Search results

THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE between the larger German and English libraries is that, whereas English libraries like the British Museum and the Bodleian are not lending libraries, the German state libraries are. Hence the difference of emphasis in structure and organization or—put another way: the extreme simplicity of English set against the extraordinary complexity of German libraries. In the Bodleian one is still a person with a name. In the Bavarian State Library one is a computerized number. In the Guildhall Library in London uniformed assistants bring the books to one's place. In the New York City Library small boys dart about on roller skates in the magazine to fetch the books from the stacks. In Munich the books are delivered along rollers controlled by some magnificent robot to one of the five counters to which as a Reader one has been assigned—that is, if the books which one has ordered are present. Often they are not, which is obviously the disadvantage of allowing readers to take them home. Yet even to have obtained confirmation of their absence is an achievement which may have taken days!

ONCE when Theodor Fontane, the celebrated nineteenth‐century German poet, was invited by his friend Wilhelm Wolfsohn to write an article about English women, the poet replied that he knew no more about English womenfolk than he knew about Patagonians, that they were large, or about Caribbeans, that they were supposed to eat human flesh. Yet later on, at the beginning of his last and longest stay in England (1855–9) he was prepared to offer his wife a most trenchant criticism on this subject after an encounter with a redoubtable English woman, the sister of an admiral, who ‘shamefully annoyed’ the poet by reproving him for appearing at the breakfast table unshaven.

THE NEW REFORMATION SOCIETY, founded apparently at the end of 1860, finds no place in Greenwood's Free Public Libraries (1886), and from its title appears to deserve no such place. But Greenwood was an Englishman and a Liberal, and the Society owes both its character and its relevance to libraries to its founder, the Scots‐born businessman, Alexander Alison. Since in Britain authoritarian politics are never taken seriously, the man and the body deserve some attention.

In this chapter I attempt to merge Athens’ conception of domination as a complex interactionist concept with Goffman’s notion of demeanor and deference as lynchpins of dramaturgical analysis. I ground the merger in an analysis of metaphorical duel between a superordinate and subordinate in the TV show Mad Men. The examination of this metaphorical dual also implies a connection between a radical interactionism as defined by Athens and a radical dramaturgy informed by Athens’ conception of domination. In particular, I propose an examination of civil domination within institutionalized settings in which use of shared pasts and concomitant acts of demeanor and deference enhance the construction of domination between superordinates and subordinates. The fictional representation of a metaphorical duel in the television show Mad Men depicts a struggle for control in which the superordinate demands that a willful subordinate sign a contract which will bind the subordinate to a particular place for an extended period of time. The examination of events leading to signing reveals a complex weave of social acts that combines the force of domination with the artistry of demeanor and deference.

A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).

Most years, several AIB members are elected as AIB Fellows on account of their excellent international business scholarship, and/or past service as AIB President or Executive Secretary. The Fellows are in charge of electing Eminent Scholars as well as the International Executive and International Educator (formerly, Dean) of the Year, who often provide the focus for Plenary Sessions at AIB Conferences. Their history since 1975 covers over half of the span of the AIB and reflects many issues that dominated that period in terms of research themes, progresses and problems, the internationalization of business education and the role of international business in society and around the globe. Like other organizations, the Fellows Group had their ups and downs, successes and failures – and some fun too!

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.