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Martins raised very early the issue of the impact of the new communications and media technologies on critical thought. To analyse these themes further, it is fruitful to compare two figures—Marshall McLuhan and Regis Debray—whose work reveals particular responsiveness to this transformed environment. McLuhan is famously an explorer of the new media of the 1960s, whilst Debray, after his imprisonment for revolutionary activity in Latin America, also turned himself into a media analyst. In many respects what is most interesting is not only how different these two figures were in their background, culture and politics but also how sensitive they both were to the changing media environment and the need to derive new styles of research to deal with this situation.

(2003). Moral Philosophy and Economic Sociology: What MacIntyre Learnt from Polanyi. International Review of Sociology: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 393-407.

The paper seeks to explore via a series of interview-based case studies aspects of the emergence of an entrepreneurial middle-class in Russia. The paper notes the origins of those studied in the professional or highly skilled workers in the former Soviet Union. The paper reveals the complexity and fragility of the circumstances of these entrepreneurs and suggests that commentary in both Russia and the West that pins its hopes for social stability on the emergence of a new property owning middle class in Russia are, at best, premature.

Alasdair Maclntyre, a leading moral philosopher in the English speaking world, was from his earliest intellectual formation influenced profoundly both by Christianity and Marxism. Maclntyre argues that Marxism has religious roots, in that it gains its vision of the good life of peace and reconciliation from Christianity, mediated by Hegel, but makes this life historically concrete. The article views Maclntyre 's early intellectual career as a case study in the productive tension generated by an analysis of the connections between Christianity and Marxism. It is suggested that by examining the similarities and differences of these two traditions, Maclntyre points to the sources of radicalism that lie at the apparently conservative heart of western culture and reveals aspects of the continuing significance of this culture's religious background. He also points to the difficulties both traditions have in engaging with modern liberal culture.

(1997). Enterprise welfare and privatisation in Russia. Journal of Area Studies: Vol. 5, Nation, Place and Culture: Issues of Identity in Contemporary Europe, pp. 121-137.