August 22, 1996 Contact: Jennifer McNulty (408) 459-2495; mcnulty@ua.ucsc.edu

UC SANTA CRUZ ALUMNUS RECEIVES TOP HONOR FOR DISSERTATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Edward J. McCaughan, who earned his doctorate in sociology from UCSC in 1995, has been awarded the prize for the best dissertation given annually by a section of the American Sociological Association.

McCaughan, who is an assistant professor of sociology at Loyola University in New Orleans, was recognized by the Political Economy of the World-System section of the association. He received the award during the association's annual meeting, which was held last week in New York City.

Titled "Global Change and Paradigm Crises: The Renovation of Left Discourse in Cuba and Mexico," McCaughan's dissertation is about the crisis facing leftists in Cuba and Mexico in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the rise of neoliberal politics in Latin America. It will be published by Westview Press.

Walter Goldfrank, a professor of sociology at UCSC and McCaughan's adviser, said the dissertation "breaks new ground substantively and methodologically, representing a world-systems analysis of political intellectuals in a time of world-historical crisis." Goldfrank says it is the first attempt of which he is aware "to analyze systematically how actors understand the impact of global structural changes on their societies . . . and attempt to reformulate their ideological and strategic positions in response."

McCaughan conducted lengthy interviews with 74 subjects in Cuba and Mexico, which Goldfrank calls a "remarkable feat in field research."

McCaughan earned his undergraduate degree in Latin American studies from UCSC in 1972.

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