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This book examines the early work of Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), writer, journalist and woman of letters. She became famous in the 1830s with her Illustrations of Political Economy, a series of 25 short novels popularizing the basic principles of Political Economy. Also discussed are her two shorter series of tales from that period, Poor Laws and Paupers Illustrated and Illustrations of Taxation. With these works Martineau took part in an intense debate about the role of economic theory in English society. Drawing on such authorities as Adam Smith Martineau offered her readers the possibility of understanding the impact of the Industrial Revolution and its concomitant changes.

This study of Wolfram's Parzival concentrates on service for riches in medieval knighthood. The epic is interpreted as a conflict between reciprocal feudal loyalty and self-centered mercenary service. The actions of Gahmuret, Anfortas, Parzival, and Feirefiz are held up against the historical background of the crusades, where service for abstract ideals is undermined by service for material gain. Although the power of riches is subdued by the sword in the end, the author maintains that the Parzival is an heroic defense of feudal values in an historical state of decline. He also criticizes traditional Parzival interpretations based on the chivalric system of the virtues, religious didactics, courtly love relationships, and dynastic relationships.

This research project assesses the extent to which religion influences standards and behaviour in business, by comparing Islamic banking to co-operative banking as carried out by both Christians and Muslims. The study argues that Islamic banks are particular in the kind of products they offer, namely the Islamic financial instruments. On the other hand, it is the organisation which is key to co-operative banks. An empirical investigation of over 100 banks has revealed that Islamic banks are conventional banks with a product range modified according to Islamic religious law. Co-operative banks operate so as 'to help the poor', an objective in line with both Islamic and Christian ethics. The book demonstrates that Muslims and Christians can work together to foster development and to overcome poverty by referring to common ethical standards in business.

Comprehensive schooling and associated policies striving for a greater equality of educational opportunity have been at the centre of debate in many Western countries, since the 1950s. In this volume, the educational and social outcomes of several decades of comprehensive school reform in Sweden, Great Britain, France and the Federal Republic of Germany are examined by recognized social scientists from each of the countries concerned. Particular attention is given to the issue of social selectivity. The contributions, originally prepared for an international symposium organized by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education in Berlin, are all based on original research. They have been thoroughly revised and updated, and, in some cases, even completely rewritten. This new edition represents the most recent state of research on the topic.

However important the school may be as a vehicle to institutionalize and perpetuate democracy, it has been ignored by contemporary scholars of democratization in developing and former socialist countries. This book maps out useful for comparative inquiry on the role of education in democratization and transitions from centralized authority.

This book attempts to build a complete theory of stress in Old English. In particular, the author tries to elucidate the relation, in that language, between stress placement and syllable weight. Eventually, he finds that the syllable should be abandoned as the central notion of Old English metrical phonology and replaced with the mora as an independent unit of phonological quantity. These findings are then applied to a new, phonologically-based analysis of the rhythm of Old English poetry.