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This paper argues that links between academia and other economic sectors are increasing, especially through intersectoral mobility of university graduates. Murray [(2010). "The Oncomouse that Roared: Hybrid Exchange Strategies as a Source of Distinction at the Boundary of Overlapping Institutions." "American Journal of Sociology" 116 (2): 341-388] has identified literature pointing both to blending and continuing co-existence of the academic and commercial worlds. Based on a European-wide study of PhD graduates in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), this paper considers the extent to which intersectoral mobility reflects blending. It finds that intersectoral communities of practice exist mainly in applied fields of knowledge. However, in many areas of the SSH, differences in institutional norms and values inhibit intersectoral mobility, particularly in mid-career stages.

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of highly cited articles published in the Web of Science category "Education and Educational Research" in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). A total of 2091 journal articles published in this category and cited more than 100 times up to the end of the year 2016 were retrieved as highly cited articles. Distributions of highly cited articles per publication year, journals, institutions and countries were analysed, as well as the citation life cycle of the top-cited articles. The USA, its institutions and researchers are the absolute leaders in the category of Education and Educational Research according to the results of the conducted analysis.

The paper analyses which conditions may predict a better salary for people who got a PhD in social sciences and humanities (SS&H) in 13 European countries. Among the controlling variables, predictors are also: change of country of residence; percentage of time spent respectively in research and managerial activities; and impacts achieved during one's PhD programme. Findings, but also policy implications both for PhD programme planners and PhD candidates, are: some specific impacts such as having advised policy-makers, having released interviews to media and having managed and coordinated projects, all predict better salaries for PhD holders in SS&H, other things being equal. To move geographically out of one's country where PhD was awarded is also a good predictor of better wages, provided PhD holders do not swap sectors after attainment of PhD.

There has been relatively little change over recent decades in the methods used in research on self-reported delinquency. Face-to-face interviews and self-administered interviews in the classroom are still the predominant alternatives envisaged. New methods have been brought into the picture by recent computer technology, the Internet, and an increasing availability of computer equipment and Internet access in schools. In the autumn of 2004, a controlled experiment was conducted with 1,203 students in Lausanne (Switzerland), where “paper-and-pencil” questionnaires were compared with computer-assisted interviews through the Internet. The experiment included a test of two different definitions of the (same) reference period. After the introductory question (“Did you ever...”), students were asked how many times they had done it (or experienced it), if ever, “over the last 12 months” or “since the October 2003 vacation”. Few significant differences were found between the results obtained by the two methods and for the two definitions of the reference period, in the answers concerning victimisation, self-reported delinquency, drug use, failure to respond (missing data). Students were found to be more motivated to respond through the Internet, take less time for filling out the questionnaire, and were apparently more confident of privacy, while the school principals were less reluctant to allow classes to be interviewed through the Internet. The Internet method also involves considerable cost reductions, which is a critical advantage if self-reported delinquency surveys are to become a routinely applied method of evaluation, particularly so in countries with limited resources. On balance, the Internet may be instrumental in making research on self-reported delinquency far more feasible in situations where limited resources so far have prevented its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an interview with Dr. Luca Botturi, winner of the 2008 Educational Communication and Technology (ECT) Foundation Robert deKeiffer International Fellowship Award. Dr. Botturi, an Italian originally from the suburbs of Milano, works at the Universita della Svizzera italiana (USI, also called the University of Lugano) in its New Media in Education Laboratory, or "NewMinE Lab." There, he is the executive director of the "red-ink" Swiss school on education in the knowledge society, a doctoral-level program. The school's students are junior researchers in the social sciences. In this interview, Dr. Botturi provides many first-person perspectives, gives an overview of his research and the work he does with colleagues in developing countries through the "seed association," and discusses his role within AECT's International Division where he serves as membership coordinator. "Seed" is, according to Dr. Botturi, "a Lugano-based non-profit organization that provides services in communication, education, and digital technologies for other non-profit organizations, both local and in international cooperation projects." (Contains 3 figures.)

