Despite its importance in understanding the social relations of labour little attention has been paid by Western Marxists to evolutionary theory. Taking as a starting point an unfinished essay by Engels, the author argues that the human species must be seen as discontinuous with its nearest biological ancestors – that a qualitative distinction was brought about by social labour. It is argued that the most likely forms of human organization were co-operative and field studies are d...

This book is an appraisal of current offshore industrial relations, and safety regulations instituted after the 1988 Alpha disaster in the North Sea. This text discusses the oil industry's attempts to contain subsequent, unwelcome regulatory interference, and examines the fraught history of trade unionism in the offshore industry, the conflict over health and safety, and the sometimes brutal struggle over union rights as the workforce attempted to achieve a collective voice in the reshapin...

Corporate Social Responsibility Failures in the Oil Industry directly challenges the oil industry's claims of corporate good citizenship, now widely advanced as part of a global public relations initiative. The volume spans the industry's reach, from the troubled waters of the UK offshore Continental Shelf, with its horrendous legacy of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, to the inhospitable shores of Newfoundland with its own tragic legacy of lost lives; to the new frontier of oil corporate...

The great financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing global economic and financial turmoil have launched a search for "models" for recovery. The advocates of austerity present the Baltic States as countries that through discipline and sacrifice showed the way out of crisis. They have proposed the "Baltic model" of radical public sector cuts, wage reductions, labor market reforms and reductions in living standards for other troubled Eurozone countries to emulate. Yet, the reality of the Balti...