Abstract

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 and 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.
'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'
John O’Neill, author of Civic Capitalism: The State of Childhood (2004) and Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology, York University, Toronto
'Profound and stimulating insights into the transformations which have affected Irish society over the last two decades and how the celebratory rhetoric of achievement is often challenged by evidence of mounting inequality and sharp, social dislocation'
Professor Michael Cronin, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University
'One can't help but delight in Keohane and Kuhling's Cosmopolitan Ireland. Their evocative examples and insightful analyses are an important tool for helping us understand the zeitgeist of contemporary Irish culture'
Dr. Matthew Trachman, Associate Professor of Sociology, Queensborough Community College, City University New York
'Kuhling and Keohane offer a sociologically insightful and engaging encounter of a rapidly changing Ireland'
Dr. Patricia Cormack, Associate Professor, Sociology, St. Francis Xavior University, Nova Scotia, Canada