Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development / Edition 2

by Michael Hechter

Overview

Recent years have seen a resurgence of separatist sentiments among national minorities in many industrial societies, including the United Kingdom. In 1997, the Scottish and Welsh both set up their own parliamentary bodies, while the tragic events in Northern Ireland continued to be a reminder of the Irish problem. These phenomena call into question widely accepted social theories which assume that ethnic attachments in a society will wane as industrialization proceeds.This book presents the social basis of ethnic identity, and examines changes in the strength of ethnic solidarity in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition to its value as a case study, the work also has important comparative implications, for it suggests that internal colonialism of the kind experienced in the British Isles has its analogues in the histories of other industrial societies.Hechter examines the unexpected persistence of ethnicity in the politics of industrial societies by focusing on the British Isles. Why do many of the inhabitants of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland continue to maintain an ethnic identity opposed to England? Hechter explains the salience of ethnic identity by analyzing the relationships between England, the national core, and its periphery, the Celtic fringe, in the light of two alternative models of core-periphery relations in the industrial setting. These are a diffusion model, which predicts that intergroup contact leads to ethnic homogenization, and an internal colonial model, in which such contact heightens distinctive ethnic identification.His findings lend support to the internal colonial model, and show that, although industrialization did contribute to a decline in interregional linguistic differences, it resulted neither in the cultural assimilation of Celtic lands, nor in the development of regional economic equality. The study concludes that ethnic solidarity will inevitably emerge among groups which are relegated to inferior positions in a cultural division of labor. This is an important contribution to the understanding of socioeconomic development and ethnicity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765804754
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	09/30/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	422
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael Hechter is professor of sociology at the University of Arizona. He is currently serving as visiting professor at the University of Washington, and before that was a Fellow of New College at Oxford University. He is the author of Principles of Group Solidarity, and editor of The Microfoundations of Macrosociology and Social Institutions. Michael Hechter is professor of sociology at the University of Arizona. He is currently serving as visiting professor at the University of Washington, and before that was a Fellow of New College at Oxford University. He is the author of Principles of Group Solidarity, and editor of The Microfoundations of Macrosociology and Social Institutions. Michael Hechter is professor of sociology at the University of Arizona. He is currently serving as visiting professor at the University of Washington, and before that was a Fellow of New College at Oxford University. He is the author of Principles of Group Solidarity, and editor of The Microfoundations of Macrosociology and Social Institutions.

Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION 2 TOWARDS A THEORY OF ETHNIC CHANGE Part II Core and Periphery in the Pre-Industrial Era 3 THE EXPANSION OF THE ENGLISH STATE 4 THE CONSEQUENCES OF POLITICAL INCORPORATION Part III The Consequences of Industrialization 5 INDUSTRIALIZATION AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, 1851-1961, 6 THE ANGLICIZATION OF THE CELTIC PERIPHERY, 1851-1961, 7 THE PERSISTENCE OF SECTIONALISM, 1885-1966, 8 SERVITOR IMPERIALISM AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN AN AGE OF EMPIRE 9 TWENTIETH-CENTURY CELTIC NATIONALISM 10 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ETHNIC CHANGE 11 CONCLUSION

Editorial Reviews

Reprint of a 1975 work. With a focus on the British Isles, Hecter (sociology, U. of Arizona) examines the unexpected persistence of ethnicity in the politics of industrial societies. He analyzes the relationship between England, the national core, and the Celtic fringe in the light of two alternative models of core-periphery relations in the industrial setting, and he argues that although industrialization did contribute to a decline in interregional linguistic differences, it resulted neither in the cultural assimilation of Celtic lands nor in the development of regional economic equality. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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