Irish History as a Testing Ground for Sociological Theory: Hechter's Internal Colonialism and Hutchinson's Cultural Nationalism

Abstract

In the field of historical sociology Ireland has served as a case study testing ground for Hechter's internal colonialism and for Hutchinson's cultural nationalism. This paper reviews the ways in which these theories were tested on the Irish case. The coherence of internal colonialism is called into question by fundamental discrepancies between the original and the revisited versions of the model. In the testing of cultural nationalism the procedures followed suffer from a circularity that sees Irish historical evidence sifted to highlight what the theory postulates before the extent to which the theory fits the evidence is comparatively assessed. The manner in which these theories were tested lends support to Goldthorpe's criticisms of the methodology of ‘grand historical sociology’.