Ireland : Middle Class Nation

Abstract

A number of commentators have argued that Ireland has either a 'contented majority' or has become a 'middle class nation'. They assume that the majority of society have benefited from the Celtic Tiger boom and so 'old' concerns about the distribution of resources have disappeared. It is further suggested that this culture of contentment led to the return of Fianna Fail to government for their third successive period in May 2007. This article challenges this approach by engaging with a popular new book by David Me Williams, The Pope's Children. It suggests that McWilliams relies on a theoretical confusion about the term middle class and an uncritical use of official statistics. Far from the class structure disappearing, it is suggested that many professions are facing greater pressures for work intensity and this has led to a higher involvement of white collar employees in trade unions. The stability of right wing politics in Ireland has more to do with a social partnership strategy of the mainstream left than any transformation of the majority of Irish society into a 'middle class nation'.