Describes the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) project in a mountain region in Switzerland, which is trying to halt depopulation and preserve the environment. Fourteen research units analyze relationships within and among the ecosystem, the economy, and the socio-cultural system. (KC)

This article provides information on the International Institute of Sociology. The Tenth Congress of the institute held its triennial Congress at Geneva, Switzerland from October 12-17, 1930. This Congress gave evidence of the re-establishment of the institute and further made it possible to plan and inaugurate a change. The program of the Congress comprised an investigation on the one hand into the underlying causes of wars and, on the other, into the conditions of a lasting peace. There was no question of the legitimacy of such an investigation. The program of the Congress included 19 papers or written communications, one in Spanish, two in English, the rest in French. Among the authors were Rafael Altamira, G. L. Duprat, Jeanne Duprat, Amerigo Namias, Raoul Orgaz, Paul Otlet and Gaston Richard. Most of the papers, as might be expected of sociologists more concerned with explanation and prediction than with action, dealt with the underlying causes of war rather than with the conditions for a lasting peace. The papers concerned with elucidating the causes of war were at variance on a point of supreme importance, namely, whether these causes are inevitable, or whether, at any rate in time, they may be eliminated by the deliberate effort of man.

Background: Research policy in the field of HIV has changed substantially in recent decades in Switzerland. Until 2004, social science research on HIV/AIDS was funded by specialized funding agencies. After 2004, funding of such research was "normalized" and integrated into the Swiss National Science Foundation as the main funding agency for scientific research in Switzerland. This paper offers a longitudinal analysis of the relationship between the changing nature of funding structures on the one hand and the production and communication of policy-relevant scientific knowledge in the field of HIV on the other hand., Methods: The analysis relies on an inventory of all social sciences research projects on HIV in Switzerland that were funded between 1987 and 2010, including topics covered and disciplines involved, as well as financial data. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 stakeholders., Results: The analysis highlights that the pre-2004 funding policy ensured good coverage of important social science research themes. Specific incentives and explicit promotion of social science research related to HIV gave rise to a multidisciplinary, integrative and health-oriented approach. The abolition of a specific funding policy in 2004 was paralleled by a drastic reduction in the number of social science research projects submitted for funding, and a decline of public money dedicated to such research. Although the public administration in charge of HIV policy still acknowledges the relevance of findings from social sciences for the development of prevention, treatment and care, HIV-related social science research does not flourish under current funding conditions., Conclusions: The Swiss experience sheds light on the difficulties of sustaining social science research and multidisciplinary approaches related to HIV without specialized funding agencies. Future funding policy might not necessarily require specialized agencies, but should better take into account research dynamics and motivations in the field of social sciences.

The Swiss National Science Foundation Professorships Programme is presented as a programme that aims to promote outstanding young scholars to professorial positions. Academic excellence is presented as the main selection criterion. The emphasis put on the research portfolio and on the age of the candidates means that the beneficiaries of these professorships put forward an image of excellence that is more embedded in data-based sciences, than in the humanities and social sciences, thus strengthening the domination of a sector of scientific activity essentially occupied by men over the sector that has opened up more widely to women. This paper aims to deconstruct the criteria of academic excellence as they appear in this programme, and to show that what seem to be quality criteria are inspired by a specific model. These biases tend to undermine the gender equality aims of the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the development and the "state of the art" of masculinity studies in the German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany, Switzerland). It concentrates on social sciences, with further attention to historical and pedagogical studies. First it is described how men's studies (Männerforschung) developed: starting as a mélange of male (therapeutic) self-reflection and scientific analysis before becoming part of "normal science." Second, it discusses two central theoretical frameworks and their interrelation, Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity and Bourdieu's analysis of male dominance. Third, the paper reports on current focal concerns of German- speaking masculinity studies: fatherhood, changes in males' occupational relationships, migrant masculinities, educational underachieving, and changing military masculinities. The paper shows how these concerns are influenced by societal and political developments in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undecided voters represent a major challenge to political pollsters. Recently, political psychologists have proposed the use of implicit association tests (IAT) to measure implicit attitudes toward political parties and candidates and predict voting behavior of undecided voters. A number of studies have shown that both implicit and explicit (i.e., self-reported) attitudes contribute to the prediction of voting behavior. More importantly, recent research suggests that implicit attitudes may