rules. In both cases, though via different mechanisms, these systems gave actors a stable reference point toward which they could orient behavior. What changes in the less-institutionalized settings of postmodernity is that this stability gives way to situational contingency, and so trust becomes something that must be constantly achieved and reachieved, what Giddens (1994) refers to as the ide...

This issue features a critique by Stephen P. Turner of an important paper by Robert Marsh on Weber’s analysis of the Chinese legal system. Turner’s critique is followed by a response from Robert Marsh. Then we have an article by a young scholar, François Dépelteau, about the sociological imagination. We have also listed all of the books submitted for the Barrington Moore Award since they consti...

Andrew Carnegie had the good fortune to possess contacts among the rich and famous on both sides of the Atlantic, wealth enough to buy the good favor of reporters, and media savvy. But he also had the ill fortune in the 1890s to need all these resources, for in that decade both his public image and his business philosophy were under challenge. At the beginning of the decade bad news kept coming...

The Section of comparative and historical sociology continues to strengthen its roots and to branch out. This progress has only been possible through the dedicated efforts of its many members and especially the officers who made it all happen. On behalf of all the members, I want to thank Anne Kane (University of Texas, Austin) for her tireless and efficient service as Secretary-Treasurer for t...