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In the editorial of the first issue of the year of the Swiss Journal of Sociology (SJS) we usually look back on the past year, inform about personnel changes in the editorial team, and make an outlook on the coming year and upcoming projects.In a first step, the year 2022 is examined in more detail from a publishing perspective. SJS received a total of 36 articles, from which 23 were published (publication rate of roughly 64 per cent). Last year, more than two-thirds of the accepted articles were methodically qualitatively oriented. This represents the highest percentage value since 2010 (whereby the mean value of 45 percent qualitatively oriented articles applies for the period 2010-2016). The trend towards qualitative methods, however, has been continuing since 2021, when two thirds of all accepted articles were already qualitative studies. By far the most articles submitted last year were in English (around 66 percent). However, the figure corrects substantially to under 40 percent when looking at the number of accepted articles, resulting in a relatively balanced language distribution between German, French, and English. Thus, the trend has continued since 2017 that mainly English-language articles are accepted and published. This is despite the fact that the regional "origin" of the first authors since 2017 has always been the French-speaking part of Switzerland, followed by the German-speaking part of Switzerland, which in 2022 was the larger group again for the first time since 2017 (just under 35 percent).These are indicators that SJS is deliberately chosen as a journal for an international market and that English is therefore increasingly used. Furthermore, a slight trend can be seen in that authors from other European countries publish with the SJS (26 percent in 2022, before that steadily increasing since 2017). This can also be seen as a signal of international visibility. Another trend that has held steady since 2020 is that women make up the majority of first authors (over 56 percent in 2022).Regarding the time between submission and decision, the following time averages emerged for manuscripts submitted in 2022: It takes 2.7 months between submission and the first decision (including desk rejects). If desk reject cases are not considered, the average time until a first decision is made is four months. Looking at final or reject decisions, it takes on average 3.5 months (with desk rejects) and 5.5 months without desk rejects. These are runtimes that signify fast processes in journal management and are certainly one of the qualities of the Swiss Journal of Sociology that should be emphasized, also in international comparison.

No abstract

Die moderne Gesellschaft fordert von Organisationen zunehmend Responsivität, etwa im Bereich der Transparenz. Obskure Organisationen wie Logen, Clubs, Zünfte oder Studierendenvereine widersetzen sich jedoch anscheinend problemlos diesen gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen. Roman Gibel untersucht die besonderen Organisationsmerkmale dieser Zusammenschlüsse und zeigt, wie rigide Selektionspraktiken, Bewährungsphasen und distinkte Wertevermittlung für organisationsinternen Rückhalt sorgen - und wie Umwelterwartungen teils ignoriert und teils auf zeremonielle Art und Weise befriedigt werden. Dabei deckt er auch im Verborgenen wirksame Netzwerkeffekte in Form ökonomischer und politischer Verflechtungen auf.

Transparenz hat gesellschaftlich an Bedeutung gewonnen und vor allem Organisationen sehen sich in der Pflicht, diesen Erwartungen gerecht zu werden. Im Fokus dieses Beitrags steht der an Organisationen gerichtete, zunehmende Anspruch der Transparenz. Anhand zweier empirischer Fälle wird analysiert, wie Organisationen auf diese Erwartungen reagieren. Indem wir zwischen vier Arten von Transparenz unterscheiden, Transparenz, Intransparenz, Enthüllung und Nicht-Transparenz, zeigen wir, dass die gesteigerte Erwartung von Transparenz Organisation in der Unsicherheitsabsorption behindert. Aus diesem Grund ist die Erfüllung von Transparenzansprüchen für Organisationen ein Problem. Stattdessen bedienen sich Organisationen nebst hinreichend bekannter Darstellung technischer und quantifizierter Kennzahlen, der symbolischen Darstellung, die selektiert und kuratiert erfolgt. Abschliessend werden Effekte der organisationalen Realisierung für die Organisationsgesellschaft diskutiert, die einerseits zu einer Stärkung der gesellschaftlichen Transparenzerwartung beitragen, andererseits in variantenreichen und manchmal konträren Realisierungen dieser Erwartungen resultieren.