Conclusions and outlook: Structures, actors and mechanisms in employment relations

This chapter concludes the book by reconstructing an underlying theme in the contributions from the individual chapters. The conclusion starts off with a reconnection to the claim made in the introductory chapter that the theoretical conceptualisation and methodological approach of social network analysis (SNA) have much to contribute to employment relations and industrial relations research. In order to reconstruct a joint thread going through the many chapters' various conceptual and empirical studies, we then move on to a theoretical discussion of the problems of connecting micro-macro and cause-effect relations in social science by turning to the Coleman's “bathtub” or “boat” model. On the basis of this general modelling of causal relations and mechanism between levels, we then discuss how the individual chapters introduce concepts and mechanisms that elaborate the role of networks in the causal links between structures and actors in the employment relations context. The chapter ends with a few words on important issues to take on in the future in order to move the agenda of this book forward.