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Discusses firms’ inability to achieve quality via numerous processes, owing to a lack of practical advice. Outlines areas in which results are important; states that the system must be diagnostic. Recommends quality self‐assessment to help firms to implement quality processes. Describes the processes and results achieved by various companies. Concludes that, if used properly, self‐assessment is an invaluable tool which fulfils TQM’s critical requirements.

In the past, the only way in which it has been possible to ensure that the requisite conditions regarding pasteurisation have been complied with has been frequent bacteriological examinations of the milk, together with inspection of the plant and methods. The time taken in making such inspections, if properly carried out with sufficient frequency to be of any value, has been a serious objection to this form of control, while, in addition, much of the milk sold in a district may have been pasteurised in the area of another authority, when the responsible official finds himself unable to inspect either plant or methods. Even when plants are apparently satisfactory, slight errors may arise which are difficult to discover. On this score, most districts have been obliged to rely upon bacteriological control, a method which, as we have seen, is open to experimental error. It is obvious that the control of pasteurising plants has presented a difficult problem, as such plants are of great variety and often of intricate design, resulting in their inspection being a highly‐skilled operation.

Recent research has challenged traditional views of the 1920s-era Ku Klux Klan in the United States. Case studies have shown that the movement appealed to a broad middle-class constituency and advocated a range of popular reforms. These findings have stimulated a provocative debate over whether the movement represented a mainstream “civic populism” or a more racist reaction to change. Here, I review the recent debate and show how the new data are consistent with current sociological models of collective action. Comparing studies of Klan mobilization in several cities, I argue that the movement was both populist and racist, combining processes of contemporary urban racial and class formation. From this perspective, I suggest, the 1920s Klan highlights a critical moment in the development of racial and class identities in 20th century urban America.