"No Irish Need Apply": A Myth of Victimization"

Richard J. Jensen, in the Journal of Social History, argues that the Irish did not have as many problems with discrimination in America as is commonly argued (I think he goes just a bit overboard in his argument). He does argue that the myth of discrimination did lead Irish Americans to a stronger ethnic solidarity.

Of that solidarity Jensen writes:

Irish collective solidarity seems to have broken down after World War Two, as New Deal work relief ended, the big city machines collapsed, unions entered an era of slow, steady decline, and the Catholic school system generated high school and college graduates well-equipped to make their way in the white collar world entirely as individuals, with minimal need for group support.

I have a different explanation. Maybe someday it will be in print.