Interview with Victor Nee: Sociology Should be Open to Intellectual Trade with Ally Disciplines (Part 2)

Journal of Economic Sociology. 2014. Vol. 15. No. 3. P. 169–178.

Nee V.

Economic Sociology’s May issue includes the continuation of our conversation
with Prof. Victor Nee held in October 2012. (See the March issue for the first half,
Vol. 15. No 2. Pp. 11–21.) The interview was conducted by Alexander Kurakin, a
senior lecturer at National Research University Higher School of Economics in
Moscow. Here, Professor Nee re-emphasizes the importance of developing middlerange
theories in order for economic sociology to progress by obtaining external
validity. He cites some examples of this, including his recent research on the rise
of capitalism in contemporary China that resulted in the book “Capitalism from
Below” [Nee, Opper 2012], and the ongoing study of the knowledge economy in
New York City. Both are empirical, evidence-based studies that rely on common
conceptual frameworks that take into account the salience of the relationship
between formal and informal institutions.
According to Nee, there is one more important condition contributing to the
fruitful development of sociology; that is it should be open to intellectual trade
with ally disciplines. In this context, immigration is mentioned as a field of inquiry
where successful cooperation among economists, sociologists, demographers
and representatives of other disciplines can be found. Within this research
perspective, scholars communicate across disciplines, with an emphasis on the
importance of revealed facts and regularities. The external validity of internal
achievements serves as recognition of their significance for the behavioral
sciences in general.

Keywords: экономический рост, инновации, капитализм, институциональные изменения, economic growth, innovation, China, институты, institutions, institutional changes, КНР, capitalism, сети, укорененность, Networks, embeddedness, middle-range theory, теория среднего уровня