranh Bay. Leszek Buszynski considers Gorbachev s effort to disengage from the Cambodian problem, the weakening of the Soviet alliance with Vietnam and the real effort to overcome old hostilities with growth areas in ASEAN such as Thailand and Singapore. This is a fascinating and relevant title, of particular value to students with an...

The essays in this edited collection, first published in 1986, focus on important debates surrounding the central Marxian problem of the transformation of values into prices. The collection brings together major contributions on the value theory debate from the decade prior to the book s publication, and assesses the debate s significance for wider issues. Value theory emerges as much more than a technical relation between labour time and prices, and the structure of the capitalist economy is scrutinised. This is a relevant and comprehensive work, valuable to students, academics and...

First published in 1977, this book looks at the versatile literary form of dramatic monologue. Although it is often associated with Browning and other poets writing between 1830 and 1930, the concept has been employed by diverse poets of multiple periods such as Ovid, Chaucer, Donne, Blake, Wordsworth, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes. In this study, Alan Sinfield demonstrates and analyses the range and adaptability of the form through detailed examples. He shows that the technique maintains a shifting and uncertain balance between the voices of the poet and of his created speaker; when...