麻豆约拍

Contributor:

Professor Henry Patterson

Talk title:

Social Class: A Family鈥檚 Story

Talk Synopsis:

This talk explores the central role of social class in determining people鈥檚 life chances and experiences in Northern Ireland in the pre-Troubles period. It draws on the story of Henry Patterson鈥檚 own family and describes how it was affected by social and economic change, community divisions and world affairs. It also looks at the effect of WW2 on his father鈥檚 political outlook and how 鈥榣ike many servicemen鈥� he had 鈥榟is horizons widened and his politics radicalised鈥�; the 鈥榞reat social reforms introduced by the Labour government after 1945鈥�; his father鈥檚 involvement in trade unionism and labour politics; class tensions in Bangor; and the role played by 鈥榯he labourist tradition鈥� of his father鈥檚 generation in erecting what Frank Wright has described as 鈥榖arriers of restraint against the real possibilities of madness鈥�.

Short Biography:

Henry Patterson is Emeritus Professor of Irish Politics at Ulster University.

Further Reading:

A History of the Northern Ireland Labour Party 鈥� Aaron Edwards
Labour and Partition: The Belfast Working Class 1905-23 鈥� Austen Morgan
'An Age of Conservative Modernity' 鈥� Sean O'Connell, in Belfast 400 People, Place and History 鈥� S.J. Connolly (ed.)
Northern Ireland in the Second World War 鈥� Philip Ollerenshaw
Class Conflict and Sectarianism 鈥� Henry Patterson
Ireland since 1939 The Persistence of Conflict 鈥� Henry Patterson
Inventing the Myth: Political Passions and the Ulster Protestant Imagination 鈥� Connall Parr

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