The Genesis of Conflict: Religion and Status Attainment in Ulster, 1968

In: Sociology: the journal of the British Sociological Association, Volume 18, Issue 2, p. 171-190

Abstract

Almost a decade and a half after the start of the civil disturbances in Ulster, there remains scholarly disagreement over how extensive economic disparities between Protestants and Catholics were when the disturbances began in the late 1960s. This paper applies multivariate regression techniques to 1968 survey data to examine these disparities. The picture that emerges is a complex one. The apparently lower levels of occupational status among Catholics appear not to be due to discrimination but largely reflect differences in education and family background. But a substantial disparity in income remains, and cannot be accounted for so easily. More detailed analysis shows that Catholics born into elite families were greatly disadvantaged, while those born into average families were only slightly disadvantaged, if at all.