Kealy addresses this difference of opinion in his article The Orange Order in Toronto: Religious Riot and Working Class. Kealy claims that too much emphasis is placed on the violent aspects of the Order (such as in See’s article, The Orange Order and Social Violence in Mid Nineteenth Century Saint John), and not enough on the social and cultural background of the Order itself.

The focus and arguments of each article are driven by the original interest of the authors. Consequently See focuses on a functional analysis and Kealy focuses on a structural analysis of the

Orange membership in the 1940’s came from various cultural groups and classes, a point which both authors agree on. However, See looks at the significant native involvement and Kealy focuses more on the social composition in terms of class.

Because these articles are situated in the Canadian context, it is important to understand how the Orange Order became established in Canadian society. Both of the articles discuss the origins of the Orange Order to some extent, but only See’s article focuses significantly on how the Orange Order related and acted as reaction to outside influences. Kealy’s article, on the other hand, discusses how Orangeism in Toronto was “a type of immigrant-aid society which might at times even ignore religious differences.” One will notice within Kealy’s article, that the “militaristic and sectarian sides of Orangeism were de-emphasized, and instead, fraternal and benevolent functions were developed.” In comparison, See’s article introduces the Orange Order as “an institutionalized nativist response to those unwelcome [Irish Catholic] settlers.” One criticism for Kealy might be that he looks at the Orange Order solely as an internal organization, whereas See looks at the Orange Order as an organization within society. So while See has perspective on cause and effect relationships outside the Order, Kealy is excluding information by not looking at the relationships of the Order outside itself and with the greater society.

The Order’s purpose as See points out “was to defend Protestantism and British institutions against Irish Catholic encroachment.” It acted as a “rejection of certain immigrants because of cultural and religious differences as well as a symbolic struggle to protect Protestant jobs from Irish Catholic potato famine victims.” See discusses various instances of collective social violence, in which he does discuss both the fact that the Catholics too instigated violence, and that they were also the one’s to always be

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