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From Good Friday to Good Relations: Sectarianism, Racism and the Northern Ireland State
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the nature of contemporary racism and sectarianism in Northern Ireland in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and its outworking, and debunks the gathering support for the notion that Northern Ireland is somehow "post-sectarian" -finding instead a state formation hiding its incapacity to address rising racism with the fig leaf of "good relations".
Abstract: This article addresses the nature of contemporary racism and sectarianism in Northern Ireland in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and its outworking. The article responds to the increasing dominance of the ‘good relations’ model for understanding and addressing race and sectarian division in Northern Ireland. It debunks the gathering support for the notion that Northern Ireland is somehow ‘post-sectarian’ - finding instead a state formation hiding its incapacity to address rising racism and sectarianism with the fig leaf of ‘good relations’. It locates these key developments in the specific new formation of the statelet which has emerged from the GFA.
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TL;DR: Results indicated that, consistent with the STE, contact with a primary outgroup predicts attitudes toward secondary outgroups, over and above contact with the secondary outgroup, socially desirable responding, and prior attitudes.
Abstract: Although intergroup contact is one of the most prominent interventions to reduce prejudice, the generalization of contact effects is still a contentious issue. This research further examined the rarely studied secondary transfer effect (STE; Pettigrew, 2009), by which contact with a primary outgroup reduces prejudice toward secondary groups that are not directly involved in the contact. Across 3 cross-sectional studies conducted in Cyprus (N = 1,653), Northern Ireland (N = 1,973), and Texas (N = 275) and 1 longitudinal study conducted in Northern Ireland (N = 411), the present research sought to systematically rule out alternative accounts of the STE and to investigate 2 potential mediating mechanisms (ingroup reappraisal and attitude generalization). Results indicated that, consistent with the STE, contact with a primary outgroup predicts attitudes toward secondary outgroups, over and above contact with the secondary outgroup, socially desirable responding, and prior attitudes. Mediation analyses found strong evidence for attitude generalization but only limited evidence for ingroup reappraisal as an underlying process. Two out of 3 tests of a reverse model, where contact with the secondary outgroup predicts attitudes toward the primary outgroup, provide further evidence for an indirect effect through attitude generalization. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed, and directions for future research are identified.
208 citations
Cites background from "From Good Friday to Good Relations:..."
...The fact that many new migrants, refugees and asylum seekers tended to move into the cheapest available housing which is disproportionately in Protestant working-class areas, may have further contributed to this view (see McVeigh & Rolston, 2007)....
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161 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the efficacy of direct, face-to-face intergroup contact as a means of reducing prejudice is a stark omission, as they illustrate with evidence of the association between diversity, on the one hand, and trust, prejudice, and social capital on the other.
Abstract: A controversial claim that diversity has negative consequences for trust and other outcomes spawned a contentious debate in sociology and political science, but was hardly noted in social psychology. I summarize the debate, and argue that the efficacy of direct, face-to-face intergroup contact as a means of reducing prejudice is a stark omission, as I illustrate with evidence of the association between diversity, on the one hand, and trust, prejudice, and social capital on the other. I also consider two other contributions of contact theory to this issue, namely that contact with members of one group has an impact on attitudes toward members of other groups; and that contact should be studied via social networks. Despite the importance I attach to contact, I note two “enemies of contact,” resegregation in ostensibly desegregated settings, and negatively valenced contact. Finally, I point to the kind of research we should do, in order to increase the impact of our work on the public policy debate on this issue.
121 citations
Cites background from "From Good Friday to Good Relations:..."
...…small population of ethnic and racial minorities, who have been targets of a dramatic increase in racially motivated crimes and other forms of racism (McVeigh & Rolston, 2007; Tausch et al., (2010, Study 4) found that positive contact between Catholics and Protestants at time 1 generalized to more…...
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Abstract: Northern Ireland has been dubbed by the media as the ‘race hate capital of Europe’ and attracted recent international criticism after one hundred Roma families were forced to flee their homes following racist attacks. This paper examines the problem of racism in Northern Ireland from a number of perspectives. First, it considers the effectiveness of the Government's response to racism against its Racial Equality Strategy 2005–10 using performance criteria designed to track the implementation of the strategy. Second, it considers and empirically tests the assertion in the literature that sectarianism shapes the way in which racism is reproduced and experienced. Third, it explores racism at the level of the individual – which factors influence people in Northern Ireland to exhibit racist behaviour. Finally, the paper considers the likely policy implications of the research findings in the context of devolved government where addressing racism is part of a wider political imbroglio which has gridlocked decision-making within the power-sharing Executive of Northern Ireland.
