Institutional aspects of industrial relations. The growing interest in sociological research in the Netherlands has many positive elements, both from a theoretical and a practical angle. There is however a tendency to rely too much on surveys which only probe into subjective matters. It is shown with the help of research into industrial relations that this is only a very onesided approach, which will not be able to take into account all factors that determine this type of social refction. In this context reference is made to various sectors of labour law, collective agreements, this situation on the labour market, etc. Only a combination of the two approaches will ultimately yield results.