Marriage, fertility and social class in twentieth-century Ireland

In contemporary societies, the family, the Church and social class no longer define people’s identity according to recent accounts of ‘individualization’ (Bauman 2003; Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2002; Giddens 1990). This detraditionalization of identity refers to the gradual loss of adherence of individuals to traditional institutions. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim argue that the development of the welfare state after World War II released people from traditional class ties and family supports. Social class, like gender, as outlined in Chapter 4, then appears as a ‘zombie category’, in that it still lives on but it loses its power over the individual (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1995: 22).