Background to the Research

• Ireland's traditional socio-economic and class profiles have changed dramatically since partition. This chapter explores the impact of socio-economic transition in post-partition Ireland on class composition and modification.
  

Research Approach

• The author draws on official statistics from both parts of Ireland and on secondary data analysis in order to explore the impact of social and economic change on class and material composition.
  

Main Findings

• Although both parts of Ireland on the surface display similar socio-economic profiles in relation to class and material composition, the two economies have undergone dissimilar processes of socio-economic and cultural transformation.
• The nature of the socio-economic transformation in NI has been more politicised than in the Republic due to socio-religious conflict, NI's lack of viability as a distinct economic entity and the accompanying economic dependence on the state sector.
• The development of productive and social forces and the dissolution of traditional class alignments have been tied to a clear demarcation and redefinition of class interests and opportunities.
• The result of class transformation throughout Ireland has been the production of modes of accumulation that have inhibited the growth of a more equitable social structure.
• In the Republic, the idea of a nationally devoted economy has been replaced by the free-fall of trade liberalisation and this has been accompanied by the experience of material retardation amongst the lower-income classes.
• In relation to a collective identity, it is clear that the middle classes (North and South) increasingly have a transnationalised identity in which relationships with cosmopolitan cities across the globe predominate over a previously strong association with their respective parts of Ireland. In particular, the middle classes in the Republic have rejected the idea of a coherent national cultural life.
• Both the political systems in the North and South, with their dedication to middle-class interests, have impeded the development of coherent and systematic alternatives that are capable of tackling the nature of social dislocation and socially destabilising social forces.