Comparative Social Research – serie

Focusing particularly upon normative social action, this text is divided into five sections, each with a theme. The first section deals with collective memory with a study of German collective memory. This central theme is explored through examinations of other aspects of society: cultural studies; the university and intellectuals; regional studies and family life. The section on regional studies contains essays on ethnic conflict in Italy and environmental issues in the Basque country.

Focusing upon the area of social methodology, this volume examines diverse approaches toward sociological research. These include case-orientated research versus variable orientated research, a multi-methodological approach and comparing historical sequences. The book should serve as a source of reference for research into approaches to social methodology.

This analysis of regional cultures is the 17th part in a series on social research. Topics covered include: the emergence of Wales and Saxony as modern regions in Europe; state support and literary regionalism in Norway and the US; and regional industrialization and political mobilization.

The yearbook Comparative Social Research aims at furthering the international orientation in the social sciences.Each volume is concentrated on a specific topic, mostly of substantive, but also of methodological character. As a rule, the articles present two or more cases for comparison, be they nations, regions, organizations, or social units at different points of time. The volumes embrace a broad set topics, such as comparative studies of universities as institutions for production and diffusion of knowledge; family policies; regional cultures; and institutional aspects of work and wage formation.Comparative Social Research seeks well-written articles that place the current or historical data in context, critically review the literature of comparative studies, or provide new theoretical or methodological insights. The series recognizes that comparative research is theoretically and methodologically interdisciplinary, and encourages and supports there trends. All papers will be subject to double-blind peer review.

Despite the growing awareness of globalization, the main bulk of empirical work in the social sciences remains within the frames of what Stein Rokkan termed "national empiricism". The yearbook Comparative Social Research aims at furthering the international orientation in the social sciences. Each volume is concentrated on a specific topic, mostly of substantive, but also of methodological character. As a rule, the articles present two or more cases for comparison, be they nations, regions, organizations, or social units at different points of time. The volumes embrace a broad set topics, such as comparative studies of universities as institutions for production and diffusion of knowledge; family policies; regional cultures; and institutional aspects of work and wage formation. Comparative Social Research seeks well-written articles that place the current or historical data in context, critically review the literature of comparative studies, or provide new theoretical or methodological insights. The series recognizes that comparative research is theoretically and methodologically interdisciplinary, and encourages and supports there trends. All papers will be subject to double-blind peer review.

This volume contributes to the comparative study of military conscription. Issues discussed include: a conceptual clarification of conscription as distinguished from volunteerism and militia service; the emergence of the citizen soldier model; patterns of anti-militarism before World War I; conscription in third world armies; gender-issues in relation to military service; the present phenomenon of child soldiers in Africa; the decline of conscript armies in Western Europe. A review section discusses the contribution of rational choice theory to the analysis of conscription into military forces.

The "cultural turn" in sociology created a new interest in power questions. This has led to a renewed interest in conceptual discussions of power in the field of culture studies, whereas empirical work is still less developed. "Comparative Studies of Culture and Power" sets the focus on the uses of cultural and symbolic means in struggles for hegemony: in politics, music markets, literature and the arts. Gender specific uses of rhetorical techniques is one salient theme, struggles for recognition of rhythm and blues music another. Several articles treat the role of the arts in nation building, as well as the role of public monuments in the acknowledgement of war and terrorism. The analyses relate to cultures all over the Western world.

Cultural pluralisation - reinforced by immigration - has had major consequences for the political agenda in recent years in liberal democratic states. New types of tension have arisen - new forms of social and cultural differentiation, and new patterns of inequality. The diversity also reshapes the frame of reference for traditional policy instruments employed by modern welfare states: new issues arise that are linked to rights, legitimacy and policy measures of a general and targeted nature. This volume in the "Comparative Social Research" series addresses a number of issues related to this new diversity. Common themes are multiculturalism, power and integration, and these themes are analysed through a comparative lens.

Over the last decade, political economists and other macro-oriented scholars have increasingly focused on the comparative specificities of distinct capitalist systems. Mostly, these systems are studied as national systems. Such models of capitalism are often studied with reference to various institutional dimensions: financial systems, labour relations, welfare state institutions, corporate governance, economic policy making, etc. This volume brings innovative and synthetic contributions combining as many as these institutional dimensions as possible. The issue contains papers by Robert Boyer, A. Tylecote & F. Visintin, Chris McNally & William Lazonick. It also contains a special section based on a contribution by Michael Shalev, 'Limits and alternatives to multiple regression in comparative political economy', which addresses techniques of analysing the variety of political-economic constellations in a methodological way. Shalevs views are critically scrutinized by a number of leading scholars, including Charles Ragin, Ro Rothstein, Gosta Esping-Andersen, Jonas Pontusson and others. This book series is available electronically online.

