Sociological Association of Ireland

New and Forthcoming Publications

From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School: A Longitudinal Study of Sixth-Year Students

SAI Committee member and ESRI Researcher Joanna Banks has co-published a study  on Education in Ireland. 

Current debates about senior cycle education in Ireland have raised a number of crucial questions:

What effect does the Leaving Certificate exam have on young people’s learning experiences?

What helps students to do well in the Leaving Certificate exam?

How do young people make decisions about their future life after school?

This book provides an important evidence base for answering these questions by examining the experiences of young people in their final year of second-level education. It explores how the impending exam colours student experiences of teaching and learning, and raises important questions about the current Leaving Certificate model. It provides crucial insights into the kinds of information and advice young people use in planning for the future, placing their decisions within the context of their overall schooling career.

From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School is part of a series about the lives of young people as they move through the schooling system. It should be of interest to principals, teachers, guidance counsellors, higher education institutions, policymakers, parents, teacher educators, and the wider academic community.

Published in association with the Economic and Social Research Institute.

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New Book on the Public Intellectual in Ireland

In the wake of its boom and bust, Ireland has more than ever before needed a forum for reflection. Unlike the British, the French, and the Germans, the Irish don’t have a tradition of public intellectuals: people who lead informed critical debate and generate discussion. This short collection of essays by leading Irish academics reflect on the ways in which critical thinking, imagination, and ideas can work to understand crisis. It discusses such questions as: How is a nation then to make sense of global economic crisis? Are the views of economists, novelists, playwrights, sociologists, historians, political scientists, and civil servants dismissed and ignored? Are the Irish anti-intellectual? ** From the contributors: "It’s not just the financial market that is in freefall. The language market is in freefall. People are losing the ability to speak." (Tom Garvin) "What this crisis has done is that it has exposed the nature of power in Irish society, who has it and who hasn’t it." (Liam O’Dowd) "The job of public intellectuals is to make the powers that be uneasy in their beds." (Declan Kiberd)

The book asks the following questions:  Can we think our way out of a crisis? At a time of economic collapse and beleaguered morale, do intellectuals have something to offer? Or are the views of economists, novelists, playwrights, sociologists, historians, political scientists and civil servants dismissed and ignored? Are we anti-intellectual? These essays reflect on the ways in which critical thinking, imagination and ideas can create a national conversation. 

TASC: Towards a Flourishing Society

Towards a Flourishing Society: TASC

June 29th: The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, launched a collection of essays entitled ‘Towards a Flourishing Society’. Among other topics, the essayists examine how the economy can serve society, how we can draw on Irish history and the experience of other countries for inspiration, and what institutional reform is required to deliver a ‘Flourishing Society’. Contributors include John Fanning, Fergus O’Ferrall, Philip Orr, Robin Wilson and Sinéad Pentony. The pamphlet is available for downloadhere.

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New Book on Irish & Greek Economic Crisis

Author and academic Liam Leonard is the editor of a new book on the Irish and Greek economic crisis which has captured the attention of the national and global media. This book, which brings together writers from both Ireland and Greece, explores issues such as the economics background, social impacts and quest for sustainable politics which have surrounded the fiscal crisis in peripheral counties in Europe. Specifically the book focuses on governance, sustainable politics and environmental policies, within the context of accelerated growth and the subsequent economic downturn. 

The book features chapters from well known academics and media commentators such as Constantin Gurdgiev and Kieran Allen, Peadar Kirby, Kieran Keohane, Carmen Kuhling and Liam Leonard, Paula Kenny as well contributions as from a number of Greek writers including Iosif Botetzigas.

The book also examines issues of governance and politics within these peripheral states, in addition to the development of policies within an EU/EC context. The book concludes with a discussion of the future for sustainable politics in the peripheral states of Europe, in the aftermath of the global downturn.

Sustainable Politics and the Crisis of Peripheries: Ireland and Greece, edited by Liam Leonard of IT Sligo and Iosif Botetzigas of the University of the Aegean is essential reading for anyone who would wishes to understand the current economic crisis from both local and global perspectives. The book is available for pre-order from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Politics-Crisis-Peripheries-Ecopolitics/dp/0857247611/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4/178-6090051-7707051

Contents:

Editor’s Introduction: Liam Leonard and Iosif Botetzagias

Part 1: Ireland

‘The Myth of the Celtic Tiger’: The Political Economy of Irish Development since the 1990s, Peadar Kirby

Power, Corruption and Lies: Irish Political, Economic and Social Policy: 1900 to 2011, Liam Leonard and Paula Kenny.

