Courses / Module

This course focuses on processes of social and cultural change in contemporary Ireland - discussing the relative importance of how factors such as modernity, globalization, consumption, new forms of individualism and cultural change - are shaping everyday life. In particular, the course explores how these processes create patterns of marginalization and inclusion, alienation and empowerment, identity and narratives of the self, new social networks, social practices and social processes.
100 years since the foundation of the Irish state, questions to consider include: what is left of the cultural nationalist project that so informed the foundation of the state, religion, the GAA, public service radio and television, the education system, and other leisure activities? In an era of globalisation where goods, services, images, music, money and people circulate with great speed across borders is there a national culture anymore? Or are we all living individualised lives in a global culture?
Consideration will be given to the ways that individuals and society are linked together through cultural practices in Ireland. How cultural practices create meaning and give significance to the activities they participate in as individuals or groups. How do cultures of consumption (around the body, the home, food, media and technology) and new emerging social/public spaces, forms of leisure and recreational activities, and class provide us with the raw materials to contest and shape our identities and the everyday social world.