Our attempt to describe the state of qualitative research in Switzerland starts out with an impressionist sketch which inevitably is selective, subjective and culturally biased. In order to reach a more objective stance, we gather some facts and figures and present them by means of descriptive statistics. Based on the database of the Swiss Information and Data Archive Service for the Social Sciences (SIDOS), we analyze a sample of qualitative, sociological research projects funded by national science foundations (Swiss, German and French) between 1995-2004. We compare qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods projects and try to find similarities, differences and trends: Has the ratio of qualitative research projects increased over the last ten years? Can we find cultural differences, e.g. a preference of German or French Swiss researchers for either qualitative or quantitative or mixed methods designs? Do different types of institutions, or do men and women have such different preferences? Which methods are prevailing in Swiss qualitative research? In a second data set collected by a survey of our own, we broaden the perspective to other disciplines and try to identify the most commonly used methods and theoretical approaches. But we have also obtained individual portraits of the qualitative researchers in Switzerland with their preferences of theoretical approaches and methods, their expertise, their research and their teaching courses.

The aim of this study is to understand and explain what I shall call aesthetic markets. A particular market of this kind is analysed, namely the market for fashion photography in Sweden.

The paper applies Pierre Bourdieu's theory of interactions between socially and physically acquired space to Art Basel, which, as the "Art Olympics", represents the wealthiest sector of the art world in terms of symbolic and economic capital, and is generally considered the most important art fair. Art Basel represents a temporal and spatial concentration of the global art market. Here the hierarchies, positions and structures of the field of the galleries are reflected in the "(An)Ordnung" (Löw): in the configuration of the boxes allocated by the exhibition management and thereby reproduced. The struggle not only for the around 300 exhibitor spaces, but also for the most prestigious locations at the exhibition itself, is outlined by the actors on site in qualitative interviews. At Art Basel, "front row" galleries benefit from their exclusive location, which also helps to generate symbolic capital. Inequality in terms of symbolic capital is reinforced through the inequalities of placing themselves in attractive locations in the space. Galleries "on the fringes" are allocated their space due to their limited capital resources, and at the same time this space results in less opportunity of generating symbolic capital. An initial analysis of Art Basel 2012 shows that galleries from certain countries are able to generate "profit from space" (Bourdieu). The "prime positions" around the circular courtyard are mainly occupied by galleries from the United States and Switzerland. More generally, the centres and peripheries of the global art field are reflected at Art Basel. Through the process of correspondence analysis, these connections are indicated systematically. In addition, qualitative interviews with gallery owners and a questionnaire are incorporated into the social-topographical analysis at Art Basel.

In this conceptual paper, I discuss in three stages how the study of local settings can contribute to an investigation of phenomena and processes on the so-called macro-level of anal-ysis. I first argue, from a (radical) situational perspective, that the externality of any interaction constraints is established through meaning contexts and that - secondly - micro-settings are centrally implicated in shaping how macro-level processes produce specific social outcomes. Thirdly, I introduce the different analytical purposes of a Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse Ethnography (SKADE), whose theoretical framework makes it possible to conceive of discourses as both situational and external meaning contexts of local action.

Schlussbericht zu Handen des SNF

Abstract During the last two decades public administration and public services have undergone profound changes with far-reaching impacts on employment relations and working conditions. The paper presents the perceptions and lived experiences of workers affected by liberalization and privatization of public services. In doing so it focuses on workers’ ideas of fairness and dignity at work using the concepts of distribution, recognition and the public ethos of the common good and linking them to fundamental principles of justice. It is argued that the perception of inequalities as fair, while it is shaped by custom, is also being socially constructed during far-reaching changes. The analysis is based on a series of qualitative interviews conducted in Austria, Germany and Switzerland with postal-service workers, a sector well suited for the analysis because of the far-reaching changes in terms of market regulation, ownership of organizations, labour regulation, employment and working conditions.