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.