The Acton Society Trust was established by the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust in the 1940s "to analyse the implications of the welfare state for liberty and the individual.
It paid for assistants to front bench politicians, now known as special political advisors, who were referred to as Chocolate Soldiers, until public money was provided for the purpose in 1974. It produced many of the earliest studies of management in the United Kingdom, particularly in the National Health Service.
It submitted evidence to the Committee on the Staffing of Local Government (Mallaby Committee) in 1966.
Teddy Chester and Reg Revans both worked for the trust before moving to the University of Manchester.
The Trust's archives are held at the London School of Economics.
It was closed down in 2000.
Nationalised Industry: 1, Accountability to Parliament 1950
Nationalised Industry: 2, The Powers of the Minister, 1950
Accountability to Parliament, 1950
The extent of centralisation: A discussion based on a case study in the coal industry (Nationalised industry series; nos. 6 & 7), 1951
Training and promotion in nationalised industry, 1951
Problems of Promotion Policy, 1951
The Powers of the Minister, 1951
The Miner's Pension, 1951
The Men on the Boards. A Study of the Composition of the Boards of the Nationalised Industry, 1951
The Framework of Joint Consultation, 1952
The Workers Point of View. A Discussion of "Reporting Back" Based on a Study in a Coalfield, (Studies in nationalised industry series;no.11), 1952
Patterns of Organisation, 1952
The Future of the Unions, 1952
Relations with the Public, 1952
Management Under Nationalisation: Studies in Decentralisation, (prepared by T. E. Chester and J. H. Smith), 1953
Background and blueprint: Hospital organisation and administration under the National Health Service (Hospitals and the State series; no.1) 1955
Management succession: The recruitment, selection, training and promotion of managers, 1956
The impact of the change: Hospital organisation and administration under the National Health Service (Hospitals and the state series;no.2),1956
Groups, regions and committees: Hospital organisation and administration under the National Health Service (Hospitals and the state series; nos 3 and 4) 1957
Creative leadership in a state service: A general survey (Hospitals and the state series)
Size and morale, 1957
The central control of the service (Hospitals and the state series;no.3), 1958
Redundancy: A survey of problems and practices, 1958
Wider shareholding, 1959
Creative leadership in a state service: A general survey (Hospitals and the state series;no.6), 1959
Retirement: A study of current attitudes and practices, 1960
Management initiative, A report compiled by M. J. Kirton and others, 1961
Buying better health - Colloquium on the Finance of National Health, 1961
Childers Sort Out the Mixers (Case studies of management initiative), 1962
The Reorganization of Childers Sales Methods (Case studies of management initiative), 1962
The Childers Rosette Scheme (Case studies of management initiative), 1962
No Sale for Childers Dryers (Case studies of management initiative), 1962
Brent & Russell Buy a Subsidiary (Case studies of management initiative),1962
The arts graduate in industry, 1962
Mergers past and present, Randall Smith, 1963
The human effects of mergers: the impact on managers; Rosemary Stewart, Pauline Wingate and Randal Smith, 1963
Industry and the countryside: The impact of industry on amenities in the countryside:the report of a preliminary inquiry for the Royal Society of Arts 1963
Land values: The report of the proceedings of a colloquium held in London on March 13 and 14, 1965 under the auspices of the Acton Society Trust, 1965
Regionalism in England, 1965
Town and county hall problems of recruitment and training by Trevor Smith, 1966
The human effects of mergers: the impact on the shop floor, Dennis Brooks and Randall Smith, 1966
Its Aims Work and Publications, 1967
Sharing The Profits. An Inquiry Into The Habits, attitudes and Problems of Employees' Shareholding Schemes; Mr. Guy Naylor, 1968
Acton essays, 1968
Acton Society Studies. no. 1, etc, 1972
Readings on Mergers and Takeovers, 1972, ISBN 9780236176199
A Study of Liberty and Revolution, Goodman, Edward; 1975 ISBN 9780715608708
What size should organisations be? Peter Abell, 1977
How the economies of scale might benefit small units of spontaneous cooperation, E. Goodman, 1977
Thoughts on the present discontents in Britain: a review and a proposal, Krishan Kumar, 1977
Some relative efficiency and comparative institutional properties of markets and hierarchies, David J. Teece, 1977
Hierarchy and democratic authority, Peter Abell, 1978
Economic efficiency and the internal structure of the business enterprise: theory and evidence, Henry Ogden Armour and David J. Teece, 1978
The concept of property; Iain Hampsher-Monk, 1978
Information technology and the size of firms, R. K. Stamper, 1978
Some reflections on information economics, Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1978
Information and economic organisation , Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1978
The contribution of small units of enterprise to the German economic miracle, Willibrord Sauer, 1979
What welcome? reception and resettlement of refugees in Britain, Michael Levin, 1981 ISBN 0850000173
The Scottish Office and nationalised industries, James F. Laing, 1982 ISBN 0850000181
British politics in the post-Keynesian era, Trevor Smith, 1986 ISBN 085000022X
Impacts And Influences; James Curran, Anthony Smith and Pauline Wingate, 1987, ISBN 9780416006124
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