Housing research has yet to achieve an adequate framework to guide research into the effects of social policy. Two concepts are outlined and used in this article to analyse one local housing market; it is hoped that these will prove generally useful. The concepts are ‘housing status group’ (a modification of Rex and Moore's ‘housing classes’ model), and ‘housing pathway’, which refers to the structure of housing careers. In a low-cost study of a large sample of child-bearing families in Aberdeen, the relationship between housing tenure and occupational class, family size, and experience of housing deprivation is explored. Five principles of the local housing market's operation are abstracted by use of the status group approach, and three main housing pathways are identified. Data are presented which show that the chance of encountering bad housing conditions is strongly correlated with tenure, and that in turn, access to types of tenure is strictly rule-restricted. The local housing market appears to be rigidly stratified, with housing status groups re-inforcing other patterned social conditions, and housing pathways which are sharply differentiated. Because of this, the authors argue for a ‘constraint’ model of family housing experience which can be integrated into a general sociological theory of structured social inequality.

History has judged John Burns's tenure of the Local Government Board between 1905 and 1914 to have been almost totally barren because his officials were able to capitalize on his great personal vanity in order to flatter him into incompetence and reaction. This article attempts a re-assessment of Burns's presidency along four lines. First it seeks to suggest that his achievement, while by no means impressive, was perhaps more substantial, particularly on the administrative side, than is usually argued. Secondly, it points out that he was already well disposed towards the sort of attitude current among LGB officials when he went to the board. It suggests further that there were certain institutional obstacles which hindered Burns, including the existence of several royal commissions examining aspects of Board work, the poor quality of LGB staff, and the absence of a well-developed statistical section. Finally, it is argued that while Burns's personality was the key factor in his presidency, it was not so much his vanity as his absorbtion with trivia, his intellectual limitations, and lack of any constructive ideas that lay behind his relatively unimpressive record.

This paper draws attention to new provisions in the 1972 Local Government Act which enable non-elected persons to determine local authority policies, through their co-option on to sub-committees with delegated powers. It sets out these provisions in the light of previous legislation and discusses why they were introduced. It then points out one area of local authority administration in which they are likely to be implemented, involving new systems for tenant participation in council housing management. A concluding section raises some questions about the implications of these provisions for the legislative process in general, in particular the ability of legislative changes to have unintended consequences.