Scapegoating During a Time of Crisis: A Critique of Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland

Abstract

Focusing upon scapegoating in post-crash Ireland, this article considers a pervasive political process that is protective of powerful interests and the status quo following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Drawing from group conflict theory and framing analysis as part of a broader critical realist take on society, we consider how blame has been placed on myriad targets, ranging from a collective 'we who went a bit mad with borrowing' to more specific groups such as public sector workers, the unemployed, single mothers and immigrants. In conclusion, we underscore the need for sociology to assert its relevance by challenging such processes and defend civil society in a capitalist world-system that is in structural crisis.

Dual conditionality in welfare and housing for lone parents in Ireland: Change and continuity?

“…Jacobs, Kemeny, and Manzi () argue such rhetoric was part of a wider political economy agenda. O'Flynn, Monaghan, and Power () argue likewise linking scapegoating of lone parents in relation to unfair housing allocation policies with wider austerity in Ireland, whereas Inglis (, p. 14) observes the tendency to scapegoat lone mothers in a time of social crisis.…”

The Madoffization of Irish society: from Ponzi finance to sociological critique

“…Although relatively privileged middle‐class workers, such as teachers, have been and continue to be treated as scapegoats in post‐crash Ireland it is also clear that groups with a history of subjugation are the most obvious ready‐made targets for pillorying. Elsewhere, we observe how cuts to government spending were bolstered by the Irish media and, moreover, how certain cuts were justified on the basis of fraudulent government claims about social welfare fraud (O'Flynn, Monaghan and Power ). As with the vilification of Madoff and his victims, or a few nefarious Irish bankers and the larger population who allegedly participated in a massive debt orgy, this aspect of Madoffization is ripe for critique.…”

“…More generally, just as evidence of mass deception in the US FIRE sector emerged following the securitization of liar loans and subsequent crisis (Ramirez ), there is growing awareness that Irish bankers profited from deception even when they knew a crash was imminent (O'Flynn, Monaghan and Power ). Black () appositely focuses on ‘looting’ and a ‘Gresham's dynamic’ where good ethics across the banking industry are driven out by bad practices, with the latter conferring short‐term competitive advantage.…”

“…Writings on ‘Ireland's economic crash’ (Allen ), the focus of the present paper, have also mushroomed. These include critical analyses of financialization (McCabe , ; Ó Riain ), the media (Cawley ; Mercille ; Preston and Silke ), orthodox economics (McDonough ), austerity (Allen and O'Boyle ; Coulter ), scapegoating (O'Flynn, Monaghan and Power ), and broader cultural dynamics that fuelled the illusory Celtic Tiger (Share and Corcoran ).…”

Debating, theorising and researching ‘obesity’ in challenging times

“…Second, knowledge remains fallible and it is important to reflexively subject our own contributions to informed scrutiny and carefully revise these where necessary. At the same time, we must sweep aside straw men caricatures of critical studies of weight/fatness/obesity in a broader social context where mass deception (which is not synonymous with lying), efforts to maintain secrecy and silence, obfuscation and scapegoating are commonplace (Monaghan and O'Flynn, 2013;O'Flynn et al, 2014). As discussed in this collection, social class is hardly credited in health policy outside of its misrecognition as a variable for behavioural interventions comprising calls for heightened personal responsibility, surveillance and discipline among the poor.…”