Politics, Society and the Middle Class in Modern Ireland

This book examines Irish society and politics from a class perspective. It provides a wide-ranging introduction to the involvement of the changing middle class in Irish political life and the public sphere between the eighteenth and late twentieth centuries. Fourteen historians trace the rise and consolidation of middle-class political, economic and cultural power, as well as significant intra-class conflict, during a period of considerable social and political turmoil. The contributions comprise both analytical surveys covering long periods and case/area studies that provide new perspectives on crucial moments, movements and figures in Irish history.