Measuring the macrosystem in post-accord Northern Ireland: A social-ecological approach

Dana Townsend, Laura Taylor, Andrea Furey, Christine Merrilees, Marcie Goeke-Morey, Pete Shirlow, Mark Cummings

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

The macrosystem refers to the overarching patterns that influence behavior at each level of the social ecology (Bronfenbrenner, 1977), making it a necessary component for assessing human development in contexts of political violence. This article proposes a method for systematically measuring the macrosystem in Northern Ireland that allows for a subnational analysis, multiple time units, and indicators of both low-level violence and positive relations. Articles were randomly chosen for each weekday in 2006-2011 from two prominent Northern Irish newspapers and coded according to their reflection of positive relations and political tensions between Catholics and Protestants. The newspaper data were then compared to existing macro-level measurements in Northern Ireland. We found that the newspaper data provided a more nuanced understanding of fluctuations in intergroup relations than the corresponding measures. This has practical implications for peacebuilding and advances our methods for assessing the impact of macro-level processes on individual development.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPeace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology
Volumen/a
Early online date29 Aug 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished online - 29 Aug 2016

Bibliographical note

This research was supported by NICHD grant 046933-05 to E. Mark Cummings. We would also like to express our appreciation to project staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students at the University of Notre Dame and University of Ulster.

Keywords

  • social ecology
  • macrosystem
  • newspaper data
  • Northern Ireland
  • intergroup conflict

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