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4. ‘Let Them Play’: Exploring Class, the Play Divide and the Impact of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland

  • Maria O’Dwyer (author)
  • Carmel Hannan(author)
  • Patricia Neville (author)
Chapter of: Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation(pp. 77–96)

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Metadata
Title4. ‘Let Them Play’
SubtitleExploring Class, the Play Divide and the Impact of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland
ContributorMaria O’Dwyer (author)
Carmel Hannan(author)
Patricia Neville (author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0326.04
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0326/chapters/10.11647/obp.0326.04
Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightO’Dwyer, Maria; Hannan, Carmel; Neville, Patricia;
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2023-06-01
Long abstractThe Republic of Ireland has undergone a process of profound social change since the 1990s. This process of ‘accelerated modernization’ has transformed all aspects of personal and political life including, but not limited to, successive cycles of economic boom (Celtic Tiger economy 1994-2007) and bust (recession 2008 on), changing demographic trends based on inward and outward migration, the growing divide between rural and urban areas, lower fertility rates and the rise of working mothers and the issue of affordable childcare. These changes have impacted on the ludic landscape of Irish children. At one level, play has become transformed into a signifier of social mobility and affluence, with structured, supervised indoor play being deemed to be more socially desirable to unstructured outdoor play. Further class distinctions about play are encoded on the sports field. Irish national sports such as hurling, Gaelic football and camogie, traditionally seen as rural pastimes, are increasingly seen as ways to foster a sense of community for children and their families in the densely populated eastern part of the country. Interestingly, there has been little critical engagement with the ‘play divide’ in the Irish context. This book chapter takes the ‘play divide’ concept to interrogate the status of children’s play in a Covid-19 Ireland from a child-centric perspective. Using data from the national ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ study survey we will explore how the disruptions caused by Covid-19 and the ‘rediscovery’ of the health benefits of outdoor, green play provide us with an opportunity to draw out the classist nature of play in Ireland and contemplate its future direction.
Page rangepp. 77–96
Print length20 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Keywords
  • Republic of Ireland
  • social change
  • accelerated modernization
  • Celtic Tiger economy
  • recession
  • demographic trends
  • rural-urban divide
  • fertility rates
  • working mothers
  • affordable childcare
  • ludic landscape
  • structured play
  • unstructured play
  • sports
  • hurling
  • Gaelic football
  • camogie
  • play divide
  • Covid-19
  • child-centric perspective
  • Growing Up in Ireland study
  • health benefits
  • outdoor play
  • green play
  • classist nature of play
  • future direction
Contributors

Maria O’Dwyer

(author)
national coordinator at Prevention and Early Intervention Network

Maria O’Dwyer, PhD, is the national coordinator of the Prevention and Early Intervention Network in Ireland, a collective of practice, advocacy and research organizations that champion timely and appropriate supports as the key to better outcomes for children and families. A sociologist, Maria’s particular areas of research expertise and interest are early childhood care and education, outdoor play, child friendly cities and community development.

Carmel Hannan

(author)
lecturer in sociology at University of Limerick
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1560-0351

Carmel Hannan is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Limerick, Ireland, and an expert on Irish family dynamics and child development. Her research interests and publications focus on stratification issues within the family particularly as they relate to class dynamics and she has led a number of research projects in these fields. She received her DPhil from Nuffield College, Oxford. Prior to that, she worked as a senior researcher at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin.

Patricia Neville

(author)
senior lecturer in social sciences at University of Bristol

Patricia Neville, PhD, is senior lecturer in social sciences at Bristol Dental School, University of Bristol, England. She is a research active sociologist who advocates for a social science perspective to health research. Her current research interests include sociology of health, gender and equality issues, and professionalism as well as a longstanding interest in contemporary Irish society.

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