How can the existence of elites be compatible with democratic governance? Any democratic society is inevitably confronted by this basic question. This book reviews existing research on elites and their interactions with those around them. How the recruitment to elites changes in the long run according to class and gender is one of the core themes of the present volume. Other topics explored include the relationship between elites and the population, collective action and elite cohesion, and elites and democracy. The approach is multinational, with examples provided from countries around the world. This is a valuable book for social science students and researchers of many disciplines, including sociology, political science and psychology. It offers a review on historical and current research on elites in society and includes an extensive discussion of class and gender. Examples from countries in different parts of the world allow for international insights.

Demographic and societal changes are strongly affecting the contexts of childhood and the experience of being children. At the same time, across social groups and across societies, diversities and inequalities in childhood are taking new forms. In the developed world, in particular, children their number, their welfare, their education, the division of power and responsibilities over them among the different social actors have entered the public agenda, at the national and supranational level. Public concern over issues such as fertility rates, mothers working, early childhood education and care as well as solemn international declarations of children's rights are examples of the ongoing politicization of childhood. Drawing both on micro and macro, national and comparative studies, this volume of "Comparative Social Research" traces some of the trends and analyzes in comparative perspective how they affect images and practices of childhood and transforms responsibilities for children. The volume's focus is mainly on children in the developed countries, but attention is also paid to transnational diversities and to the impact of globalisation through the experiences of migrant children and of children living through the processes of modernization in the developing world.

Is the phenomenon of state failure better understood through a focus on the regional context? To what extent may studies of regional security benefit from a focus on the capacities and vulnerabilities of the states involved? These are the questions addressed in this volume of "Comparative Social Research". Substantially, this special issue operates at the intersection of the larger debates on state failure and on regional (in-) security, relating to various perspectives within each of these. State failure, manifesting itself in the inability of a state to maintain its monopoly of violence, has become a widespread phenomenon in several regions of the world. While the weakness of the institutions of the state in question is an obvious dimension of state failure, there is also an important international dimension. In many of these cases, conflicts are interwoven and violence spills across borders.

This is the only comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the political economy of the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). Five studies have been written within a project, and are based on thorough discussions on a common framework within which the distinct features of the economic policies of each separate country are analysed in a comparative perspective. The studies are accompanied by an extensive comparative discussion - written collectively by the members of the project team - that locates the Nordic model(s) within the wider map of capitalist varieties in the contemporary Western world. This book emphasizes the variety of experiences within the Nordic realm, from the dramatic collapse of Iceland's economy as the financial bubble burst in 2008 to the full-employment oil-economy of Norway that proved virtually unaffected by the financial instabilities of 2008. It also identifies certain common transformations (particularly linked to the politics of immigration and integration, the persistent role of the unions, and new opportunities created by national systems of innovation).

During the last decade gender equality in business life has become a hot topic. One impetus is the recent reform in Norway, prescribing gender quotas to the boards of directors of public companies. Shortly after the Norwegian reform was enacted, several other European countries have adopted similar reforms. This is the only volume where this gender quota reform is thoroughly discussed from an economic, political and philosophical point of view. It looks at whether the economic performance of companies is influenced, positively or negatively. The reasons why it has been embraced in some countries and rejected in others are analyzed. Moreover, viability of the gender quota reform is assessed by comparisons to other political interventions in business life in Scandinavia, of which some have been a failure whereas others have shown themselves as successful. This specific reform also serves as a backdrop to other themes related to gender and business. This volume provides a broad comparative study of the access of women to top positions in business in Europe. It also gives detailed discussions of gender relations in family businesses both in East Asia and in Europe.

Demographic and societal changes are strongly affecting the contexts of childhood and the experience of being children. At the same time, across social groups and across societies, diversities and inequalities in childhood are taking new forms. In the developed world, in particular, children their number, their welfare, their education, the division of power and responsibilities over them among the different social actors have entered the public agenda, at the national and supranational level. Public concern over issues such as fertility rates, mothers working, early childhood education and care as well as solemn international declarations of children's rights are examples of the ongoing politicization of childhood. Drawing both on micro and macro, national and comparative studies, this volume of "Comparative Social Research" traces some of the trends and analyzes in comparative perspective how they affect images and practices of childhood and transforms responsibilities for children. The volume's focus is mainly on children in the developed countries, but attention is also paid to transnational diversities and to the impact of globalisation through the experiences of migrant children and of children living through the processes of modernization in the developing world.