Sustainability and Community: “The Un-sustainability of the Social Model of Neo-liberal Globalization and the Speechlessness of the Community at the Periphery.”  Kieran Keohane and Carmen Kuhling

Social Partnership and the Fiscal Crisis in Ireland:  Acceptance or Acquiescence?  Kieran Allen.

An Issue History and Event Analysis of the Green Party and Sustainable Politics in Ireland, Liam Leonard

Part 2: Greece and the Eurozone:

Euro’s Crisis: From the Sovereigns to the Banks and back to the Sovereigns, Constantin Gurdgiev

Environmental Policy in Greece Reloaded: Plurality, Participation and the Sirens of Neo-Centralism, Charalampos Koutalakis

Green Politics in Greece at the time of Fiscal Crisis, Iosif Botetzagias

Social capital and the implementation of environmental policies in Greece, Nikoleta Jones

Conclusion: Peripheral P.I.G.S. in the Last Chance Saloon…Liam Leonard and Iosif Botetzagias


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IRISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY 19.1

Editor’s Introduction

The challenges facing contemporary social theory 
pp. 1-15(15) 
Author: Strydom, Piet

Articles

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Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities

Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities: by Eoin Devereux (Editor), Aileen Dillane (Editor), Martin Power (Editor).

An influential star of British pop for more than three decades, Morrissey is known for his outspoken and often controversial views on class, ethnicity, and sexuality. Among critics and his many fans, he has long been seen as an anti-establishment figure who continues to provoke devotion, argument, and spirited debate. 

This is the first collection of academic essays to focus exclusively on Morrissey’s solo career, and this important book offers a nuanced and rich reading of his highly influential creative and cultural output. Covering a broad range of academic disciplines and approaches, including musicology, ethnography, sociology, and cultural studies, these essays will be a must for fans of Morrissey or the Smiths, or those seeking to make sense of the many fascinating complexities of this global icon and controversial figure.

About the Author

Eoin Devereux is a senior lecturer and head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Limerick. Aileen Dillane is a performer and lecturer in music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Martin Power teaches sociology at the University of Limerick.


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Ireland's New Religious Movements

Ireland’s New Religious Movements
Editor: Olivia Cosgrove, Laurence Cox, Carmen Kuhling and Peter Mulholland
Date Of Publication: Jan 2011    Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2588-7   Isbn: 1-4438-2588-3
Until recently, Irish religion has been seen as defined by Catholic power in the South and sectarianism in the North. In recent years, however, both have been shaken by widespread changes in religious practice and belief, the rise of new religious movements, the revival of magical-devotionalism, the arrival of migrant religion and the spread of New Age and alternative spirituality. This book is the first to bring together researchers exploring all these areas in a wide-ranging overview of new religion in Ireland. Chapters explore the role of feminism, Ireland as global ‘Celtic’ homeland, the growth of Islam, understanding the New Age, evangelicals in the Republic, alternative healing, Irish interest in Buddhism, channelled teachings and religious visions. This book will be an indispensable handbook for professionals in many fields seeking to understand Ireland’s increasingly diverse and multicultural religious landscape, as well as for students of religion, sociology, psychology, anthropology and Irish Studies. Giving an overview of the shape of new religion in Ireland today and models of the best work in the field, it is likely to remain a standard text for many years to come. Carmen Kuhling (Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Limerick) is author of several books on Ireland, modernity and the New Age. Laurence Cox (Lecturer in Sociology, National University of Ireland Maynooth) is author of various pieces on the history of Irish Buddhism. Peter Mulholland (Independent Scholar) holds a PhD in anthropology from NUIM and specialises in the study of Irish religiosity. Olivia Cosgrove (PhD Candidate in Sociology, University of Limerick) is carrying out research on religion, globalisation and identity. “For centuries to be Irish has meant that one was a Catholic. There have long been some Protestants, of course, but these are from across the water and have not always been considered really Irish. Today, however, the situation is changing, and changing rapidly. 

