The trade of a country is concentrated when the range of commodities which it exchanges or the range of markets within which it conducts its exchanges is very limited. In any study of the structure of a country's trade, it is relevant to know whether that trade is concentrated in either or both ways. [...]

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This is a study of the politics of identity in a working class setting in Galway on Ireland's west coast. It is based on twenty one months of fieldwork using ethnographic research techniques, and several years of library based research. Both of these aspects of research are integral to the analysis, which is centred around the argument that "racism‟ relies on discourse on "racism‟ for its ontological status (an issue which "anti-racism‟ must begin to engage with if it is to be more effective). Particularly since the 1950s when "racism‟ lost its scientific grounding, this study argues that academia has become just another player in this game of ideological construction (an issue which it must engage if it is to be more useful to "antiracism‟). Two equations sum up the contemporary dominant academic discourse on "racism‟: "racism = racialisation/ethnicisation + exclusion/denigration‟; and "racism = power (the power to exclude/denigrate) + prejudice (prejudice based on racialised/ethnicised identity)‟. According to these equations, the dominant discourse (made up of a complex combination of state and non-state discourse) on "ethnic‟ and "national‟ identity produced in Ballybane, Galway, and Ireland constructs three "racialised‟/"ethnicised‟ "communities‟ - the Traveller "community‟, the Immigrant "community‟ and the Settled Irish "community‟. Such identity construction involves "self-racialisation‟/"self-ethnicisation‟ as well as "racialisation‟/"ethnicisation‟ by the other. Indeed, Ireland is witnessing a growth in the field of "ethno-politics‟, where "community development‟ is now a political buzz word, state resources are often distributed according to "community‟ need and entitlement, and recognition of, and recourse for, "racist‟ victimhood via "anti-racism‟ often necessitates self-identity in "racialist‟/"ethnicist‟ terms. Once constructed in "racialist‟/"ethnicist‟ terms, the potential is, arguably, ever present for any of these "communities‟ to fall victim to "racism‟ as defined by dominant academic discourse on "racism‟. Indeed, in terms of such discourse the Traveller "community‟ and the Immigrant "community‟ in Ireland are victims of endemic popular and state "racism‟. A glitch appears in this picture, however, when one re-situates the evidence from academic discourse on "racism‟ to state discourse on "racism‟ (which essentially excludes any conceptualisation of "state racism‟) and popular discourse on "racism‟ (which, in line with traditional scientific "racist‟ doctrine sees "racism‟ as something white people intentionally do to black people). Therein is revealed the biggest problem facing "anti-racism‟ today – fighting a demon that eludes any clear understanding of its form let alone its causes.

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The problem at the heart of this study is: to what extent and in what ways was the development of trade unionism in the Derry shirt industry influenced by sectarianism? This problem and my approach to it were elaborated in contradistinction to existing theories of trade unionism in Northern Ireland. According to the main theory, developed most cogently within traditional Irish Marxism, trade unionism was thwarted by sectarianism. I suggest that this theory has more to do with the reductionist and evolutionist assumptions of its authors than with social reality and argue that the relationship between trade unionism and sectarianism is better understood with an approach in which it is recognised that both of these institutions are constituted through the actions of concrete individuals who are themselves constituted by society, and in which priority is given to the meanings which individuals ascribe to their actions and predicaments. My study is based on interviews with a sample of retired union officials and activists. My respondents were keenly aware of the Catholic-Protestant dichotomy, but, contrary to what traditional Irish Marxists would lead one to expect, they did not regard sectarianism as a significant problem until the 1950s. My analysis of union growth and structure 1920-1952 largely confirmed this view: union densities compared favourably with clothing workers in Britain, and the main factors underlying fluctuations in membership were more or less the same as elsewhere in Britain. Conflict between Protestant and Catholic shirtmakers only became a problem as a result of inter-union rivalry which followed the formation of a breakaway union in 1952. Sectarian conflict was activated by a specifically trade union power struggle, not vice versa, Thus, this study does not merely contradict the prevailing view of the relationship between trade unionism and sectarianism - it inverts it.

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This work focuses on the role of state policy and multinational capital in the reproduction of social divisions in Northern Ireland. It concentrates on the period since 1972, when Direct Rule from Westminster replaced the Stormont regime. While the Unionist state has been abolished, sectarianism continues to dominate economic, political and social life. Although some reforms have been introduced, British policy has been unable to attack the roots of sectarianism. Multinational companies play no straight forward 'modernising' role in relation to sectarian (or gender) divisions. The evidence presented suggests that foreign capital has both undermined and reproduced existing social divisions. Sectarian practices have changed in response to political pressure, rather than any inherent tendency in capital itself. The political importance of the sectarian divide has overshadowed interest in gender inequalities. The two issues have remained separate in academic literature and in policy. This thesis has brought the two together, both theoretically and in the empirical work. It is argued that gender has been a crucial element in the construction of sectarian divisions, while sectarianism helps sustain patriarchal structures. Sectarianism has compounded gender disadvantage for Catholic women. The early chapters concern the theoretical framework, and the historical background to the period of Direct Rule. These are based largely on published sources, integrating material on both sectarian and gender inequalities. The later chapters review the evidence of the impact of British state policy on these inequalities. These are based mainly on official data; on published and unpublished material from the Fair Employment Commission's monitoring returns of individual companies and public authorities, and on a small number of interviews. These sources are supplemented with a small-scale study of employment at the Royal Victoria Hospital, based largely on interviews with staff and management.