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This paper focuses on trends towards employment flexibility or numerical flexibility in the manufacturing sector. A careful distinction will be made between policy and actual practice, and the analysis will focus on both management and the state. As policy statements in relation to labour markets have made large claims about the positive impact of market de‐regulation on the level of employment, some assessment of the impact of new practices will be attempted. Impact will be assessed both in quantitative terms and in terms of the changing nature of employment.

Acounts of new religious movements have been almost exclusively about those which have arisen in the last two decades in the most advanced capitalist societies, and theoretical explanations of their emergence and spread have very firmly connected them with the material standard and social ethos of that type of society. Although there have been significant new developments in the religious life of Soviet society there have been no religious movements forming such a radical break with the old religious life as those found in the West. In this article I shall be concerned with firstly, giving a brief outline of those transformations which have occurred in the religious life of Soviet society. Secondly, I shall show how and why they differ from the New Religious Movements in the West. I shall investigate in some detail why the latter could not and will not in the near future, take root in Soviet society.

Religion has long been seen as a conservative force in society. This view has informed the rhetoric and theory of many reformers and social philosophers in Europe in recent centuries, where religious institutions often historically developed a rather too comfortable accommodation with the state and ruling class. Religion came, therefore, to be viewed as essentially supportive of the status quo and hostile to change. Marx was one of the reformers and social philosophers to voice just such a view. For him, religion was primarily an ideological tool by means of which the ruling class legitimated its position, and mystified those whom it exploited by conveying the conception that the prevailing social order was not simply a product of the ruthless exercise of a monopoly of power and profit in the interest of a particular social group, but rather a divinely ordained order. Religion, then, further undermined the capacity for protest and rebellion among the disadvantaged, by promising equity and justice in a life hereafter, contingent in part upon accepting the injustice and inequality of the life here below.

Addresses the cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance (UA), of US and German staffing decisions – but uses a different viewpoint. Discusses and challenges the hitherto accepted meaning of individual positions of countries UA, using Höfstede’s guide. Adumbrates the concept of UA at the two levels of society and organization, linking the two levels. Concludes that low Höfstede UA index does not necessarily mean no or little need for certainty even in France and Denmark.

China’s economy is transforming at a brisk pace. A partially dismantled command economy and introduction of competition have fueled consumer demand for a greater selection of innovative new products in the retail market. The challenge for retail buyers is to adjust their procurement processes to respond to consumer needs in an efficient and effective manner. This study examines factors influencing buyer‐supplier relationships in a transition economy. We present a model to explain the factors driving retail buyer dependence on suppliers. We find that retailer evaluation of supplier credibility mediates the relationship between retailer perceptions of a supplier ability to add value to its business and the ability to achieve its desired goals. In part, this is due to the supplier’s market orientation. Interestingly, guanxi ties have no impact on the retailer perceptions of the supplier credibility, but have a positive affect on retailer dependence on its supplier partners.

The work of Craig Calhoun is examined as a perspective on the operation of community structures. Three facets are considered: Calhoun's model of the pre‐industrial community resting on linked multiple social relationships; parallel studies; comparisons across time and between regional or national settings. The conventional view is that national societal differences have been paramount in differentiating the long‐term profiles (e.g. economic growth) of nation states. Here the continuing importance of localised patterns of economic and social activity is emphasised.