Your Place or Mine?: Community and Belonging in 21st Century Ireland

In Your Place or Mine? sociologist Ethel Crowley takes a look at contemporary Irish attitudes to home, place, family, sexuality and community. Are community values really declining? Despite a more liberal attitude to sexuality, can we call ourselves a liberal society? This book captures some of the complexities of modern Ireland and looks at how Irish society has been affected by globalisation and multiculturalism. Many books have been written on contemporary Ireland from an economic perspective; in this book Ethel Crowley widens the lens to take a sociological view, asking if there is still a place for the traditional family and community ties in contemporary Ireland. The book combines the sociologist’s eye with personal reflections and stories from the author’s life at home and abroad. Your Place or Mine? will pique the interest of anyone curious about how much Irish society has changed in recent years, and how much has stayed the same.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Introduction 1 The Ties That Bind Home The Home in History Décor and Social Status Home and Place Nostalgia Shelter from the Storm My Home-Place Learning Emotional Connection Privacy The `Stations’ Appreciating Nature Growing Vegetables `Culchies’ `Townies’ A Country Girl Farmers’ Markets Families My Family Thinking About Families The Irish Mother Family Problems Parents Under Pressure More Choices Families in the Countryside Conclusion 2 Community Is Not Dying Do We Choose Our Community? Romanticising Community Defining Community Community as Place Community as Shared Identity The Lived Reality of Rural Communities The GAA Social Class The Catholic Church The Local Pub The Local Shop Engineering Community Communitarianism Robert Putnam and Social Capital Is Community Dying? Conclusion 3 Globalisation and Place Globalising Influences Place in Song and Story Analysing Globalisation Anti-Globalisation Movement Globalisation and Modernity A More Critical Approach Globalisation as Homogenisation Types of Globalisation Ethnoscapes Technoscapes Financescapes Mediascapes Ideoscapes Socioscapes Crimescapes Understanding Places Places and Power Transnational Corporations (TNCs) in Irish Localities Localities in the Global Arena Political Activism in Localities Social Class and Localities Conclusion 4 Who Am I? Constructing Our Identities Defining Identities Forming Identities The Power to Choose Sexual Identities Sexual Behaviour Feminist Activism Sexual Discourse Sexual Practices Sexual Abuse Sex and the Catholic Church Secularisation? Two Big Issues Abortion Homosexuality Conclusion 5 Migration and Hybridity Emigration and the Irish Feelings of Exile The Irish Returning `Home’ The `New Wave’ of Irish Emigration Cultural Resonance Immigration into Ireland `Blow-Ins’ in Rural Ireland Hybrid Identities Music Places and Hybridity Conclusion 6 Cosmopolitanism Is Not Elitist Origins of Cosmopolitanism People on the Move Types of Cosmopolitanism Passive Cosmopolitanism Active Cosmopolitanism Merging Types of Travellers Putting Active Cosmopolitanism to Work The Dunnes Stores Strikers, 1984 The Fairtrade Movement Voluntary Work Cosmopolitan Politics Four Active Cosmopolitans Maureen Forrest (b.1946) – Founder and Director of the Hope Foundation Martha Gellhorn (November 1908–February 1998) – War Correspondent Alan Lomax (January 1915–July 2002) – Song Collector and Folklorist Dervla Murphy (b.1931) – Travel Writer Conclusion Conclusion Endnotes Further Reading

About the Author :
Ethel Crowley (PhD) is the author of Land Matters: Power Struggles in Rural Ireland (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2006) and Daring to Dream: The Work of the Hope Foundation in India (Cork: Hope Foundation, 2010). She is a sociologist who has lectured at NUI Cork and Trinity College Dublin. She regularly contributes to Irish media debates on social change.

Review :
`Crowley uses an exciting, innovative approach to identify and describe the cultural transformations of contemporary Ireland. Mixing personal memories with sociologically informed debate, she provides an insightful and imaginative explanation of how Ireland has combined the local with the global.’ `This book makes a substantial contribution to understanding the changing nature of Irish society. It provides a fresh and distinctive approach to the subject by combining sociological perspectives and personal reflections. The result is a unique insight on the interconnections between identity and place and a stimulating book that deserves to be read by a wide audience.’