Introduction: the rationale for this special issueThe influence of the so-called Oxford School of Industrial Relations on the development of British industrial (or employment) relations has been subject to increased attention in recent years (see Ackers, 2011Ackers, , 2014). Yet the idea that this concentration of scholars represented a coherent school of thought has been dismissed (Clegg, 1990;Fox, 2004), and consequently the works of Hugh Clegg, Allan Flanders and Alan Fox -the three names most closely associated with it -have been subject to extensive individual re-examination (see, for example, Ackers, 2014;Kelly, 2010;Gold, 2017). Fox's work on the unitary, pluralist and radical frames of reference in particular continues to be hugely influential in both teaching and research. On the teaching side, the frames of reference continue to dominate introductory chapters of numerous employment relations texts (e.g.