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Organization in Play; Kavanagh, Donncha / Keohane, Kieran / Kuhling, Carmen

Book synopsis
Play is a foundational concept that animates life, work, creativity and organization; and while play is essential, it also dislodges the very
meaning of these terms. Organization in Play explores different meanings, usages and understandings of play to present novel and insightful
perspectives on capitalism, management, markets, bureaucracy and other organizational phenomena. It traces how early capitalism, with
its ethos of austerity and distaste for recreation, has given way to a more ludic version in recent times. At the same time, children - those
playmakers supreme - have been, curiously, excluded from scholarly conversation about organization. The authors examine this and other
paradoxes using a wide range of sources - from Weber to Sesame Street, from Star Trek to Lacan, from Riverdance to Beckett - that shed light
on the capricious boundaries between work and play, rationality and foolishness, sense and nonsense.
Play points us to the liminal and the extraordinary, where meaning is ambiguous at best, and where conventional notions about order and
disorder, movement and stasis, centre and periphery are undone and are put into play. It focuses our attention on the silences and absences,
the comic and the theatrical, the folly and the madness of markets, organizations, management and work practices in contemporary capitalism.
Drawing on a deep engagement with sociological and organizational literatures, the authors show how a play perspective enhances our
understanding of the institutions we inhabit and which inhabit us.
Contents
Contents: Playing with Play - Child’s Play: Childhood and ’the Lack’ in Organizational Discourse - Playful Representations of Work - Dance as
Play and Work: Images of Organization in Irish Dance - Talk and Silence: Playing with Silence as an Organizational Resource - Playing the Fool:
The University as Fool - Play and Madness in the Market - Playing Business: Gambling and ’Casino Capitalism’.
Print: ISBN  978-3-0343-0213-5  pb.
SFR 59.00 / €* 40.40 / €** 41.60 / € 37.80 / £ 34.00 / US$ 58.95
Order online:  www.peterlang.com
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Understanding Limerick: Social Exclusion and Change by Niamh Hourigan

Understanding Limerick: Social Exclusion and Change

(Hardback - March 2011)

Niamh Hourigan
University College Cork, Ireland

UCC Press

 

Limerick city has also experienced a range of problems in relation to organized crime, gangland feuding and community violence. This collection seeks to explore how profound social exclusion and poverty-related criminality emerged in Limerick city. The success of criminal justice, child protection and Regeneration based responses in tackling these problems is examined. Contributors assess what lessons can be learned from Limerick in terms of broader debates about social exclusion, crime and inequality in Irish society.

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Irish Journal of Sociology 18.2 Civil Society Special Edition

Liam Leonard and Kieran Allen are the Guest Editors of the current edition of the Irish Journal of Sociology (IJS). This edition (IJS 18, 2) focuses on Civil Society and Social Movements.
 
The line up of contributors to the edition is as follows:
 
Guest Editors’ Introduction: Liam Leonard (IT Sligo) and Kieran Allen (UCD);
Civil society and the Irish state: Peadar Kirby (UL);
The Trade unions: from Partnership to crisis: Kieran Allen (UCD);
The Restorative justice movement in Ireland: Liam Leonard and Paula Kenny (IT Sligo);
A comparative analysis of the Traveller mobilisation: Frederic Royall (UL);
Revolution in the air: the Irish anti-capitalist movement: Laurence Cox (NUIM);
The ’Corrib Gas Giveaway’: Kieran Keohane (UCC)  and Carmen Kuhling (UL);
Civil society in Northern Ireland: Peter Doran (QUB);

The Prison Journal Irish Edition; March 2011 19 (1)

The Prison Journal Irish Edition now published: March 2011; 91 (1) http://tpj.sagepub.com/content/current

  • Liam Leonard (Guest Editor):

    Introduction: The Significance of the Prison in Irish Nationalist Culture

  • Cormac Behan

    The Benefit of Personal Experience and Personal Study: Prisoners and the Politics of Enfranchisement

  • Mary Rogan

    Yes or No Minister: The Importance of the Politician-Senior Civil Servant Dyad in Irish Prison Policy

  • Liam Leonard and Paula Kenny

    Measuring the Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Practices in the Republic of Ireland Through a Meta-Analysis of Functionalist Exchange

    The Prison Journal March 2011 91: 57-80, first published on December 22, 2010 doi:10.1177/0032885510389561
  •     Agnieszka  Martynowicz                                                                     
  • Oversight of Prison Conditions and Investigations of Deaths in Custody: International Human Rights Standards and the Practice in Ireland

  • Linda Moore

    “Nobody’s Pretending That It’s Ideal”: Conflict, Women, and Imprisonment in Northern Ireland

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Irish Journal of Sociology 18/1 now published

The Irish Journal of Sociology 18/1 (2010) is now published. This edition of the IJS has articles by Pat O’Connor of UL, Vesna Malesevic of NUIG, Laurence Cox of NUIM and Liam Leonard of IT Sligo amongst others. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/manup/ijs/2010/00000018/00000001;jsessionid=fg977wld5js1.alexandra

IJS Special Issues on Civil Society (edited by Liam Leonard and Kieran Allen) and on Social Theory (edited by Piet Strydom) will be published in 2011.

