Politics And The Irish Working Class 1830 1945

This book is the first ever collection of scholarly essays on the history of the Irish working class. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the involvement of Irish workers in political life and movements between 1830 and 1945. Fourteen leading Irish and international historians and political scientists trace the politicization of Irish workers during a period of considerable social and political turmoil. The contributions include both surveys covering the entire period and case studies that provide new perspectives on crucial historical movements and moments. This volume is a milestone in Irish labour and political historiography and an important contribution to the international literature on politics and the working class.

An examination of Irish society and politics, providing a wide-ranging introduction to the involvement of the middle classes in Irish political life and the public sphere accrosss the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Combines analytical surveys and case/area studies to offer new perspectives on crucial movements and figures in Irish history.

This modern classic of Irish history is an accomplished and readable synthesis. Subjects covered include the early 'communism' of the Celtic clans ; the role of the Church; the Irish aristocracy and their handover to Henry II; Wolfe Tone’s rising and O’Connell’s betrayal.

Exploring writing of working-class Dublin after Seán O'Casey, this book breaks new ground in Irish Studies, unearthing submerged narratives of class in Irish life. Examining how working-class identity is depicted by authors like Brendan Behan and Roddy Doyle, it discusses how this hidden, urban Ireland has appeared in the country's literature.

"Michael Pierse is Lecturer in Irish literature at Queen's University Belfast. His research mainly explores the writing and cultural production of Irish working-class life. Over recent years this work has expanded into new multidisciplinary themes and international contexts, including the study of festivals, digital methodologies in public humanities and theatre-as-research practices. Michael has contributed to a range of national and international publications, is the author of Writing Ireland's Working Class: Dublin after O'Casey (2011), and has been awarded several Arts and Humanities Research Council awards and the Vice Chancellor's Award at Queen's"--

In An Irish Working Class, Marilyn Silverman explores the dynamics of capitalism, colonialism, and state formation through an examination of the political economy and culture of those who contributed their labour. Stemming from the author's academic research on Ireland for over two decades, the book combines archival data, interviews, and participant observation to create a unique and intricate study of labourers' lives in Thomastown, County Kilkenny, between 1800 and 1950. Political anthropology, Gramscian approaches to hegemony, and the work of social historians on class experience all inform Silverman's perspective in this volume. Silverman explores the complex and changing consciousness, politics, and social relations of a cross-section of workers. These workers were employed in the mills, tanneries, artisanal shops, and retail outlets, and on the landed estates, farms, and public works projects which typified this highly differentiated locality. In constructing the social history of workers in a particular place over time, An Irish Working Class makes an important contribution to Irish Studies, European historical ethnography, and the anthropology of working-class life.