be more useful for predicting the vote of undecided voters in the case of specific political issues rather than elections. Due to its direct-democratic political system, Switzerland represents an ideal place to investigate the predictive validity of IATs in the context of political votes. In this article, I present evidence from three studies in which both explicit and implicit measures were used ahead of the vote on four different referendums. Explicit measures predicted voting better than implicit attitudes for decided voters while implicit and explicit attitudes were equally good predictors among undecided voters. In addition, implicit attitudes predicted voting behavior descriptively, but not significantly better for undecided voters while, also from a descriptive point of view, explicit attitudes predicted voting better for decided respondents. In sum, results suggest that, as argued in previous research, the predictive value of implicit attitudes may be higher in the context of issue-related votes but still not as high as initially hoped-for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although there is a large body of research into complex land-use/cover change (LUCC), the mechanisms that underlie land transformation are still poorly understood. To a large extent this results from the limited attention that has been paid to the human dimension in LUCC studies. While environmental processes are described by detailed and sophisticated frameworks, human behaviour has often been theorised in oversimplified ways. This paper presents a novel approach to the analysis of rural LUCC that integrates agent-based models (ABMs) with a multi-phase social survey. Findings from the application of the latter to a farming area in Switzerland are used as an illustrative example to support the argument for the need to obtain insights into human decision-making processes and their complex interactions with the locale-specific environment in order to successfully simulate LUCC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Abstract: The 2007 edition of the Global Change Research Workshops brought over 50 researchers from all over the world to Wengen, Switzerland to review the state of the art with respect to desertification, particularly in the light of climate change. They set out to identify critical knowledge gaps and make recommendations for further research from a wide range of perspectives in both the natural and social sciences. Recent achievements both within discipline and new inter-disciplinary areas were highlighted. Effective communication between the researchers and high-level users of synthetic environmental information, such as international agencies, development programmes and concerned organizations operating in the field was emphasised. This introductory paper provides background to the workshop and highlights the key findings and outcomes of the conference. The findings that emerged from those discussions are summarized, and some further thoughts about recommended next steps are provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this article, we discuss the question of why only a few men decide to study social science courses such as social work. While the conceptual base of our analysis includes the theory of planned behaviour and theories centring on gender role orientations, the empirical base is a random cluster sample of high-school graduates in Switzerland. The results show different gender effects, as well as direct and indirect effects, for all the theory of planned behaviour factors. Gender role orientations and the question of how a social science profession fits one's own gender identity appear to be of particular importance only among male students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hanging is a frequent suicide method, but developing measures to prevent suicide by this method is particularly challenging. The aim of this study is to gain new knowledge that would enable the design of effective of measures that would help prevent suicide by hanging. Methods: A total of 6,497 suicides registered across the eight Swiss Forensic Institutes (IRM) were analysed. Of these, 1,282 (19.7%) persons hung themselves. T-test and chi-square tests. and chi-square tests were used to analyse …(or determine, or investigate) …group differences regarding sociodemographic variables and triggers Findings: Men and women who hung themselves showed no significant differences in sociodemographic variables. However, women were significantly more likely to have a psychiatric illness history, whereas men were more likely to have somatic diagnoses. In controlled environments, people used shelves, plumbing and windows more often than beams, pipes, bars and hooks to hang themselves. Compared with other suicide methods, hanging was more likely to have been triggered by partner and financial problems. Conclusions: Suicide by hanging can be best prevented in institutions (e.g. psychiatric hospitals, somatic hospitals, prisons). These institutions should be structurally evaluated and modified with a primary focus on sanitary areas, windows and shelves. Otherwise, it is important to use general suicide prevention measures, such as awareness raising and staff training in medical settings, low-threshold treatment options and regular suicide risk assessment for people at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Deprivation usually encompasses material, social, and health components. It has been shown to be associated with greater risks of developing chronic health conditions and of worse outcome in multimorbidity. The DipCare questionnaire, an instrument developed and validated in Switzerland for use in primary care, identifies patients subject to potentially higher levels of deprivation. Objectives: To identifying determinants of the material, social, and health profiles associated with deprivation in a sample of multimorbid, primary care patients, and thus set priorities in screening for deprivation in this population. Design: Secondary analysis