 

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Suburban Affiliations: Social Relations in the Greater Dublin Area

Suburban Affiliations
Social Relations in the Greater Dublin Area by Mary P. Corcoran, Jane Gray & Michel Peillon Published by UCD Press

"Suburban Affiliations" presents the reader with a thorough and engaging study of the everyday civic and social relations that are observed in suburban localities, in this case in Dublin, Ireland. It provides insight into the ways in which suburbs develop and consolidate across time, with the authors’ analysis presented against a backdrop of the extensive American and European literature on suburbs. Drawing on four case studies, the authors offer a wealth of sociological insights into the suburban experience, demonstrating how particular examples can be drawn upon to advance a general theory of suburban affiliations. They re-visit the mainly negative assessment that has been made of the suburban social fabric. The title, "Suburban Affiliations", underlies the book’s main conclusions. Residents in suburban estates are not disaffiliated: they are in fact connected with the place where they live and with each other, in many different ways. The book maps the nature, quality and focus of these affiliations, paying particular attention to attachment to place, the prevalence of social support networks and levels of civic and social participation. As an empirically grounded, contemporary study of everyday suburban realities this book offers a wealth of timely and innovative insights of interest not only to social scientists but also to architects, planners, policy makers and the general public.  http://www.ucdpress.ie/display.asp?isbn=9781906359478&

Sustainable Justice and the Community (Advances in Ecopolitics 7)

Sustainable Justice and the Community by Liam Leonard and Paula Kenny is an attempt to locate justice in a workable and sustainable way within the community, introducing ’Sustainable Justice’ as a key concept for the coming century. This volume is a critical examination of three key concepts which need to be understood for the management of today’s flexible and fluid society, namely Sustainability, Justice and Community. Within this study, we seek to explore both through an analysis built from their original philosophical understandings, through to their contemporary usage and application, ultimately developing new understandings through a combination of the essential thematic notions underpinning these salient concepts.

Sustainable Justice and the Community (Advances in Ecopolitics 7) Liam Leonard and Paula Kenny, Published dec. 2010 by Emerald Insight UK: http://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Justice-Community-Advances-Ecopolitics/dp/0857243012/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_6 

Also in the Advances in Ecopolitics Series: Advances in Ecopolitics - Vols 4 & 5

The Transition to Sustainable Living and Practice; Advances in Ecopolitics, volume 4 2009
Edited by: Liam Leonard, Institute of Technology, Sligo
John Barry, Queen’s University, Belfast ISBN: 978184950641-0

Global Ecological Politics: Advances in Ecopolitics, volume 5 2010
Edited by: Liam Leonard, Institute of Technology, Sligo
John Barry, Queen’s University, Belfast ISBN: 978184950641-0

Ireland of the Illusions

Ireland of the Illusions offers a timely reality check. Established and upcoming Irish sociologists reflect on the recent economic crash. Why did it happen, who is to blame and how has it bled into tourism, the environment, sport and the landscape? Examining the illusory quality of Celtic Tiger Ireland, the contributors inspire us to look again at a time that encouraged mass-delusion over self-reflection. Chronicling events from 2007 and 2008, the book explores many of the core values that define contemporary Ireland. Provocative essays scrutinise the greed of the housing boom, the voyeurism of the mass media, the drift towards a surveillance society, the clash between nature and society and the denial of the class and gender dimensions of social inequality. Together they present a trenchant and insightful snapshot of a society moving from enchantment to disillusion.

  • Publisher: Institute of Public Administration (10 May 2010)
  • ISBN-10: 1904541887
  • ISBN-13: 978-1904541882 
     
  • Women and Men in Ireland 2009

    (CSO publication which prompted a discussion of Gender Inequality on Tonight with Vincent Browne on Wed 17th of February 2010): CSO (2010) Women and Men In Ireland 2009, Dublin: CSO.

