SOCIAL CONTROL THROUGH SECTARIAN DIVISION
The adoption of social control through sectarian division within the private sector can be evidenced both in the mines of the West of Scotland and in the shipyards of Glasgow. In his book ‘The People’s Referendum’ Geoghegan speaks of a conversation with former steelworker Jim MacDonald, a member of the Orange Lodge for some fifty years, in relation to the Baird family who owned the Gartsherrie pit in Monklands, Coatbridge. MacDonald’s paternal great grandfather, an Irish Protestant immigrant, from Ballynahinch in County Down, worked as a blast furnace filler at Bairds in Coatbridge. He recounted how owner William Baird had given land to the local Catholic and Protestant churches and also provided land to the Orange Order to erect a Hall - “he had to look after his workers on both sides”. This grasp of local history fits neatly with Campbell’s argument …show more content…
The Order aspired to ingratiate itself with commerce and professionals within the corporate sector, an ambition that at the time was generally ignored by the Scottish establishment. The press in Scotland tended to adopt a rather unfavorable view of its activities, a view, that despite the strength of anti-Catholic feeling in Scotland, the bigger picture was the fundamental abhorrence of Irish political and religious disputes being imported into Scotland. Walker argues the perception that the Orange Order held certain forms of influence in political affairs and in the spheres of employment, must be set against the Orangeman’s view that the Order experienced hostility from the majority of Scottish opinion-formers. Additionally while the Orange Order had a lot in common with Freemasonry – Freemasons appear to have made in-roads in areas of Scottish life and business the Order had
The adoption of social control through sectarian division within the private sector can be evidenced both in the mines of the West of Scotland and in the shipyards of Glasgow. In his book ‘The People’s Referendum’ Geoghegan speaks of a conversation with former steelworker Jim MacDonald, a member of the Orange Lodge for some fifty years, in relation to the Baird family who owned the Gartsherrie pit in Monklands, Coatbridge. MacDonald’s paternal great grandfather, an Irish Protestant immigrant, from Ballynahinch in County Down, worked as a blast furnace filler at Bairds in Coatbridge. He recounted how owner William Baird had given land to the local Catholic and Protestant churches and also provided land to the Orange Order to erect a Hall - “he had to look after his workers on both sides”. This grasp of local history fits neatly with Campbell’s argument …show more content…
The Order aspired to ingratiate itself with commerce and professionals within the corporate sector, an ambition that at the time was generally ignored by the Scottish establishment. The press in Scotland tended to adopt a rather unfavorable view of its activities, a view, that despite the strength of anti-Catholic feeling in Scotland, the bigger picture was the fundamental abhorrence of Irish political and religious disputes being imported into Scotland. Walker argues the perception that the Orange Order held certain forms of influence in political affairs and in the spheres of employment, must be set against the Orangeman’s view that the Order experienced hostility from the majority of Scottish opinion-formers. Additionally while the Orange Order had a lot in common with Freemasonry – Freemasons appear to have made in-roads in areas of Scottish life and business the Order had