Gender and the Irish Family, 1852–1922

Post-Famine Irish family constructs were complex and hinged to a great degree on  social class and household means. The term ‘family’ is hard to define since it may  be used to describe a range of relationships, from related co-residents, to dispersed  relatives, to a wider kin group. The concept of ‘family’ is temporally, culturally and  socially informed, so it is important to understand what this signified in Ireland  during the period of study, being cognisant that this might be quite different from  Irish families in other eras, as well as non-Irish families in this or any other period.