ABSTRACT
The land reforms initiated by British governments in the late nineteenth century and completed in the first decade of independence in the twenties, effected a rural revolution and quickly produced a class of owner-occupiers who came to dominate Irish politics. Identification of the basic political attitudes of a community is largely a matter either of impressionistic generalization or of drawing inferences from survey data. Traditionally, Irish Catholicism was an austere and puritanical variety, somewhat cold and authoritarian and rather cut off from continental influences. The historical and social factors that led to authoritarian attitudes and a stress on the virtue of loyalty also produced in Irish society a marked anti-intellectualism which persisted well into the second half of the century. The power and influence of the Roman Catholic church increased considerably during the nineteenth century.