from a nationwide cross-sectional study in Switzerland. Participants: A random sample of 886 adult patients suffering from at least three chronic health conditions. Main measures: The outcomes of interest were the patients’ levels of deprivation as measured using the DipCare questionnaire. Classification And Regression Tree analysis identified the independent variables that separated the examined population into groups with increasing deprivation scores. Finally, a sensitivity analysis (multivariate regression) confirmed the robustness of our results. Key results: Being aged under 64 years old was associated with higher overall, material, and health deprivation; being aged over 77 years old was associated with higher social deprivation. Other variables associated with deprivation were the level of education, marital status, and the presence of depression or chronic pain. Conclusion: Specific profiles, such as being younger, were associated with higher levels of overall, material, and health deprivation in multimorbid patients. In contrast, patients over 77 years old reported higher levels of social deprivation. Furthermore, chronic pain and depression added to the score for health deprivation. It is important that GPs consider the possibility of deprivation in these multimorbid patients and are able to identify it, both in order to encourage treatment adherence and limit any forgoing of care for financial reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Socioeconomic differences in diet are rarely assessed with more than one indicator. We aimed to assess differences in macro- and micro-nutrient intake in both sexes according to education, income, and occupation. Methods: We used data from validated food frequency questionnaire measured dietary intake in 5087 participants (2157 women) from yearly adult population-based cross-sectional surveys conducted from 2005 to 2012 in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland. We used two ANOVA models: age-adjusted and multivariable adjusted simultaneously for all three socioeconomic indicators. Results: Low-education men consumed more calcium but less vitamin D than high-education men; low-income men consumed less total and animal protein (80.9±0.9 vs 84.0±0.6 g/d; 55.6±1.0 vs 59.5±0.7 g/d) and more total carbohydrates and sugars (246±2 vs 235±2 g/d; 108±2 vs 103±1 g/d) than high-income men. Occupation and diet showed no association. Low-education women consumed less vegetable protein (20.7±0.2 vs 21.6±0.2 g/d), fibre (15.7±0.3 vs 16.8±0.2 g/d), and carotene (4222±158 vs 4870±128 μg/d) than high-education women; low-income women consumed more total carbohydrates (206±2 vs 197±1 g/d) and less monounsaturated fat (27.7±0.4 vs 29.3±0.3 g/d) than high-income women. Finally, low-occupation women consumed more total energy (1792±27 vs 1714±15 kcal/d) and total carbohydrates (206±2 vs 200±1 g/d), but less saturated fat (23.0±0.3 vs 24.4±0.2 g/d), calcium (935±17 vs 997±10 mg/d) and vitamin D (2.5±0.1 vs 2.9±0.1 μg/d), than high-occupation women. Conclusion: In Switzerland, the influence of socioeconomic factors on nutrient intake differs by sex; income and education, but not occupation, drive differences among men; among women, all three indicators seem to play a role. Interventions to reduce inequalities should consider the influence of education, income, and occupation in diet to be most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Switzerland, ECG screening was first recommended for national squad athletes in 1998. Since 2001 it has become mandatory in selected high-risk professional sports. Its impact on the rates of sports-related sudden cardiac death (SCD) is unknown. Objective: We aimed to study the incidence, causes and time trends of sports-related SCD in comparison to SCD unrelated to exercise in Switzerland. Methods: We reviewed all forensic reports of SCDs of the German-speaking region of Switzerland in the age group of 10 to 39 years, occurring between 1999 and 2010. Cases were classified into three categories based on whether or not deaths were associated with sports: no sports (NONE), recreational sports (REC), and competitive sports (COMP). Results: Over the 12-year study period, 349 SCD cases were recorded (mean age 30±7 years, 76.5% male); 297 cases were categorized as NONE, 31 as REC, and 21 as COMP. Incidences of SCD per 100,000 person-years [mean (95% CI)] were the lowest in REC [0.43 (0.35–0.56)], followed by COMP [1.19 (0.89–1.60)] and NONE [2.46 (2.27–2.66)]. In all three categories, coronary artery disease (CAD) with or without acute myocardial infarction (MI) was the most common cause of SCD. Three professional athletes were identified in COMP category which all had SCD due to acute MI. There were no time trends, neither in overall, nor in cause-specific incidences of SCD. Conclusions: The incidence of SCD in young individuals in Switzerland is low, both related and unrelated to sports. In regions, like Switzerland, where CAD is the leading cause of SCD associated with competitions, screening for cardiovascular risk factors in addition to the current PPS recommendations might be indicated to improve detection of silent CAD and further decrease the incidence of SCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed at investigating the relationship between causal attributions and coping maxims in people suffering from back pain. Further, it aimed at identifying in how far causal attributions and related coping maxims would defer between immigrants and non-immigrants in Switzerland. Methods: Data for this study came from a larger survey study that was conducted among immigrant populations in the German- and Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Included in the analyses were native Swiss participants, as well as Albanian- and Serbian-speaking immigrants, who had indicated to have suffered from back pain within the last 12 months prior to the study. Data was analyzed for overall 495 participants. Items for causal attributions and coping maxims were subject to factor