    Cosmopolitan Ireland: Globalisation And Quality Of Life


    Ireland is going through a period of unprecedented economic and cultural growth and renewal. These changes are due in part to neoliberal policies that have attracted foreign investment. The globalization of Ireland’s economy has had major social consequences: • Living standards are rising quickly • Emigration has reversed • Catholicism has been secularized • Laws on divorce and sexuality have been liberalized In short, Ireland has become an urban society for the first time. But there is stark inequality and social exclusion; epidemics of depression, alcoholism, and obesity; traditional values and community are declining; and there is deep ambivalence towards immigrants. Ireland’s economy is globalized, but is Irish society cosmopolitan? Wealth has increased, but has quality of life improved? The authors explore the developments of the last 15 years, capturing the intensity of the debates that make up the new cosmopolitan multi-cultural Ireland. Carmen Kuhling is a Lecturer in Sociology and Women’s Studies at UL Kieran Keohane is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the NUI Cork.
    plutobooks.com

    Environmental Movements and Waste Infrastructure (Routledge)

    Liam Leonard and Chris Rootes (eds)  Environmental Movements and Waste Infrastructure,  London: Routledge

    As rates of consumption grow, the problem of waste management has increased significantly. National and local waste authorities seek to manage such problems through the implementation of state regulation and construction of waste infrastructure, including landfills and incinerators. These, however, are undertaken in a context of increasing supra-state regulatory frameworks and directives on waste management, and of increasing activity by multi-national corporations, and are increasingly contested by activists in the affected communities. Environmental Movements and Waste Infrastructure sheds new light on the structures of political opportunity that confront environmental movements that challenge the state or corporate sector. A series of case studies on collective action campaigns from the EU, US and Asia is elaborated in order to illuminate the similarities and differences between anti-incinerator protests within different states. Several contributions share a concern about cross-border or transnational waste flows. Each case study looks beyond its initial local frame of reference and goes on to interrogate assumptions about NIMBYism or localism, demonstrating the wider linkages and networks established by both grassroots campaigns and state and multinational agencies. This book was previously published as a special issue of Environmental Politics

    Editors: Christopher Rootes is Professor of Environmental Politics and Political Sociology as well as Director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Political Movements at the University of Kent, Canterbury. Liam Leonard is Lecturer in Sociology, Criminology and Human Rights at the Institute of Technology, Sligo

    A Sociology of Ireland 3rd Edition

    Description :Positions Ireland sociologically within a global context. Considers key aspects of Ireland’s changing structures, culture and everyday life. Written in an accessible and interesting style.Includes a comprehensive bibliography. Suitable for sociology courses in Irish universities and Institutes of Technology at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, including general arts programmes, applied social studies, social work and social science.Provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Irish society for students of Irish Studies in Ireland and elsewhere. 

    Author Biography: Perry Share is Head of the Department of Humanities at the Institute of Technology, Sligo and is a research associate of the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA). Prof. Hilary Tovey is a senior lecturer in Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, and a fellow of TCD. Mary P. Corcoran is a lecturer at NUI Maynooth and is a research associate of the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA).

    Celebrity and the Law (2010)

    Celebrity and the Law provides an historical and conceptual context for understanding the phenomenon of the celebrity in contemporary society and analyses three areas of law in which celebrity status has a significant impact:

    • the law of passing off, which controls commercial use of the celebrity identity
    • the law of defamation, which protects the celebrity’s reputation in the community, and
    •  the law of privacy and confidence, which regulates intrusions into and disclosures of information about a celebrity’s private life

    Since celebrity interactions with legal systems are global phenomena, comparisons are made throughout the book between Australian celebrity law and that of other jurisdictions, such as the United States and the United Kingdom in its new European context. The book seeks to explain and analyse how the law has responded and ought further to respond to the phenomenon of celebrity and to the ever-expanding demands of celebrities for extensive legal protection and stringent controls over the unauthorized use of their identities. The analysis in the book acknowledges the sensational and enchanting nature of celebrity and recognises that the celebrity persona is often a valuable cultural and expressive resource which is and ought to be, within reasonable limits, available for public use and public comment. The book never loses sight of the strong public interest in free competition and free speech, and the need to balance celebrity demands with a public sphere of robust and open dialogue, ideas, creativity and debate.

