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Alan Fox is one of the most prolific and original British sociologists of industry and employment. Fox's largely derivative writings on macro-sociology have received considerable attention in the literature. In comparison his original micro-sociological theory of the role played by trust in organizational integration has been neglected. This paper presents a critical evaluation of Fox's microsociological theory of 'trust dynamics' in organizations. The paper identifies conceptual, theoretical and methodological weaknesses in Fox's complex argument and concludes that Fox's theory is invalid. The paper also suggests that trust in organizational life is probably more significant as an aspect of 'social integration' than, as Fox contends, as an aspect of' 'system integration'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a critical assessment of the major attempt to explain the timing of rounds of hours reductions in British industrial relations: Manfred Bienefeld's theory of the causes of changes in normal hours. In seminal study of working hours in British industry by Bienefeld, he attempted to explain the path followed by normal hours over the history of British capitalism and particularly the timing of the surges of bargaining activity on normal working time. Bienefeld's thesis is complex and many-stranded. As will be seen, it implies that an hours round should not have been expected in the recessionary conditions prevailing during the greater part of the 1970s.