Conflict and Consensus: A Study of Values and Attitudes in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (European Values Studies)

306 Pages·2006·1.58 MB·English

by  Tony Fahey

Conflict and Consensus
European Values Studies
The European Values Studies is a series based on a large-scale, cross-national and
longitudinal research program. The program was initiated by the European
Value Systems Study Group (EVSSG) in the late 1970s, at that time an informal
grouping of academics. Now, it is carried on in the setting of a foundation, using
the (abbreviated) name of the group (EVS). The study group surveyed basic
social, cultural, political, moral, and religious values held by the populations of
ten Western European countries, getting their work into the field by 1981.
Researchers from other countries joined the project, which resulted in a 26-
nations data set. In 1990 and 1999/ 2000, the study was replicated and
extended to other countries. By now, all European countries are involved in one
or more waves of the study, including those in Central and Eastern Europe. This
series is based on the survey data collected in this project. For more information
see: www.europeanvalues. nl.
VOLUME 9
Conflict and Consensus
A study of values and attitudes in the
Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
by
Tony Fahey, Bernadette C. Hayes
and Richard Sinnott
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2006
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISSN 1568-5926
ISBN 90 04 14584 2
© Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill n.v., Leiden, The Netherlands
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers,
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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printed in the netherlands
Contents
Page
Notes on authors viii
Acknowledgements ix
List of Tables x
List of Figures xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 Historical legacies and contemporary attitudes:
a North-South comparison 6
Introduction
Political culture and political cleavage
The dominance of the centre-periphery cleavage
Implications for other cleavages
Change and the expected shape of contemporary cleavages
Value cleavages North and South: the evidence
Conclusion
3 Religion 30
Background
Objectives
Religious identification and church membership
Decline in religious practice
Public attitudes towards the church:
a growing disillusionment
The privatisation of religion: believing without belonging
Pioneers of secularisation
Conclusion
4 Identity 57
Introduction
Religious identification and national identity
Trends in identity in Northern Ireland
Importance of identity in the Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland
Socio-demographic correlates of national identity in Northern Ireland
National identities in Ireland:ethnic or civic?
Citizenship
Political identity in Northern Ireland
Overlap in religious, national and political identity
Conclusion
v
5 The constitutional question 87
Introduction
Objectives
Constitutional preferences
Socio-demographic characteristics, identity and constitutional
preferences in Northern Ireland
The road to compromise: support for the Good Friday Agreement
Trends in support for the Good Friday Agreement in Northern
Ireland
Explanations for increasing Protestant disillusionment with the
Agreement
Conclusion
6 The liberal-conservative divide: Family and sexual morality 114
Introduction
Objectives
The importance of family, marriage and joint parenthood
Homosexuality and abortion
The impact of age and education
The impact of secularisation
A common consensus?
Is Ireland different?
Conclusion
7 Left-right divide and ‘new issue’politics 140
Introduction
The left-right divide
New politics?
Gender roles
Environmental protection
Is Ireland postmaterialist?
Conclusion
8 Work, subjective well-being and social capital 162
Introduction
Work
Measurement of subjective well-being
Trends in subjective well-being in Ireland
Religion, religious denominations and subjective well-being
Social correlates of subjective well-being
Social capital
Trust
Participation in voluntary organisations
Conclusion
vi
9 Confidence in political institutions and political participation 185
Introduction
The structures of confidence in political institutions
Trends in confidence in institutions
Evaluations of democracy and of the system of government
Orientations to political action and political participation
A multivariate analysis of political engagement
Conclusion
10 Conclusion 218
Appendix 1: Data sources 234
Appendix 2: European Values Study 1999-2000 – Questionnaire 237
References 270
Index 283
vii
Notes on Authors
Tony Fahey is a sociologist and is Research Professor in the Economic and
Social Research Institute, Dublin.
Formerly of the School of Sociology and Social Policy at Queen’s
University, Belfast, Bernadette C. Hayes is now Professor in the Department
of Sociology, University of Aberdeen.
Professor Richard Sinnott is a member of the Politics Department and
director of the Public Opinion and Political Behaviour Research Programme
at the Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
viii
Acknowledgements
Support for the writing of this book was provided by Atlantic Philanthropies and
by the authors’home institutions – the Economic and Social Research Institute,
Dublin; Queen’s University, Belfast; and University College, Dublin (UCD). The
1999-2000 wave of the European Values Study survey was conducted with the
assistance of grants provided by Atlantic Philanthropies,which funded the survey
in the Republic of Ireland, and by the Economic and Social Research Council in
the United Kingdom, which funded the survey in Northern Ireland (grant no.
R000222959). The first round of the European Social Survey (2002-2003) was
conducted in the Republic of Ireland with the assistance of funding provided to the
Institute for the Study of Social Change at UCD by the Higher Education
Authority through its Programme for Research in the Third-Level Institutions
(PRTLI) and, in Northern Ireland, with the assistance of a grant from the
Economic and Social Research Council and additional funding from the Northern
Ireland Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Participants in a
Consultative Seminar on the European Values Study held in UCD in January 2001
under the auspices of the Institute for British-Irish Studies provided valuable
comment on some of the material included in this book. Assistance in preparing
the manuscript for publication was provided by Daphne McNamara-Lancha of the
ESRI. The authors thank all the above for their generous support.
ix