Eoin Devereux

‘Why bother seeing the world for real?’: Google Street View and the representation of a stigmatised neighbourhood

We examine how an Irish stigmatised neighbourhood is represented by Google Street View. In spite of Google’s claims that Street View allows for ‘a virtual reflection of the real world to enable armchair exploration’ (McClendon, 2010). We show how it is directly implicated in the politics of representations. We focus on the manner in which Street View has contributed to the stigmatisation of a marginalised neighbourhood. Methodologically, we adopt a rhetorical/structuralist analysis of the images of Moyross present on Street View. While Google has said the omissions were ‘for operational reasons’, we argue that a wider social and ideological context may have influenced Google’s decision to exclude Moyross. We examine the opportunities available for contesting such representations, which have significance for the immediate and long-term future of the estate, given the necessity to attract businesses into Moyross as part of the ongoing economic aspect of the regeneration of this area.

Tarring everyone with the same shorthand? Journalists, stigmatization and social exclusion

This article investigates the role of journalists in the media construction of a socially excluded and stigmatized local authority housing estate. We seek to identify the ways in which the production context of ‘newsmaking’ is reflected in such content. Having outlined the problematic ways in which the estate in question is portrayed, we argue that an increasingly competitive commercial environment – best evidenced in the marketization of news – is increasing pressures on journalists to prioritize circulation figures and audience ratings over journalistic balance. Our analysis of this issue is guided by two interconnected and over-arching theoretical approaches, namely social exclusion and political economy. Our analysis is situated squarely in the context of recent debates concerning the social and political implications of the increased marketization of news. In reasserting the importance of a critical sociology of journalism, our case raises fundamental questions about the practice of journalism and how complex issues such as social exclusion and poverty are represented in a media setting.

A push and a shove and the land is ours: Morrissey's counter-hegemonic stance(s) on social class

We explore how the singer Morrissey has represented the struggles of the proletariat in creative and provocative ways, inviting a deep textual reading that reveals a complex counter-hegemonic stance on the issue of social class. A champion of the ‘Other’ in a variety of guises, Morrissey is revealed in this article as a raconteur of the marginalized working class. We illustrate this through a detailed semiotic, musical and contextual reading of one particular song; ‘Interesting Drug’. We reveal tensions in Morrisseys representations of the proletariat. Specifically, Morrisseys romantic, nostalgia-laden, oversimplification of the working-class hero of an earlier era seems some distance from the ‘real’ proletariat struggle for representation in the places that count. However, in providing both collective places and intimate spaces in which to reflect, his music becomes counter-hegemonic as he hands power back to the individual to make the music meaningful in whatever way he or she wishes.

Reasonable People vs. The Sinister Fringe

ABSTRACT Resistance to austerity in Ireland has until recently been largely muted. In 2013 domestic water charges were introduced and throughout 2014 a series of protests against the charges emerged, culminating in over 90 separate marches on November 1. In this paper we examine the discourses which are produced and circulated by politicians and the mainstream media about this protest movement, and offer a brief insight into the contemporary Irish context of austerity and crisis. We analyse the role of the phrase ‘sinister fringe’ as a discursive device, and unpick the ways in which it has been used to explain the water charges protests to the Irish public. Our conclusions speak to the currency of the protest paradigm as a means of understanding news media reporting of protest. Ultimately we raise concerns regarding the effects of this dominant frame on deliberative democracy.

The Codes and Conventions of Irish Current Affairs Television: A Production-Based Approach:

Taking the 1992 RTÉ Tuesday File documentary Are You Sitting Comfortably? as a case study, an ethnographic approach is used to examine the codes and conventions of Irish current affairs television. Against a background of the production pressures which surrounded the making of the documentary, the organisational context in which Are You Sitting Comfortably? was produced is considered, the perceptions those involved in the making of current affairs television have of audience interest in social problems are explored, and the manner the programme symbolises poverty and social exclusion is outlined. I conclude that Are You Sitting Comfortably? does not fit neatly into Kellys (1984) model of Irish current affairs television, in that it is not made from a middle-ground perspective, does not use a regular presenter and sets out to emphasise the deep divisions in the Ireland of the early 1990s.

Replaying the ‘Match’: Marriage Settlements in North Galway

In this paper, marriage settlement records from a north Galway legal practice are utilised to provide additional insights into the socio-legal aspects of the marriage practices of west of Ireland farmers. The significant new findings include: the complexity and variety of forms of property transfer; the wide range of actors and interests involved in the settlements; and the far from universal presence of the dowry. While the empirical base of the paper is limited, the findings are such as to question some of the taken-for-granted elements of farmers marriage patterns as they are described in previous accounts.

