You know that joke about the cranky restaraunt customer? “The food is terrible – and the servings are so small!” That summarizes the relationship between economics and sociology. Here’s a few observations:

Max Weber, an economic historian, defects from the mainstream of the day and becomes a founding figure of sociology.

Talcott Parsons, a Harvard economist, defects from the mainstream of his day to become a towering figure in the sociological profession.

Gary Becker, a neo-classical economist, makes it cool for economists in the 1960s to study stuff like race and marriage, long as you call people’s choices “taste” and “preferences.” Gets a Nobel prize for doing so.

In the 1990s, Steve Levitt becomes the poster child of economics by hooking up with sociologists and policy folks to do theory lite applied stats on sociological topics, like crime.

After Levitt, economists stampede to sociology and churn out paper after paper of theory lite, stats intensive analysis of sociological topics. In econ, sociology is called “applied micro.” Sociology is a bad, bad word.

In the 2000s, George Akerlof, a Nobel winner, finds out that “identity” is the new black.

Just the other day, Bryan Caplan wishes that he could call himself a sociologist, if it weren’t for the annoying folks who already use the word. As loyal readers know, I welcome any person who works on important topics that constitute modern sociology. I just wish we’d get a little more love from the customers who regularly dine at our restaraunt!