30 citations
Cites background from "From Good Friday to Good Relations:..."
...…crowded loyalist working-class areas, so ‘post-Good Friday Agreement, new communities of colour found themselves situated in the midst of this volatile situation and became key targets for loyalist rage’ and, as a result, racism became a ‘close ally of sectarianism’ (McVeigh and Rolston, 2007: 12)....
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...(McVeigh and Rolston, 2007: 13) The link between sectarianism and racism is also recognised at the European level....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the long history of mural painting in Northern Ireland and specifically on the changing relationship between mural painting and the state in various eras, and critically assess the outcome of the state's Re-imaging Communities Programme.
Abstract: This article focuses on the long history of mural painting in Northern Ireland and specifically on the changing relationship between mural painting and the state in various eras. Originally unionist murals were state-friendly, painted as part of the annual celebration of King William’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Later, murals were seen as beyond the pale, each for their own reasons; republican murals supported the armed struggle of the IRA against the state, while loyalist murals glorified the campaign of the loyalist paramilitary groups to terrorise the nationalist population. As the peace process took hold in Northern Ireland, republicans began to transform their own images; loyalists found this task more problematic, leading the state to intervene to fund the re-imaging of murals, thereby seeking to remove all offensive and military iconography. The article ends by critically assessing the outcome of the state’s Re-imaging Communities Programme.
28 citations
Cites background from "From Good Friday to Good Relations:..."
...…Good Friday Agreement, may have moved into the micromanagement of areas once seen as ‘free’, even oppositional to the state and its interests – such as Irish-language schools, loyalist bonfires, Orange parades and nationalist festivals (McVeigh and Rolston, 2007) – but that is not the whole story....
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...The Northern Ireland state, in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement, may have moved into the micromanagement of areas once seen as ‘free’, even oppositional to the state and its interests – such as Irish-language schools, loyalist bonfires, Orange parades and nationalist festivals (McVeigh and Rolston, 2007) – but that is not the whole story....
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References
More filters
TL;DR: Results indicated that, consistent with the STE, contact with a primary outgroup predicts attitudes toward secondary outgroups, over and above contact with the secondary outgroup, socially desirable responding, and prior attitudes.
Abstract: Although intergroup contact is one of the most prominent interventions to reduce prejudice, the generalization of contact effects is still a contentious issue. This research further examined the rarely studied secondary transfer effect (STE; Pettigrew, 2009), by which contact with a primary outgroup reduces prejudice toward secondary groups that are not directly involved in the contact. Across 3 cross-sectional studies conducted in Cyprus (N = 1,653), Northern Ireland (N = 1,973), and Texas (N = 275) and 1 longitudinal study conducted in Northern Ireland (N = 411), the present research sought to systematically rule out alternative accounts of the STE and to investigate 2 potential mediating mechanisms (ingroup reappraisal and attitude generalization). Results indicated that, consistent with the STE, contact with a primary outgroup predicts attitudes toward secondary outgroups, over and above contact with the secondary outgroup, socially desirable responding, and prior attitudes. Mediation analyses found strong evidence for attitude generalization but only limited evidence for ingroup reappraisal as an underlying process. Two out of 3 tests of a reverse model, where contact with the secondary outgroup predicts attitudes toward the primary outgroup, provide further evidence for an indirect effect through attitude generalization. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed, and directions for future research are identified.
208 citations
161 citations
129 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the efficacy of direct, face-to-face intergroup contact as a means of reducing prejudice is a stark omission, as they illustrate with evidence of the association between diversity, on the one hand, and trust, prejudice, and social capital on the other.
Abstract: A controversial claim that diversity has negative consequences for trust and other outcomes spawned a contentious debate in sociology and political science, but was hardly noted in social psychology. I summarize the debate, and argue that the efficacy of direct, face-to-face intergroup contact as a means of reducing prejudice is a stark omission, as I illustrate with evidence of the association between diversity, on the one hand, and trust, prejudice, and social capital on the other. I also consider two other contributions of contact theory to this issue, namely that contact with members of one group has an impact on attitudes toward members of other groups; and that contact should be studied via social networks. Despite the importance I attach to contact, I note two “enemies of contact,” resegregation in ostensibly desegregated settings, and negatively valenced contact. Finally, I point to the kind of research we should do, in order to increase the impact of our work on the public policy debate on this issue.
121 citations