Theda Skocpol Dissertation Award

Every year the section awards the Theda Skocpol Dissertation Award to the best doctoral dissertation in the area of comparative and historical sociology. Eligible dissertations must have been defended and filed two years prior to which they are nominated. Dissertations may be nominated by dissertation chairs, advisors, or current department chairs. Self-nominations are not allowed for this award. Dissertations may be nominated by sending a letter or email to each member of this prize committee.

2023 Award

Winner:

Martin Eiermann, “American Privacy: Diffusion and Institutionalization of an Emerging Political Logic, 1870-1930.” (Ph.D. Dissertation, UC- Berkeley)

2022 Award

Winner:

Wan-Zi Lu, “Body Politics: Morals, Markets, and Mobilization of Organ Donation.” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago),

2021 Award

Winner:

Benjamin H. Bradlow, “Urban Origins of Democracy and Inequality: Governing Sao Paolo and Johannesburg, 1985-2016.” (Ph. D. Dissertation, Brown University).

2020 Award

Winner:

Johnnie Lotesta, “Rightward in the Rustbelt: How Conservatives Remade the GOP, 1947-2012,” (Ph.D. diss., Brown University)

2019 Award

Winner:

Sefika Kumral “Democracy and Violence: Social Origins of Anti-Kurdish Riots in Turkey,” (Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University, Advisor: Beverly Silver)

Honorable Mention:

Isabel Perera, “States of Mind: A Comparative and Historical Study on the Political Economy of Mental Health.” (Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, Advisor: Julia Lynch)

2018 Award

Winner:

Charles Seguin (Univ. of Arizona): “Making a National Crime: The Transformation of U.S. Lynching Politics, 1883-1930” (PhD. University of North Carolina).

2017 Award

Winner:

Robert Braun “Religious Minorities and Resistance to Genocide: Christian Protection of Jews in the Low Countries during the Holocaust” (Ph.D., Cornell University)

Honorable Mention:

Shai Dromi. “The Religious Origins of Transnational Relief: Calvinism, Humanitarianism, and the Genesis of Social Fields” (Ph.D. Yale University)

2016 Award

Winner:

Hillary Angelo. “How Green Became Good: Urban Greening as Social Improvement in Germany’s Ruhr Valley”. (Ph.D. New York University)

2015 Award

Winner:

Alena K. Alamgir. “Socialist Internationalism at Work: Changes in the Czechoslovak-Vietnamese Labor Exchange Program, 1967-1989.” (Ph.D. Rutgers University, Dissertation chair: Jozsef Borocz).

2014 Award

Winner:

Şahan Savaş Karataşlı. “Financial Expansions, Hegemonic Transitions, and Nationalism: A Longue Durée Analysis of State-Seeking Nationalist Movements.” (Ph.D. John Hopkins University; Advisors: Giovanni Arrighi and Beverly Silver).

2013 Award

Winner:

Jaeeun Kim, “Colonial Migration and Transborder Membership Politics in Twentieth-Century Korea” (Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles)

Honorable Mention:

Kevan Harris, “The Martyrs Welfare State: Politics of Social Policy in the Islamic Republic of Iran”, (Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University)

2012 Award

Winner:

Stephan Bargheer, “Moral Entanglements: the Emergence and Transformation of Bird Conservation in Great Britain and Germany, 1790-2010.” (Ph.D. University of Chicago, Dissertation Chair: Andrew Abbott.)

Honorable Mention:

Damon Mayrl, “Secular Conversions: Politics, Institutions, and Religious Education in the United States and Australia, 1800-2000.” (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Dissertation Chair: Margaret Weir.)

2011 Award

Winner:

Robert S. Jansen, “Populist Mobilization: Peru in Historical and Comparative Perspective.” (Ph.D. University of California Los Angeles, Dissertation Chair: Rogers Brubaker.)

Honorable Mention:

Besnik Pula “State, Law and Revolution: Agrarian Power and the National State in Albania, 1850-1945.” (Ph.D., University of Michigan, Dissertation Chair: George P. Steinmetz.)

2010 Award

Winner:

Dan Lainer-Vos, “Nationalism in Action: The Construction of Irish and Zionist Transatlantic National Networks.” (Ph.D. Columbia University, Dissertation Chair: Gil Eyal.)