The accidental tiger : an exploration of the Irish economic disposition during the belated golden age of development

• Main Author: Fields, Bryan
• Published: University of Leicester 2002
• Subjects: 338.9417
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.697061

This thesis begins by confirming Ireland's status as a 'tiger' economy when measured against internationally recognised benchmarks. Wholly unanticipated, yet generating the most remarkable economic transformation in the history of the state, the underlying causes of the accidental 'Celtic Tiger' remain problematical. Evidence is presented which suggested that two specific socio-cultural factors, or Absolute Pre-suppositions, Catholicism and nationalism, continue to generate a unique economic disposition in Irish society. This orientation gives the metaphysical and experiential world precedence over the economic and sets a personal maximum limit of 'enough' on material aspirations. Moreover, the 'Celtic Tiger' appears to have adapted itself to live comfortably as a third placed priority in many people's lives. In this study, conducted between 1998-2001, which includes contributions from government ministers, executives and staff or multinationals, farmers, students, unemployed persons, homeless persons and Travellers, a unique profile of the Irish economic disposition is revealed. This profile challenges the traditional position of many sociologists and economists by underlining the positive but conditional contribution made by a Catholic ethic to the 'Celtic Tiger'. A number of classical and modern sociological insights were employed to interpret this profile. As their universal mandate was based on cultural suppositions and expectations of advanced non-Catholic western societies, the contradiction of relatively low levels of secularisation and unprecedented levels of economic performance posed a formidable challenge to these insights. The emphasis of the Irish economic disposition on optimising rather than maximising wealth was almost incomprehensible.