    Changing Ireland in International Comparison

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    €24.95 ISBN 978-1-905785-18-6 Paperback

    It is now widely recognised that Irish society has been transformed radically over the past two decades. Indeed, a large number of books have already been published on the phenomenon, some celebrating the country’s achievements, some analysing the origins and outcomes of the boom, and many criticising what is perceived as a failure to use the new affluence to eliminate social inequality. However, there has been little attempt to set the Celtic Tiger years in a comparative international context. Changing Ireland in International Comparison will fill this gap in our knowledge. Based on data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), an interna-tional co-operative project of cross-national survey research carried out on an annual basis across forty-one countries, the book provides an analysis of social and attitudinal change in Ireland over a period of unprecedented societal transformation. The book provides a unique source of measuring attitudes "before and after" the boom on a va-riety of important themes, in international comparison at a crucial time of increasing globalisation. Three main areas are covered: economic aspects of change; family and gender; and cultural change. Betty Hilliard is a lecturer in the School of Sociology, UCD. Dr. Máire Nic Ghiolla Phádraig is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Sociology, UCD.

    Chapter 1: ’The Tiger, the Trans National Corporation and the Peace Dividend’ – Social and Economic Changes in Ireland, 1989-2003 Máire Nic Ghiolla Phádraig and Betty Hilliard

    Part I: Economic aspects

    Chapter 2: Maximally Maintained Inequality Revisited: Irish Educational Mobility in Comparative Perspective, Michael Hout (Professor of Sociology, University of California at Berkeley) Chapter 3: Attitudes to Social Inequality - 1990-2001 Máire Nic Ghiolla Phádraig Chapter 4: Commitment to Work in Changing Economic and Social Times: the Case of Ireland, 1989-2001 Breda McCabe

    Part II: Family and Gender Roles

    Chapter 5: Welfare Regimes and Changing Family Attitudes Michael Rush, Valerie Richardson Chapter 6: Contemporary Irish Attitudes to Marriage and Family in Cross-National Comparison1988-2002 Betty Hilliard Chapter 7: Irish Men and Women’s Attitudes to Women’s Employment – 1988-2002 Sara O’Sullivan

    Part III: Cultural Changes

    Chapter 8: Changing Environmental Attitudes and Behaviour in Ireland - 1993-2002 Mary Kelly and Fiachra Kennedy Chapter 9: ’Believing in God, but not Obeying the Church’ – Religion in Ireland and Poland 1991-1998 Karen Andersen and Ann Lavan Chapter 10: National Identity and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes - 1995 and 2003 larfhlaith Watson, Máire Nic Ghiolla Phádraig, Fiachra Kennedy and Bernadette Rock-Huspatel

    Contemporary Ireland A Sociological Map

    The book will become an important introductory textbook for undergraduate students in sociology, Irish studies and the human sciences. But it is written in such a way that will be a useful resource to students in more advanced courses as well as the general reader interested in Irish society and culture. Although the book mainly maps changes in the South, it also contains full description and analysis of recent transformations in the North. Contemporary Ireland is written by leading sociologists from UCD and other Irish, and British, universities who are experts in their field.

    The authors take a critical stance about the changes that have taken place in Irish society. It is part of the tradition of ’public sociology’ in which sociologists raise and reflect on current social issues and debates. Each chapter introduces the reader to the sociological theories and concepts that are relevant to the topic. The reader is then shown how these apply to Ireland and the changes that have taken place in the last decade. The chapters conclude with some suggestions about the future directions of that field in the immediate future. The book is arranged in six sections: Contours of a changing Ireland; Institutions; Governance; Economy, development and the Celtic Tiger; Class, equality and inequality; Identity, diversity and culture.

    Published August 2007 pb 496 pp €30 £20 978-1-904558-87-3

    ucdpress.ie

    Environmentalism In Ireland: Movement And Activists

    Focus is also given to the individual characteristics of participating individuals drawn into collective mobilisations, looking at their availability for recruitment, their life experiences, and their ideological orientations. The book goes on to examine the impact on them of acting within a group, in terms of the skills and knowledge gained, collective experiences, and formation of perspectives on Irish society and the Irish State. Finally, it considers the growing phenomenon of ’personal environmentalism’, culminating in a discussion of environmental citizenship, and the diverse ways, collective and individual, in which this is practiced in environmental activism.