“I sing out to the youth of the slums”: Morrissey and Class Disgust

Abstract In this article, we examine “The Slum Mums,” a song that was written by popular music icon Morrissey about the contempt felt for lone female mothers in the UK under the New Labour government. We hold that the song pre-empted the intensification of gendered and classed disgust discourses which have become even more prevalent in the UK and elsewhere in the current age of austerity. The article demonstrates that popular music can be an important site of counter-hegemonic discourse. Our approach is socio-cultural and contextual and we are also concerned with tracking the emotional and somatic responses this song is capable of generating, particularly in terms of registering an uncomfortable awareness of the realities of gendered discourses of class disgust.

Suing the Pope and Scandalising the People: Irish attitudes to sexual abuse by clergy pre- and post-screening of a critical documentary

THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF children became a significant public issue in Ireland in the s, with frequent media reports about the issue. In the main these focused on the issue of abuse of children by members of the clergy and religious orders. Headline cases included the abuse perpetrated by Fr Brendan Smyth, a priest of a religious order who was convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse of children and subsequently died in prison, and Fr Sean Fortune, a diocesan priest, who committed suicide before his court trial for abuse. While child sexual abuse by clergy was widely exposed in the early s, a subsequent additional scandal was the failure of the institutional Catholic Church to respond adequately to earlier complaints of abuse, and, in particular, to respond adequately to those who experienced abuse. As part of its response to the problem, the Irish Catholic bishops commissioned an independent research agency – the Health Services Research Centre (HSRC) at the Department of Psychology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) – to undertake a programme of research on its behalf. Part of the remit to the research group was to examine the effects on the general public of child sex abuse by clergy. This was done by means of a national telephone survey (N=,), full details of which are reported elsewhere (Goode, McGee & O’Boyle, ). The survey itself took four months to complete. About half-way through the data collection period in , the main UK public service television channel (BBC) screened a documentary entitled ‘Suing the Pope’ which dealt in detail with complaints made to Church authorities about Sean Fortune and the alleged subsequent mishandling of those complaints. This programme was reported in some detail in the Irish media before its showing, and had a high number of Irish viewers since UK channels are accessible in Ireland. The documentary was also reported extensively in other media after screening and was subsequently re-shown on Irish public service channel RTE. The first TV screening provided a point of differentiation within the survey, with some  participants having responded before the screening and  afterwards. It

Saying Hello to the Lunatic Men: A Critical Reading of ‘Love is Lost’

Pierrot the clown is a recurring figure in David Bowie’s oeuvre. In this article we examine Bowie’s use of Pierrot in his self-directed homemade video for the single release of ‘Love is Lost’ (2013). The article demonstrates how an understanding of Pierrot (and all he represents), as well as Bowie’s engagement with avant-garde Jewish composers and artists, is vital to interpreting ‘Love is Lost’. We provide a reading of Bowie’s use of Pierrot as an avatar for everyman, for creativity and for the struggles over identities.

From the Mouths of Janus: Political Constructions of Transactional EU Migrants in Ireland

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH INDICATES that recessionary periods may be accompanied by a decline in the quality of relations between the majority population and migrant groups as the latter are at risk of being scapegoated for the economic downturn. In that context, political leadership on the matter of immigration is of crucial importance, with political parties having a key role to play in framing how the public understand immigration. This article is based on research which examined how politicians construct non-Irish EU immigrants to Ireland through an analysis of the content of statements attributed to this group in the print media. The article focuses on those statements relating to welfare and the economy, which were among a larger range of themes identified in the wider study. Our sample of articles demonstrates that representatives on both the left and right of the political spectrum were found to commonly address the issue of immigration as a social problem, whether by contributing to its framing as a problem, or by seeking to contradict its problematisation. In particular, our analysis demonstrated that some representatives of mainstream parties contribute to a discourse whereby migrants are constructed as fraudulent and as burdens on the economy. Drawing on theories (McLaren and Johnson, ; Blumer, ; Quillian, ; Espenshade and Hempstead, ) that link anti-immigrant hostility to perceptions of resource competition, our paper argues that such political constructions of EU migrants reflect a neoliberal understanding of citizenship which prioritises the economic citizen. We find that such constructions will in turn ‘inform’ public debate, thus impacting on citizens’ awareness of these issues; and that they may ultimately have a detrimental impact on how immigrants and their needs are publicly perceived and treated.