Sociology in Ireland ― A Short History

This book provides a short introduction to the emergence and development of sociology in Ireland until the present day. While there were some early nineteenth century forerunners, the institutionalization of sociology as an academic discipline came relatively late. For a long time the development of sociology was strongly influenced by the Catholic Church, and Catholic sociology remained the dominant paradigm until a slow secularization process phased this out. From the 1970s onwards the discipline witnessed periods of growth and professionalization. However, these development and achievements were never conflict-free and by the mid 1980s, sociology in Ireland entered a period of critical self-reflection in which old established paradigms were questioned and new themes and topics emerged.

Bryan Fanning is Professor in the School of Applied Social Science at University College Dublin, Ireland. He has published extensively on the impact of immigration on Irish society. His books include The Quest for Modern Ireland: The Battle of Ideas 1912-1986 (2008), Racism and Social Change in the Republic of Ireland: 2nd Edition (2012) and Histories of the Irish Future (2014).

Andreas Hess is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University College Dublin, Ireland and is Faculty Fellow at Yale's Center for Cultural Sociology. His interests are mainly in the fields of cultural sociology and the sociology of ideas. His latest publication is The Political Theory of Judith N. Shklar: Exile from Exile (2014).