Sociology of Ireland

by Perry Share

This book positions Ireland sociologically within a global context. It considers key aspects of Ireland's changing structures, culture and everyday life. It is written in an accessible and interesting style, and includes a comprehensive bibliography. It is 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. It provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary Irish society for students of Irish Studies in Ireland and elsewhere.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction

623 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Pdrg]

"A Sociology of Ireland" is an introductory academic text into the discipline of sociology in Ireland. It is relevant for anyone encountering sociology for the first time (such as me), but it also provides some really interesting examples and way of thinking about Ireland in general. It's divided into three parts; 1. Origin, Dynamics and Contexts (the history of sociology, the key players, the key theories, the history of sociology in Ireland, and two chapters on development in Ireland, and ideas of community in Ireland.); 2. Social Divisions in Ireland (specifically looking at Education, Gender/Sexuality & Family, Body/Health & Illness, Crime & Deviance); and finally 3. Cultural forms and trajectories (which looks at Irish identity formations, everyday life as culture, media, technology, religion, consumption and futures.). There is a massive focus in the book on placing each of the above topics within the context of modernity/post-modernity, which is quite interesting. Overall this is a really interesting and thought-provoking text for anyone with an interest in Ireland, Irish-ness, identify, globalization, modernity, social issues, society, etc.

[Sherry]

The bright sweet-shop cover made me hungry! And the content of the book might be a little less 'academic' in flavour than Sara O'Sullivan's "Contemporary Ireland", but the material is readily accessible: it gives a well-balanced overview of the subjects covered, and offers enough reference material that a serious student can easily find follow-up reading if they're looking for something more in-depth than these 16 chapters.