Associate Professor, Sociology, St. Francis Xavior University, Nova Scotia, Canada'A fast-paced yet historical and analytic account of the new Irish global economy and its leap into a cosmopolitan culture with its highs and lows of consumerism, binge drinking, defamilization, sub-urbanization and very high youth suicide rates.' John O'Neill, Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology, York University, Toronto Ireland is going through a period of unprecedented economic and cultural growth and renewal. These changes are due in part to neoliberal policies that have attracted foreign investment. The globalization of Ireland's economy has had major social consequences. Living standards are rising quickly. Emigration has reversed. Catholicism has been secularized, laws on divorce and sexuality have been liberalized. Ireland has become an urban society for the first time. But there is stark inequality and social exclusion; epidemics of depression, alcoholism, and obesity; traditional values and community are declining; and there is deep ambivalence towards immigrants. Ireland's economy is globalized, but is Irish society cosmopolitan? Wealth has increased, but has quality of life improved? The authors explore the developments of the last 15 years, capturing the intensity of the debates that make up the new cosmopolitan multi-cultural Ireland. |