analyses. Cultural differences were assessed with ANOVA and regression analyses. Interaction terms were included to investigate whether the relationship between causal attributions and coping maxims would differ with cultural affiliation. Results: For both immigrant groups the physician’s influence on the course of their back pain was more important than for Swiss participants (p <.05). With regard to coping, both immigrant groups were more likely to agree with maxims that were related to the improvement of the back pain, as well as the acceptance of the current situation (p <.05). The only consistent interaction effect that was found indicated that being Albanian-speaking negatively moderated the relationship between physical activity as an attributed cause of back pain and all three identified coping maxims. Conclusion: The study shows that differences in causal attribution and coping maxims between immigrants and non-immigrants exist. Further, the results support the assumption of an association between causal attribution and coping maxims. However cultural affiliation did not considerably moderate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survey experiments, like vignette and conjoint analyses, are widely used in the social sciences to elicit stated preferences and study how humans make multidimensional choices. However, there is a paucity of research on the external validity of these methods that examines whether the determinants that explain hypothetical choices made by survey respondents match the determinants that explain what subjects actually do when making similar choices in real-world situations. This study compares results from conjoint and vignette analyses on which immigrant attributes generate support for naturalization with closely corresponding behavioral data from a natural experiment in Switzerland, where some municipalities used referendums to decide on the citizenship applications of foreign residents. Using a representative sample from the same population and the official descriptions of applicant characteristics that voters received before each referendum as a behavioral benchmark, we find that the effects of the applicant attributes estimated from the survey experiments perform remarkably well in recovering the effects of the same attributes in the behavioral benchmark. We also find important differences in the relative performances of the different designs. Overall, the paired conjoint design, where respondents evaluate two immigrants side by side, comes closest to the behavioral benchmark; on average, its estimates are within 2% percentage points of the effects in the behavioral benchmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We investigated factors associated with masked and white-coat hypertension in a Swiss population-based sample. Methods: The Swiss Kidney Project on Genes in Hypertension is a family-based cross-sectional study. Office and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure were measured using validated devices. Masked hypertension was defined as office blood pressure<140/90 mmHg and daytime ambulatory blood pressure≥135/85 mmHg. White-coat hypertension was defined as office blood pressure≥140/90 mmHg and daytime ambulatory blood pressure<135/85 mmHg. Mixed-effect logistic regression was used to examine the relationship of masked and white-coat hypertension with associated factors, while taking familial correlations into account. High-normal office blood pressure was defined as systolic/diastolic blood pressure within the 130–139/85–89 mmHg range. Results: Among the 652 participants included in this analysis, 51% were female. Mean age (±SD) was 48 (±18) years. The proportion of participants with masked and white coat hypertension was respectively 15.8% and 2.6%. Masked hypertension was associated with age (odds ratio (OR) = 1.02, p = 0.012), high-normal office blood pressure (OR = 6.68, p<0.001), and obesity (OR = 3.63, p = 0.001). White-coat hypertension was significantly associated with age (OR = 1.07, p<0.001) but not with education, family history of hypertension, or physical activity. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that physicians should consider ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for older individuals with high-normal office blood pressure and/or who are obese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a sociological perspective, the topic of emotion in schools has been a rather neglected issue. In this article, we present two types ofemotion work, namely degradation work and rectification work. We describe how teachers in a special education programme called Time-out class employ feelings to get the work done efficiently. Drawing on an ethnographic study, we present data from field research in two Time-out classes in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Last, we will discuss findings with regard to current educational reforms in the Swiss educational field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Acute care teams (ACTs) represent action teams, that is, teams in which members with specialised roles must coordinate their actions during intense situations, often under high time pressure and with unstable team membership. Using behaviour observation, patient safety Research has been focusing on defining teamwork behaviours--particularly coordination--that are critical for patient safety during these intense situations. As one result of this divergent research landscape, the number, scope and variety of applied behaviour observation taxonomies are growing, making comparison and convergent integration of research findings difficult. Aim To facilitate future ACT research by presenting a framework that provides a shared language of teamwork behaviours, allows for comparing previous and future ACT research and offers a measurement tool for ACT observation. Method Based on teamwork theory and empirical evidence, we developed Co-ACT--the Framework for Observing Coordination Behaviour in ACT. Integrating two previous, extensive taxonomies