Liquid citizens? Towards a sociology of lesbian and gay intimate citizenship in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

In this thesis, I argue that we can usefully explore Irish sexuality within the emergent frame of analysis that is known as sexual or intimate citizenship. While 'citizenship' has tended to be theorised as pertaining to public sphere rights (Marshall, 1950), recent sociological attention has been directed to how citizenship can be extended beyond T.H. Marshall's tripartite model (social, political, economic citizenship) to include arenas of social life that were considered to be arenas of private life, including sexuality. Juxtaposing the private (sexuality) and public (citizenship), sociologists have become interested in how sexual stories can be told, and how power underpins everyday dilemmas about being able to tell sexual stories in the public sphere (Plummer, 1995; Weeks, 1998).