The Changes of the Irish American Family

But he has not d bingle that in a while" (Waters, 1990, p. 141). Fund breeding efforts were once confined to homes and bars, and occasional raffles and dances. Support for Irish resistance has now become sophisticated and mainstream. Sinn Fein, the political subdivision of the IRA, now focuses its American fundraising on expensive cocktail parties and exclusive dinners: "Americans have given [Sinn Fein] nearly $2.5 million in the last three years as [Gerry] Adams and the other Sinn Fein leadership turned from street politics to high level finesse" (Zarembo, 1998, p. 44). With news of the recent peace agreement concerning Northern Ireland, the affair of Irish Americans in their homeland has intensified, not abated.

National personal identity often survives despite an social group's immigrant experience. Those involved in cultural disputes, such as the one occurring in Ireland, develop an "us" versus "them" mentality. This mentality stresses any differences between ethnic groups. Since most spate are loathe to consider themselves prejudiced, those involved in ethnic disputes seek out and maximize distinct, identifiable differences such as family size, degree of aggressiveness, crime or other factors that distinguish "us" from "them." In other words, it is not enough for an Irishman to merely set up that he dislikes an Irish Protestant simply because he is Protestant, that would be considered prejudice. There mus

t be tangible reasons for the dislike. So prevalent is the drawing out of aboriginal differences in ethnic identity that many people in Northern Ireland do not even consider themselves Irish: "A survey, conducted in 1968 by representatives of the University of Strathclyde, indicates that . . . 43 percent of the respondents design of themselves as being Irish, 29 percent considered themselves to be British, 21 percent Ulster, and the remaining 7 percent considered themselves to be of mixed, other, or uncertain nationality" (Connor, 1994, p. 45).

Irish Americans have strong religious affinities and ties to their homeland. These factors append to a heightened sense of ethnic self-identity. Although the Irish have in effect assimilated into mainstream society, they remain a distinct group because of their intense felicitate in their heritage.

The Catholic religious institution includes not exclusively churches and social services but also schools. Devout Irish Americans attend religious elementary schools and colleges. This has contributed to ethnic insularity and has boost a strong sense of ethnic self-identity among Irish Americans: "If the interrogative of Irish acceptance were simply a passage from one color to another, the Christian, English-speaking, white Irish should have rapidly intermingle into America's Anglo-Saxon woodwork. That they didn't--that they remained a distinct group replete with a separate parochial educational system largely of their making--is testament to both the external prejudices they faced and the internal dynamics of their avow history" (Quinn, 1996, p. 16).

III. Stereotypes of Irish Americans still persist.

Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.