In Search of the Social: Steamboats, Square Wheels, Reindeer and Other Things

This paper examines the concept of the ‘social,’ particularly from an archaeological perspective, and explores how it relates to the ways in which we seek to understand the processes of technological innovation and change. It is demonstrated that the concept ‘social’ is far from well defined and that enquiry is bedevilled by artificial polarization between subject-centred approaches and object-centred particularism. Through the medium of early United States steamboat technology a different approach is forged through the melding of people and things with the idea of viewing artefacts as active social actors along with people. Ultimately, it is argued that maritime archaeologists should be more bullish in their approaches to material things—instead of adopting social theories ‘wholesale,’ we should insist that they include the things we study: boats, material objects, people, artefacts, landscapes and animals.     

Globalization of real estate markets in Central Europe

The process of globalization is increasing competition between urban areas for the attraction of investment. Within this context the paper initially highlights the impact of global change on city economies linking this to international investment within the real estate market. Factors influencing diversification strategies and international investment activity within property markets in central Europe are considered relative to a range of performance criteria. Office markets in Prague, Budapest and Warsaw are forwarded as case study examples to assess the degree of maturity that is occurring in these former socialist cities based on the activity of investors and end‐users including the extent to which there are dual markets operating for local and international actors.     

THE REGIONAL MALL IN CANADA

Over the last three decades, regional shopping malls have become significant features of the Canadian urban landscape. They account for the largest concentrations of employment, retail sales, and trip destinations outside the central business district, and they reshape patterns of accessibility within communities. This article examines the number, economic role, location, and implication of these facilities, in Canada, and contrasts them with similar malls in the United States. By 7 986, there were 84 regional malls with more than 500 000 sq. ft. of space in Canada, and these malls accounted for 10 per cent of all retail sales.     

Taking the Local: The Reagan Administration, New Federalism, and Fair Housing Implementation

This article explores how "New Federalism" under President Ronald W. Reagan manifested itself in the implementation of fair housing policy. We examine the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) and how it led to state and local civil rights agencies playing an increasingly vital role in implementing the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Relying on data provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), we show that a significant number of fair housing complaints were shifted from HUD to state and local agencies.     

Book reviews

PRESENT AT THE CREATION. MY YEARS IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT. Dean Acheson. London, Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1969. xviii, 798 pp. $12.80.

THE SPLIT: AUSTRALIAN LABOR IN THE FIFTIES. Robert Murray. Melbourne, Cheshire, 1970. vi, 388 pp. $5.95.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE SUPER‐POWERS: A SHORT COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF THE USA AND THE USSR. Paul Dukes. London, Macmillan, 1970. 155 pp. £1 and $3.40.

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON GANDHI. K. P. Karunakaran. Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, 1969. ii, 115 pp. Rs. 10, $3.60 U.S.

LENIN THROUGH INDIAN EYES. K. P. S. Menon. Vikas Publications, Delhi, 1970. ix, 79 pp. Rs. 12.

AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED NATIONS: NEW GUINEA TRUSTEESHIP ISSUES FROM 1946 TO 1966. W. E. Tomasetti. New Guinea Research Bulletin, No. 36, July 1970, New Guinea Research Unit, Australian National University, Canberra and Boroko. 108 pp. $1.50.

ENGLISH TRANSPORTED: ESSAYS ON AUSTRALASIAN ENGLISH. W. S. Ramson. (ed.). Australian National University Press, 1970. xii, 243 pp. $3.95 Paper. $6.00 Cloth.

THE FIRST AI.F. A STUDY OF ITS RECRUITMENT 1914–1918. L. L. Robson. Melbourne University Press, 1970. 230 pp. $6.75.     

Assessing place-based identities in the early Middle Ages: a proposal for post-Roman Iberia

Sociological models of place-based identity can be used to better understand the social dynamics of local communities and how they interact with their surroundings. This paper explores how these theoretical models of belonging to a place, in tandem with communal cognitive maps, can be applied to post-Roman contexts, taking the Iberian Peninsula in the Visigothic period (sixth–eighth centuries) as a preliminary case study. We argue that this approach can give us not only a more complex understanding of community agencies but also allows us to reconsider the social context for past social interactions. Furthermore, it will open a new archaeological perspective for future work on the relations between groups and individuals with their built, social, and natural environments.     

State Expenditures and Policy Outcomes in Environmental Program Management

Comparative state environmental research seeks to explain the factors contributing to intergovernmental environmental management. In pursuing the answer to this query, researchers have relied on either fiscal (expenditures) or nonfiscal (ranking) measures of state environmental effort. Respecting the debate surrounding state policy outputs and fiscal versus nonfiscal measures, we evaluate comprehensive state environmental management comparing spending and ranking measures in our analysis. Though pronounced differences do exist between the two models, we find pollution and state size to be the primary factors affecting a state's environmental effort no matter which measure is used.