This volume of "Comparative Social Research" emphasizes unsolved issues and new developments within class and stratification analysis, discussing both theoretical and methodological innovations and revisions. Studies of social stratification comprises a range of topics, such as social mobility, economic inequality, labor market inequalities, ethnic stratification, gender inequality, family patterns, educational attainment, and health inequality, the stratification of cultural consumption, life styles, values and attitudes. Comparative analysis has also revealed cross-national differentiation in stratification processes, partly related to welfare state arrangements and national policies. Yet all academic fields move forward, and with its vital research community social stratification research also engages in efforts to improve stratification analysis. This involves discussions on theoretical definitions and conceptual clarifications, social mechanisms and modeling techniques and measurements.

The gender segregated nature of vocational education (VET) has received little attention in the stratification literature, despite the well-known consequences of VET for differences in labour market outcomes, such as job placement, income and access to full-time employment. This book investigates the institutional contexts of gender segregation in VET from a comparative perspective, through a number of cross-national comparisons as well as more in-depth studies of Canada, Norway, Germany, Australia and Bulgaria.The various chapters tackle questions about occupational expectations, gendered pathways to applied fields of study, educational transitions, feminization of occupations and the relationship between educational choice and opportunity structures. We discuss the relationship between institutional contexts and gender-typing of educational programs, and whether VET system characteristics make a difference to occupational outcomes across countries. The book concludes with a chapter on education-to-employment transitions (based on a large scale comparative project on labour market entry) assessing the impact of vocational education on gendered labour market inequalities.

The 2004 reunification of Eastern and Western Europe and the subsequent economic crisis caused a surge in intra-European labour mobility and a profound shift in preceding patterns of migration in Europe. While previous decades of European integration brought very modest cross-border flows of labour, the past decade has engendered the largest European movements of labour in modern time – mostly from East to West, but eventually also from South to North. In a situation of record high European unemployment, this has sparked controversy about the very notion of free movement, one of the basic foundations of the European Community, and has unleashed heated debates about the conditions, causes, and consequences of large-scale labour migration for receiving as well as sending societies. Against this background, this volume of Comparative Social Research will contribute to improve our understanding of the drivers, mechanisms, and effects of the past decade’s surge in cross-border labour mobility and work related migration within Europe.

New Public Management has held a central position within public administration over the past few decades, complemented by various models promoting post-bureaucratic organization. But ‘traditional’ bureaucracy has not disappeared, and bureaucracy is in transition in the West and the rest of the world. Bureaucracies still fill crucial positions in modern societies, despite growing criticism of assumed inefficiencies and unlimited growth. This volume examines a range of issues related to bureaucracies in transition across Europe, with a particular focus on the Nordic region. Chapters examine a range of topics including a reinterpretation of Weber’s conception of bureaucracy; the historical development of institutions and organizational structures in Sweden and Greece; the myth of bureaucratic neutrality and the concept of ‘competent neutrality’; performance management systems; the anti-bureaucratic identities of senior civil servants; the role of experts and expertise in bureaucratic organizations; the impact of reform on public sector executives; the curbing of corruption in Scandinavian states; an interrogation of the Nordic administrative model; Supreme Audit Institutions; ‘street-level’ bureaucracy; and the establishment of an ‘ethics of office’ amongst Danish civil servants.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read onlineWhistleblowing and Freedom of Expression in Working Life examines how the right to blow the whistle is regulated across various national contexts. With contributors from Europe, the United States, Australia, and Africa, the chapters focus on factors that influence how different countries design and implement their whistleblower protection laws.The book approaches the issues from a range of academic and methodological perspectives across labour law, political science, and sociology and including comparative institutional mapping, legal analysis, qualitative interviews, and surveys. Topics include attitudes to freedom of expression, trade union involvement, regulatory agencies, enforcement mandates, handling processes and comparative studies of transpositions of the EU Whistleblowing Directive (2019/1937).A sharp volume of social research in this increasingly important area, this work will appeal to scholars of sociology, labour studies, political science and law.

