From a number of key elements in economic sociology, the author advocates a thinking mode from the foundation of theoretical models. He contends that many debates and inquiries are not in fact occurring at the academic level yet, if satisfaction derives only from debating at the conceptual level or from simple summaries of experiential observations that lead to some agreed-upon descriptive constructs. With three debated cases cited in new economic sociology, the author concludes that, if thinking from and then beyond theoretical models, one will be able to know clearly what others have in deed said, where the breakthroughs have actually taken place, and what limitations have been identified. Thinking from and beyond theoretical models will facilitate discovering, accumulating, and dispersing knowledge.
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