Socioeconomic aspects of anti-semitism in ireland, 1880-1905

Abstract

Sociological research in Ireland is committed to an unhealthy reliance on survey analysis tech-niques. The major defect of such an approach is that the insights of historical and comparative approaches are frequently absent. This paper has the primary aim of examining the nature of anti-Semitic prejudice in a particular period of Irish history, disabusing the notion that anti-Semitism did not exist in Ireland. A secondary aim is to demonstrate the importance of historical and comparative approaches in sociology and it is argued that the interpretation of survey data requires the insights of an interdisciplinary approach if it is to have serious validity