Background to the Research

• The aim of this study was to examine social interaction, attitudes and behaviour within each of three communities in order to arrive at a fuller understanding of the effects of current violence and political uncertainty on the general population in the province.
  
  
• The study was policy orientated in the sense that while it examined a wide range of social behaviour in the different communities, it was particularly concerned with the state of community relations and the attitudes of different sections of the population to various aspects of public policy.

Research Approach

• The research involved three ethnographic studies, each lasting two years, with a researcher living for a substantial part of the time in each of the areas being studied; namely, Ballygelvin, Daviestown and Glenbarr. These studies involved a combination of participant observation and formal and informal interviews.
  
  
• Following the fieldwork, a survey covering a wide range of social, political and security issues, was carried out in each study area. The survey was based on simple random sampling from an Electoral Register drawn up in September 1987.

Main Findings

Ballygelvin

• This case study of a Protestant, urban working-class community in the north-west of Northern Ireland describes people who feel they have little influence or control over many decisions and processes that effect their lives. They have a sense of marginality and insignificance.
  
  
• The study shows that this community has no sense that they are listened to or understood by their political leaders, their church leaders, other sections of the community, the local authority, the government and public bodies.
  
  
• The study identifies different ways in which people deal with social change, including changing values and standards of acceptable behaviour, and at a political level, the perceived shifting of the balance of power between Catholics and Protestants. Some people are not adversely affected by them, or if they are, they have a sufficiently valued self-identity enabling them to cope with their changing environment. Other members of the community have no confident or secure self-image, which leads to a crisis of identity, both individual and collective.
  
  
• The study examined the dominant belief systems and modes of response through which people deal with the issues confronting them. A sense of vulnerability, and a fear of being ridiculed have been identified as basic motivating factors. Two main ways of responding in order to avoid humiliation are described: the attempt to create images of 'decency' and/or 'toughness'.
  
  
• The study suggests the desire for decency is shared by more people, but the desire for toughness dominates, not only because domination is a characteristic of this orientation, but also because some aspects of the 'tough' approach and the motivation for it are shared by those who tend towards a 'decent' approach.
  
  
• At a local level, the main way of dealing with the problems of co-existing with the Catholic community has been a withdrawal by many from active participation in the life of the city, a form of voluntary apartheid from a position of weakness.

Daviestown

• This study of a small border town and its rural hinterland highlights the damaging consequences for community relations of a prolonged paramilitary campaign in the area. The area was subjected to a bombing campaign in the 1970s, and subsequently to an assassination campaign against the security forces. In such a small and close-knit community, the resultant deaths had a traumatic effect, arousing suspicion and fear, and leading to an almost total polarisation and lack of understanding between Catholics and Protestants.
  
  
• The violence has strengthened existing constraints between the two communities and has led to increased social segregation and polarisation. There was particular concern about the damaging effects of the continuing conflict on the young, who were growing up without any experience of tranquil cross-community relationships.
  
  
• Security activity in the area had led to a significant degree of Catholic alienation from the local security forces. The UDR and the RUC were perceived as being biased against Catholics and there were allegations of insensitive behaviour by some RUC members and the UDR perceived as engaging in unwarranted harassment of young Catholic males.
  
  
• Comparatively, the security forces had virtually the full support of the security forces. There was no sign that anger over the implementation of the Anglo-Irish Agreement had led to any significant hostility towards the RUC.
  
  
• There was some Catholic concern about bias in the courts and a considerable section of the Catholic community supported the introduction of three judge courts; this is an indication that the Anglo-Irish Agreement was working to the benefit of Catholics.
  
  
• There was little support expressed amongst either community for paramilitary action, but due to a combination of historical reasons and the behaviour of security forces, there was no surprise within the Catholic community at such action.
  
  
• Protestant reaction to the Anglo-Irish Agreement was intensely hostile, with the feeling that they had been rejected from Britain and to some extent by their own political leaders.

Glenbarr

• This case study examined a small religioulsy-mixed housing estate, with a high proportion of 'problem families', a fairly transient population, and a high level of dissatisfaction with life on the estate. The study highlights the fragility, in the face of conflict situation in the province, of social relationships developed as a result, or side-effect, of residential integration.
  
  
• Although the study area originally had an approximately 50/50 religious mix, and it still retained approximately 40% Catholics, it had now acquired a Protestant identity. Intimidation, real or imagined, had led to a growth of mistrust and anxiety. A few families on the estate, had in the context of a period of political instability, been able to exercise a damaging influence on community relationships.
  
  
• These factors, in conjunction with the absence of social focal points within the estate seemed to have led to a weakening of cross-community bonds, a hardening of attitudes and increased polarisation, both among adults and children.
  
  
• The overwhelming majority of Protestants continued to support the RUC despite the Parades issue and the Anglo-Irish Agreement whilst Catholics attitudes to the RUC were mixed. A significant sector of the Catholic population seemed alienated from the UDR, and some Protestants also had serious doubts about their impartiality.
  
  
• More Catholics supported the introduction of three judge courts, although there seemed to be surprisingly little opposition to the suggestion among Protestants.
  
  
• Neither community seemed hopeful about the prospects for a reduction in violence, or the creation of long-term stability in the province.
  
  
• There seemed to be a high level of political apathy in both communities, and there was much criticism of the Unionist political leadership among Protestants.
  
  
• The Anglo-Irish Agreement was given a somewhat guarded welcome by most Catholics, who saw its possible benefits in terms of day-to-day issues, rather than as a step towards a United Ireland. While the vast majority of Protestants greeted it with hostility, there seemed to be minimal support for violent protest or political independence.
  
  
• In general terms, both communities appeared to have serious grievances, but not in any real sense alienated from the state and its institutions. Many people felt a sense of shame about the situation which had developed in the Province, and did not hesitate to lay the blame on their political leaders and clergy; both groups generally saw their future as lying within a UK context.