    Environmentalism in Ireland: Movement and Activists 216 pages ISBN: 978-1904541-56-1 €25.00 Postage and Packaging €2.00

    Publishing Division Institute of Public Administration Vergemount Hall, Clonskeagh, Dublin 6 Tel: (01) 240 3600 Fax: (01) 269 8644 Email: sales@ipa.ie.ipa.ie

    Environmental Argument and Cultural Difference: Locations, Fractures and Deliberations. Oxford: Peter Lang.

    Environmental argument is ’about’ far more than meets the eye. How people (mis-)understand each other during environmental debates is affected by conflicts between values and ways of life which may not be directly connected with the environment at all. This book offers sociological evidence from three contrasting societies – Ireland, Germany and China – to explore how diversity of cultural context affects deliberation about the physical world. What can we discover by examining environmental debates through the lens of interculturality? When people disagree about flood management, building motorways or extracting gas, what difference does it make if they have diverse experiences of neighbourly relations, how to use time or how to imagine a good life? What is going on at intersections between cultures to influence the trajectories of environmental debates? The book disinters taken-for-granted practices, feelings and social relationships which affect environmental arrangements, in scientific and artistic debates as well as in politics and policy-making.

    Environmental Debates and the Public In Ireland

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    Environmental Debates and the Public in Ireland Different groups in society think and talk about the environment in different and potentially contentious ways. In a society undergoing rapid economic, social and environmental change, these differences and conflicts tend to be heightened. Recognising and understanding these discourses can contribute to more equitable, just and democratic environmental policymaking and achievable outcomes.

    The aim of the sociological research reported in this book is to contribute to this understanding. The research findings presented explore the ways in which different social groups think and talk about the environment and the social and cultural contexts that influence them. Environmental Debates and the Public in Ireland is unique in the range of environmental questions it raises and the social research methods it uses to explore them.

    Mary Kelly is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Sociology, University College Dublin. She undertook undergraduate and masters degree work in sociology in University College Dublin, and doctoral work in Clare Hall, Cambridge. She has authored and edited a number of books, as well as a considerable number of chapters and journal articles, related to sociology and to the media, in both Ireland and the EU. Turning her research attention to the environment in the late 1990s, she was lead researcher on an Environmental Protection Agency funded research project on Environmental Attitudes, Values and Behaviour in Ireland. HILARY TOVEY Hilary Tovey is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Head of the Department of Sociology in Trinity College, Dublin. She is a frequent contributor to the International Sociological Association – Research Committee 24: Environment and Society. Her best-known publication, co-authored with Perry Share and Mary Corcoran is A Sociology of Ireland (Gill & Macmillan, 3rd edition, 2007).

    Environmental Debates and the Public in Ireland 256 pages ISBN: 978-1904541-55-4 €25.00 Postage and Packaging €2.00

    Publishing Division Institute of Public Administration Vergemount Hall, Clonskeagh, Dublin 6 Tel: (01) 240 3600 Fax: (01) 269 8644 Email: sales@ipa.ieipa.ie

    Media Studies: Key Issues And Debates

    Bringing together a range of renowned and newly emerging scholars in the field, this book examines eighteen key issues within contemporary media studies. Written in an accessible student-friendly style, Media Studies: Key Issues and Debates will be an authoritative landmark text for undergraduate students and teachers alike. Each individual chapter begins with a concise definition of the concept(s) under investigation. This is followed by a 5,000 word discussion on the current state of play within research on the specific area. Chapters contain casestudies and illustrative materials from Europe, North America, Australasia and beyond. Each chapter concludes with annotated notes, which guide the student-reader in terms of future study. Contributors include: Janet McCabe ~ John Corner ~ David Croteau and William Hoynes ~ Natalie Fenton ~ Jenny Kitzinger ~ Jeroen de Kloet and Liesbet van Zoonen ~ Sonia Livingstone ~ Greg Philo

    May 2007 · 336 pages Paper (978-1-4129-2983-7) · £19.99 / Cloth (978-1-4129-2982-0) · £65.00

    Power, Politics And Pharmaceuticals: Drug Regulation In Ireland In A Global Context

    January 2008 ISBN 978-1-85918-419-6, €49, £33, Hardback, 234 x 156mm, 272pp **Pre-launch price €40 available at http://www.corkuniversitypress.com/epages/corkuniversitypress.storefront/EN/product/9781859184196