Consumption studies are underrated in the social sciences. Drawing specific attention to this need for further analysis, this latest volume of Comparative Social Research presents a rich collection of chapters offering an up-to-date view of the sociology of consumption.Providing a theoretically informed discussion of the specificities of sociology of consumption, Consumers and Consumption in Comparison focuses on three main approaches: Consumption and social inequality; Consumption and gender; and Consumption and social movements.With chapters covering consumer collective action, health and food consumption, sustainable consumption, the cost-of-living crises, gendered online play, and more, this is compelling read for scholars across the social sciences interested in a comparative view of consumers and consumptions.

The study of state formation and nation building is a proud tradition. Currently, however, it is difficult to discern a unified research frontier in this field, due to a persistent gap between the more case-based historical focus seen in area studies, and more generalizing approaches inspired by the natural sciences.Showcasing the legacy of Norwegian political scientist and sociologist Stein Rokkan, this volume explores the potential of his work to address this gap. Featuring Rokkan’s lecture skeleton methodology, given in Paris 1976, but included here as the first ever English language translation, this collection brings into sharp focus how Rokkan developed a set of methodological tools that allowed the construction of regional models and typological maps for guiding paired or clustered comparisons of state formation and nation building in any world region. Acknowledging Rokkan’s key argument that relevant models and maps need to be developed through knowledge about a region’s history rather than through formal concepts alone, contributors draw on the full potential of Rokkan’s innovations by calibrating them with empirical material from a world region not analysed by Rokkan himself: the Middle East.Thoughtfully reconstructing and upgrading Rokkan’s methodology, A Comparative Historical and Typological Approach to the Middle Eastern State System ushers in a new vision in the field of state formation and nation building.

This volume contains an Open Access chapter.Relationships between elites and democracy have always been strained. The very concept of elites - of 'chosen people' - stands in contradiction to democratic ideals of political equality. Simultaneously, they are necessary parts of democratic societies. In any large-scale society, democracy is unthinkable without large organizations, be they political bodies, bureaucracies, enterprises, or voluntary organizations. When power is concentrated at the summit of such organizations the incumbents of the top positions potentially constitute groups that often are termed elite groups.  The present volume of Comparative Social Research offers a broad set of comparative studies of elites, stretching from the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt to women's political leadership in Brazil and Germany, via attainment of elite positions among minorities in France and the US.  The quality of democratic governance seems to be in decline in many parts of contemporary world. Nevertheless, political elections are still a main source of legitimacy, even when they are far from being free and fair. Developments in the Third Wave democracies established around 1990 both in Europe and in the rest of the world, are treated in several chapters. How do they fare two or three decades later? Another group of chapters sets the focus on elite recruitment and socialization, spelled out against class and gender. The volume concludes by highlighting various entanglements of elites with populism, concerning both underlying reasons for the recent populist expansion and the various images of elites in populist movements.

Social democrats in the Western world look back on a century where growth and expansion of centre-left values seemed, during certain periods of time, to be a law of nature. Today, the so-called golden era from the 1940s to the 1970s is just a distant memory for the social democratic movement.Volume 35 of Comparative Social Research challenges this narrative of the post-war glory of social democracy. It argues that social democracy has been associated too tightly with the specific context of post-1945 and explores the margin for manoeuvre for the social democratic movement, both now and in the future.Contributors to this book explore essential questions for contemporary social democrats, such as;What does social democracy constitute as a set of ideas in the 21st century experiencing rapid technological, economic and demographic change?Is the narrative of the decline of social democracy warranted, and is there an opportunity for transformation or even rejuvenation?Social Democracy in the 21st Century is an essential reading for academics and researchers of political science and sociology.

Social democrats in the Western world look back on a century where growth and expansion of centre-left values seemed, during certain periods of time, to be a law of nature. Today, the so-called golden era from the 1940s to the 1970s is just a distant memory for the social democratic movement.Volume 35 of Comparative Social Research challenges this narrative of the post-war glory of social democracy. It argues that social democracy has been associated too tightly with the specific context of post-1945 and explores the margin for manoeuvre for the social democratic movement, both now and in the future.Contributors to this book explore essential questions for contemporary social democrats, such as;What does social democracy constitute as a set of ideas in the 21st century experiencing rapid technological, economic and demographic change?Is the narrative of the decline of social democracy warranted, and is there an opportunity for transformation or even rejuvenation?Social Democracy in the 21st Century is an essential reading for academics and researchers of political science and sociology.