In this absorbing collection Eric Miller draws on the experience of three decades as organizational consultant to various sorts of institutions, employing approaches drawn from psychoanalysis, systems theory and the group relations movement. He has worked and is esteemed throughout the world. Since all his work has been conducted in the midst of ongoing and temporary institutions, it is all 'action research'. Among the sites analysed in these papers are an airline; hospitals for incurables, the elderly, the mentally ill; a diocese; a prison; a diplomatic mission; manufacturing companies and rural sites. Throughout his case studies he addresses issues of dependence, independence and counterdependence. In all of the settings his aim has been to help people to gain greater influence over their environments. In the concluding chapters he lifts his eyes from small groups and society in microcosm to address society as an intelligible field of study. Throughout the book he focuses constantly on values and concepts in action.

What are the effects of employment on women’s well-being and social position in a Third World city? Until recently before publication, Calcutta (now Kolkata) had been notable for having one of the lowest rates of female employment in India. This had been largely determined by strong cultural beliefs that a woman’s place is in the home. However, in recent years, the growth of ‘female’ jobs in the small-scale industry and service sectors, combined with an increase in male unemployment had resulted in a sudden increase in the numbers of women entering the labour force. Originally published in 1991 and based on Hilary Standing’s extensive fieldwork within Bengali households, Dependence and Autonomy considers the effects of women’s employment on the labour market, the household, and the women themselves. Particular attention is paid to the role of the life cycle and of class position in determining the impact of employment, and the work is set within a historical perspective on gender and employment in Bengali society. This book is a re-issue originally published in 1991. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.

Respecting the autonomy of disabled people is an important ethical issue for providers of long-term care. In this influential book, George Agich abandons comfortable abstractions to reveal the concrete threats to personal autonomy in this setting, where ethical conflict, dilemma and tragedy are inescapable. He argues that liberal accounts of autonomy and individual rights are insufficient, and offers an account of autonomy that matches the realities of long-term care. The book therefore offers a framework for carers to develop an ethic of long-term care within the complex environment in which many dependent and aged people find themselves. Previously published as Autonomy and Long-term Care, this revised edition, in paperback for the first time, takes account of recent work and develops the author's views of what autonomy means in the real world. It will have wide appeal among bioethicists and health care professionals.

The European Union is traditionally seen as a new and partly separate legal order within the global legal system. At the same time, the EU is an important player in the global governance network. The strong and explicit link between the EU and a large number of other international organisations raises questions concerning the impact of decisions taken by those organisations and of international agreements concluded with those organisations (either by the EU itself or by its Member States) on the autonomy of the EU legal order. This book addresses the relationship between the EU and other international organisations by looking at the increasing influence of norms enacted by international organisations on the shaping of EU law.

What are the future prospects of the modern family? For a long time the common image in the West has been to see the nuclear family, consisting of two economically independent spouses and their children, as the natural outcome of the modernization process. As the hierarchies of patriarchal society vanish, a social order based on equal and autonomous individuals all set for self-realisation has been assumed. However, high rates of divorce, often reported domestic violence, teenagers left on their own at an early age, do not harmonize very well with this idealized image. Critical analysis of family order in two countries at the opposite edges of the European continent - Turkey and Sweden - approaches these problems and attempts to create a more realistic picture of family life in the modern world.