Deirdre McGowan, a joint student between Sociology and Law successfully defended her doctorate on Thursday, December 4th, 2014.
Deirdre's thesis title is The Normalising Power of Marriage Law: An Irish Genealogy, 1945 - 2010.
This thesis explores the connection between government, marriage law and individual lives. Drawing on the political philosophy of Michael Foucault, it focuses on the temporality of the relationship between marriage, law and government. Using Ireland as a case study example, and a genealogical approach to history, it explores the politics of marriage law reform and the operation of marriage law in practice, describing how they have acted to support the strategic objectives of political government. The thesis identifies how and why the performance of intimate relationships became an issue for government, and suggest that marriage law has become a political technique deployed strategically to promote social and economic stability.
The project was supervised by Dr. Rebecca King O'Riain (Sociology) and Mr. Neil Maddox (Law).