The purpose of this paper is to consider how far the notion of schools of thought is compatible with methodological pluralism. Should economics instead be categorised simply as pluralist or non‐pluralist? The notion of structured pluralism is developed, where categories, connections and (crucially) absence of connection apply at a variety of levels. Schools of thought provide some of that (provisional, mutable) structure, encapsulating, among other things, the use of language within each community. Awareness, and understanding, of the different categories and meanings of different schools of thought is necessary for successful communication, and thus for the benefits of pluralism.
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Sheila Dow (2004) studied this question.