Walls, Patricia (2005) The health of Irish-descended Catholics in Glasgow: a qualitative study of the links between health risk and religious and ethnic identities. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1550/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The health of Irish-descended Catholics in Glasgow: A qualitative study of the links between health risk and religious and ethnic identities Patricia Walls Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Glasgow MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit Faculty of Social Sciences January 2005 C Patricia Walls 2005 Abstract The overall aim of this researchis to provide qualitativedata on Glasgow'sIrish- descendedCatholic community,which may help to explainthe health disadvantagefound in quantitativestudies among many generationsof Irish peoplein Britain. It examinesthe ways in which social factorslinked to recognisedhealth risks relateto Catholic versus Protestantidentity and Irish versusScottish origin. Using data from 72 qualitative interviews,with peoplein different religious/ethnic,gender, class and agegroups, the analysisfocuses on threekey areasof social life: employment,communal life and family life. The impact of structuraland cultural factorson healthand identity, and the ways in which structureand culture aremutually anddynamically constitutive are examined. The evidencepoints to the healthrelevance of structuralfactors (direct and indirect discrimination,and hiddenand institutionalsectarianism), which are dependentupon externallyidentifying a cultural difference,Catholic upbringing. These effects on health are theorisedto be both via classposition andpsychosocial pathways, and directly connectedto how Catholic identity is maintainedand constructed.Health effectsof self- definedaspects of Catholic cultureare usually linked to what are felt to be positive health benefits,although a questionhangs over family size, and involvementin football is likely to be double-edged,as are other cultural displaysof Catholic identity, which in additionto positive outcomes,give opportunityfor exclusivepractices, and provide a 'cause' of bigotry and sectarianismfor Protestants.Over time however,since both discriminationand Catholic religiouspractice are assessedas waning,it .may be postulatedthat past discrimination,while undoubtedlya factor in relation to currentill health,may lose its explanatoryforce for future ill health.On the other hand,the positive healthbenefits to be gainedby Catholicsthrough being religious are also likely to wane,as a definedreligious culture amongCatholics becomes less prevalent. The continuedperception of the diffuse experienceof anti-Catholicbigotry in sociallife appearsto influencehealth negatively. It seemsthat it is in the experienceof uncertainty and exclusion,that healthmay be compromised,a particularissue for men's health,and particularly for middle class'younger' Catholicmen who challengeexclusions and boundaries.Thus classis important,as is the 'classing' of religious identity. Also, while womenmay escapepast identities,for menthis option is not possible.Irish Catholic identity, evenas the Irish componentis often not explicitly referredto, but rather submerged,may link to healthpositively andnegatively in a numberof ways,and links also to an ever-changingculture which affectsand is affectedby wider structures, ideologiesand past history. Irish Catholicidentity is highly contextualisedand differently experiencedby gender,class and cohort. How this researchadds to the debateon Irish Catholicassimilation in Scotlandis considered,and how it situateswithin wider debateson ethnicity, racismand sectarianism in Britain. The significanceof the findings is consideredin relation to the study of Irish identity in Britain, and a conclusionis reachedabout the contributionof this studyto the questionof how Irish Catholic ill healthin Scotlandmight bestbe explained. ii Contents CHAPTER ONE: Locating Irish Catholic health and Irish Catholic identity - an the literature assessment of ........................................................................ PI Introduction ............................................................................................ PI Health Irish in Britain profile of the .............................................................. p3 Introduction ............................................................................................ p3 Mortality data .......................................................................................... p4 General morbidity ................................................................................... p5 Psychiatric morbidity ................................................................................ p6 Health behaviours ................................................................................... p6 Consulting behaviour ................................................................................ p7 Explaining Irish health ............................................................................... p7 Positive to Irish health disadvantage p7 responses evidence of .................................. Irish health disparities: shaking assumptions .................................................. p8 How Irish ill health has been P9 explained ......................................................... Historically locating Irish 'invisibility ......................................................... p12 The Irish in Scotland. - past andpresent ......................................................... p13 Introduction ......................................................................................... p13 Past and present profiles of Irish migration and the relevance of religion .............................................................................................. p14 In Scotland The Catholic Irish population .................................................... p17 Comparison of Irish Catholic and Irish Protestant experience in Scotland .............................................................................................. p17 Irish Catholic 'Other' The construction of the racialised as .............................. p17 iii Scottish identity and religion .................................................................... P19 Irish Protestant identity in Scotland the Orange Order and ............................. P19 A Scottish Accounts Irish Catholic successstory? of assimilation.......................... p2l Irish Catholic or assimilation? .................................................................. p2l What is assimilation? .............................................................................. p24 An the to date assessment of evidence supporting assimilation ........................... p26 Fertility change ...................................................................................... p28 Marriage, divorce and mixed marriages .......................................................... p29 Catholic Church attendance and membership and schooling .................................. p30 Voting behaviours and social attitudes ............................................................ p3l Querying the assimilation thesis ................................................................. p32 Taking a broader view ofsectarianism identity and ............................................. p36 Religion, ethnicity and identity ..................................................................... p37 Theorising Irish ethnicity health: lessons board and taking on ............................. P39 Structural factors and Irish Catholic health .................................................. p43 Cultural explanations and Irish Catholic health ............................................. p45 CHAPTER TWO: Methodology ................................................................. p47 Methodology: theoretical rationale and approach ............................................. p47 Methods ............................................................................................... P50 Research aim and research questions .......................................................... p50 Sampling strategy .................................................................................. p52 The sample ........................................................................................... p53 The religion variable ................................................................................ p54 Ancestry identifying - the codefor externally ethnicity ........................................ p56 interview Development of the schedule ........................................................ p56 iv Life history andfamily approaches............................................................... p57 FieIdwork p58 ............................................................................................ Interviewer p6l effect ...................................................................................