into Co-ACT, we also suggested 12 behavioural codes for which we determined inter-rater reliability by analysing the teamwork of videotaped anaesthesia teams in the clinical setting. Results The Co-ACT framework consists of four quadrants organised along two dimensions (explicit vs implicit coordination; action vs information coordination). Each quadrant provides three categories for which Cohen's κ overall value was substantial; but values for single categories varied considerably. Conclusions Co-ACT provides a framework for organising behaviour codes and offers respective categories for succinctly measuring teamwork in ACTs. Furthermore, it has the potential to allow for guiding and comparing ACTs study results. Future work using Co-ACT in different research and training settings will show how well it can generally be applied across ACTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the social sciences, the occupation variable is used to derive socio-economic status and/or occupational prestige. This article describes occupation as an indicator for social status and labor status as an indicator of the respondent's position in the life-cycle. First, we identify variables necessary to measure occupation, employment and the labour force concept from ILO (International Labour Organisation, Geneva). Second, we introduce strategies for harmonizing the underlying social concepts of the measurements in surveys across countries. Third, we present our own instrument to measure occupation and labour status as social demographic background variables in cross-national comparative surveys. Finally, we summarize the findings from a pilot survey. The test revealed that the instrument enables the data needed for the social science analysis of socioeconomic status and occupational prestige to be collected with ease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Switzerland's model of power sharing in a multiethnic society—assimilation of the “new minorities—public primary schools—social cohesion versus cultural distinctiveness—Muslim students and compulsory swimming lessons—unconstitutional according to Swiss Federal Supreme Court decision in 1993—reconsidered by the Court in 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Starting from theories of secularization and of religious individualization, we propose a two-dimensional typology of religiosity and test its impact on political attitudes. Unlike classic conceptions of religiosity used in political studies, our typology simultaneously accounts for an individual's sense of belonging to the church (institutional dimension) and his/her personal religious beliefs (spiritual dimension). Our analysis, based on data from the World Values Survey in Switzerland (1989-2007), shows two main results. First, next to evidence of religious decline, we also find evidence of religious change with an increase in the number of people who "believe without belonging." Second, non-religious individuals and individuals who believe without belonging are significantly more permissive on issues of cultural liberalism than followers of institutionalized forms of religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of social sciences and humanities (SSH) in integrative research on natural resources which may inform debates on issues like environmental justice, institutional frameworks and individual consumption. It notes the SSH research activities in Switzerland carried by the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2012 that offers insights into topics and affiliations of natural resources. The event identified SSH roles including code signing and co-producing.

The article discusses cultural pluralism and national equilibrium in Switzerland. It states that the Swiss have learnt to blend their cultural heterogeneity into national unity and political stability. Ethnic linguisim of the Swiss population is stated to be an important ingredient of their cultural pluralism. Switzerland's national languages are German, French, Italian, and Romansh, which are recognized equally in their Federal Constitution. The linguistic equilibrium is stated to be manifested in the multilingual principle, which is of recent historical origin. The article concludes that the country's linguistic equilibrium originated at time before language was made a symbol of rampant nationalism and that it is an integrating influence of Swiss democracy.

The article offers world news briefs. The International Sociological Association held its first World Congress of Sociologists in Zurich, Switzerland on September 4-9, 1950. The first number of the quarterly "The British Journal of Delinquency," appeared in July 1950. Soviet Studies, which is a quarterly review of the social and economic institutions of the U.S.S.R. and is edited by J. Miller and R. A. J. Schlesinger, is in its second year of publication.

This article provides information about Michel Freitag, a social theorist from Quebec. Born in 1935 in Switzerland, and with degrees in law and political economy, as well as a doctorate in sociology, he has taught since 1971 in the sociology department of the UQAM. When reading Michel's work, one is immediately struck by the fact that he is extremely well versed in the classical theoretical traditions, both sociological and philosophical and uncompromisingly so. Not only does he acknowledge the influence of these traditions, he works with their questions, uses their language and builds on their reflections. In effect, he believes that they are not just relevant to, but indispensable for a deepened understanding of the present condition. In effect, one could say that Michel Freitag is working with several of the traditions simultaneously. This, however is no eclectic mish-mash, but a work of synthesis of the highest order. Like all good synthesis, it is built from a long and critical reflection on and in reconstruction of the traditions with which he has cohabited and like all good synthesis it supposes a strong central thread that pulls the pieces together.