The Galloway Levellers: a study of the origins, events and consequences of their actions
The purpose of this study is to cast fresh light on the uprising of the Galloway Levellers in 1724. To achieve this objective, the study takes as its starting point patterns of land use and land ownership in Galloway as they evolved through from the late sixteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth century. The important influence of the plantation of Ulster on the development of Galloway's cattle trade is discussed in this part of the study. Since the society of Galloway in 1724 was still deeply influenced by the religious and political conflicts of the later seventeenth century, this background is then considered. Local responses to the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 are discussed within this context since there was an anti-Jacobite element within the rhetoric and actions of the Galloway Levellers. From these foundations, and having established a chronology for the events of 1724, much of the confusion which previously surrounded the actions of the Galloway Levellers and responses to their actions can be clarified. It has been possible to identify and provide a history for most of the people and places involved, including some of the Levellers themselves. This evidence in turn has revealed that the actions of the Galloway Levellers did have an impact on the later eighteenth century development of Galloway through a more cautious approach to agricultural improvement and the creation of industrial settlements to provide employment for surplus labour. Finally, a previously unrecognised connection between late eighteenth century Galloway and the theory and practice of the industrial revolution is explored.
Union and Empire: The Making of the United Kingdom in 1707
The making of the United Kingdom in 1707 is still a matter of significant political and historical controversy. Allan Macinnes here offers a major new interpretation that sets the Act of Union within a broad European and colonial context and provides a comprehensive picture of its transatlantic and transoceanic ramifications that ranged from the balance of power to the balance of trade. He reexamines English motivations from a colonial as well as a military perspective and assesses the imperial significance of the creation of the United Kingdom. He also explores afresh the commitment of some determined Scots to secure Union for political, religious and opportunist reasons and shows that rather than an act of statesmanship, the resultant Treaty of Union was the outcome of politically inept negotiations by the Scots. Union and Empire will be a major contribution to the history of Britain, empire and early modern state formation.
Comparative Industrial Sociology and the Convergence Hypothesis
Industrial sociology grew spectacularly after World War II, concentrating on three areas: workers' relations with each other, their managers, and their unions; the social organization of the factory; and the impact of technology on social systems extending from the factory to the society. Unable to sus­ tain leadership in all of these areas, industrial sociology shrivelled as other fields invaded its domains. Human relations became the ideological property of the business schools; labor economics maintained its grip on industrial relations; industry-community relations waned as interest in community power soared; industrial organizations were absorbed into the study of com­ plex organizations; occupational sociology maintained research impetus in labor force analysis; and the sociology of the economy dominated the study of industry's institutional relationships. Industrial sociology survived on remnants: worker-machine relationships (job satisfaction, alienation, un­ employment), organizational responses to technological changes. and a bit of working-class ethnology. Enduring interest in technology, however, en­ abled industrial sociology to take part in sociology's expanding interest in comparative studies.