For economists, talking with sociologists

Have you ever (as an economist or economics student) found yourself talking to sociologists, and wondering what on earth they are talking about? Sometimes they seem to be speaking a foreign language. Maybe they are. Or maybe, they can't understand you and you wish you could say things in a way that the sociologists could understand?

Fortunately, there is a solution. Back in 1990, Jeffrey Smith and Kermit Daniel (both PhD students at the University of Chicago) compiled the Economics/Sociology Phrase Book:

...to help economists adjust their way of speaking in a manner that will make it comprehensible to Sociologists.

Why sociologists? Smith and Daniel explain that:

We chose Sociologists rather than Political Scientists because the latter tend to be unpleasant, emaciated people with glazed eyes, while Sociologists are often entertaining and cute. Unlike Anthropologists, they can be invited to parties without much worry for the safety of the silverware, and their rhetoric, when treated like background music, has a pleasant, lyrical rhythm.

The phrase book contains very helpful translations, such as the sociologists' use of "is correlated with", "determines", and "is caused by", all of which translate to economists as "is correlated with". Harsh, but fair. Enjoy!