Abstract
The world is constantly in a state of flux, continually changing and this been the case than in Northern Ireland where a mix of global and local processes have intersected to bring about unprecedented social, economic and political change over the past 40 years. Just as in other advanced economies, Northern Ireland has witnessed a similar demise of its traditional industries through deindustrialisation (Byrne, 1980), replaced with service orientated industries in an increasingly globalised economy. In addition to these global trends, Northern Ireland has observed a unique form of change underscored by its journey from a society entrenched in religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics to a present situation of relative peace and stability.With access to micro-level census and administrative data spanning from 1981 to 2015 through the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS), this study has set out to explore how Northern Ireland’s patterns of internal migration have changed in terms of 'who', 'when' and ‘where’ people migrate. Having surveyed Northern Ireland's changing internal migration signature, the study has sought to use the changing selectivity of migration to assess the dialectical relationship between internal migration and society in two ways. Firstly, by understanding how temporal changes in the intensity of internal migration, socio-demographic characteristics of movers and the types of residential spaces people move from and to reflect global and local processes of change. Secondly, assessing how selective migration has impacted society at the local level on population dynamics and on the socio-spatial process of religious residential segregation. To meet the research aim, a quantitative only methodological approach was adopted through the use of descriptive and inferential statistics to study migration in a systematic fashion.
The changing selectivity of internal migration was found to be an effective barometer of both local and global societal change, demonstrating that migration is affected by wider societal events and processes. Local processes of change were most evident in the analysis of migratory moves through religiously segregated spaces which was found to be relational to the prevailing level of violence. Protestant and Catholic movers were significantly more segregated during the more turbulent period of 1981 to 2001 when violence was a significant feature of life in the region. Movers over this time period were more likely to migrate to segregated areas, avoiding areas considered 'no-go' areas. Meanwhile, in the 2001-2011 period, movers of both religious communities were significantly more likely to migrate to religiously dissimilar areas in response to greater peace and political stability.
Global change was also evident from the changing internal migration signature of Northern Ireland. Analysis of migration through the settlement hierarchy found clear evidence of urban decentralisation caused by the processes of suburbanisation and counter-urbanisation which is a lasting legacy of deindustrialisation particularly in Belfast. Decomposition of declining inter- SOA (Super Output Area) migration rates between 1981-1991 and 2001-2011 emphasised Northern Ireland’s position as an advanced economy. Similar to the rest of the UK a similar combination of socio-economic changes including a population wide shift towards greater geographical immobility, aging of the population and a shift towards home ownership helped to reduce migration levels. Northern Ireland moves behaved similarly to other national contexts by migrating over short distances.
In tackling the second dimension pertaining to the relationship between society and migration, the thesis focused on the impact migration has on the population of neighbourhoods based on SOAs. Internal migration was found to have little redistributive effect on the underlying population. This was particularly the case for religious migration which did not alter the religious geography of Northern Ireland, with global segregation levels remaining relatively unchanged. Migration did have a greater impact at the local scale in Belfast, where greater religious mixing in the South and East of the city has decreased religious segregation. The study attributes this development to both a shift in behaviour in response to peace and also the growth of the Catholic middle class living in former predominantly Protestant suburbs.
| Date of Award | Dec 2019 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Ian Shuttleworth (Supervisor) & McNamee Cate (Supervisor) |