    Subject Classification: Sociology/health Market: Trade/Academic

    Central questions that are explored include: what are the implications for health of existing systems of pharmaceutical drug regulation?; and what do existing systems of drug regulation reveal the power of transnational pharmaceutical corporations to shape regulatory and other policies? The importance attached to considering the Irish regulatory system in its international context is reflected in the inclusion of chapters that address the implications of World Trade Organisation and EU regulatory policies and regulatory trends in Canada, Britain and Australia. By demonstrating how the analysis of pharmaceutical drug regulation can provide rich insights into the operation of power in contemporary society, this book challenges the prevailing construction of drug regulation as a sphere of ’policy without politics’ and aims to contribute to the imagination of better ways of regulating medicines. Orla O’Donovan is a Lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork. Kathy Glavanis-Grantham is Lecturer in Sociology at University College Cork.

     

    The Corporate Take Over of Ireland

    Fifty one of the hundred largest global entities are now corporations rather than nation states and this has led to a profound transformation. The public sphere, which is subject to democratic decision-making is diminishing and the for-profit motive dominates in areas previously regarded as public services. Written in a highly accessible style, this book looks at the changes this process has brought in Ireland in the last ten years, covering health, education, the environment, electricity, transport and telecommunications. The book is based on interviews with key participants and is supplemented with documentary information. New material challenges arguments for privatisation/de-regulation in Ireland; suggests that public resources are being squandered on ’corporate welfare’; and questions the notion that the consumer has gained from the changes.

    · Key Subject Areas: Irish History, Politics, Social Sciences

    2007 288 pages 978 0 7165 3411 2 cloth €65.00 / £45.00 978 0 7165 3412 9

    The Environmental Movement in Ireland

    2008, XVI, 236 p., Hardcover   ISBN: 978-1-4020-6811-9
    Table of contents Foreword.- Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Acronyms.- Politics: The Environmentalism Debate.- Irish Environmental Activism: From Woodquay to the ’Celtic Tiger’.- The Environmental Protection Agency and the Irish Green Party.- Communities: Rural Sentiment and the Irish Environmental Movement.- Rural Sentiment as Ecological Capital.- Understanding Collective Action.- Campaigns – Phase One: No Nukes: Carnsore Point.- The Anti-Toxics: Movement.- Mining: Tynagh and Donegal.- Campaigns – Phase Two: Conservation: Mullaghmore.- Anti-Incineration: Galway, Meath and Cork.- Resources: The Rossport 5 (Shell to Sea).- Roads: Glen of the Downs, Carrickmines and Tara.- Conclusion: Mapping the Consequences of Environmental Activism.- Bibliography.- Index.                                                                                                           About this book:  Collective responses to Ireland’s dramatic transformation from a primarily agrarian and rural society to an industrialised economy obsessed by rapid growth and development occurred in two phases:             Phase One took place between the "No Nukes" protests of the late 1970’s when campaigns targeted multinational plants or infrastructural projects perceived as a pollution threat during years of economic stagnation.
    Phase Two occurred after economic buoyancy was achieved, as the demands of rapid growth threatened communities, the environment and Irish heritage in the face of major infrastructural projects such as roads, incinerators and gas pipelines.
    Starting with the Woodquay protests in Dublin, the "No Nukes" protests at Carnsore Point, the "Shell to Sea" campaign in Mayo and the campaign to save Tara from destruction, these significant ecological campaigns, based on the community’s localised sense of place or rural sentiment, have formed the response to these challenges which are analysed here using social movement theories such as resource mobilisation, political opportunity, framing and event analysis.

    Keywords: Ireland Irish heritage environmental theory rural sentiment social movements

     

     

    Northern Ireland After The Troubles: A Society In Transition

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    New From Manchester University Press

    £14.99 stg

    ISBN: 978-0719074417

    Media Power A Sociological Introduction

    Palgrave Macmillan, September 2002
    ISBN: 978-0-333-64341-9, ISBN10: 0-333-64341-0,
    5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 230 pages,

    This text offers a clear and succinct overview of a central debate in the study of the media, drawing together a wide range of theoretical and research-based material from both sides of the Atlantic. Written with a light touch and taking a level-headed approach to competing theories and claims, it is accessibly organized around the three central processes in mass communication - production, representation and reception - and provides comprehensive coverage of all the main topics relevant to the thorny issue of media power.
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