David McCrone

Understanding Scotland : the sociology of a stateless nation

Introduction: The Sociology of Scotland 1. What is Scotland? 2. Understanding Scotlands Development 3. Is Scotland Different? 4. Getting On in Scotland 5. Who Runs Scotland? 6. Politics in a Cold Country 7. Scottish Culture: Images and Icons 8. The Sociology of a Stateless Nation Bibliography

The sociology of nationalism : tomorrow's ancestors

In recent years nationalism has emerged as one of the dominant issues of our time. In this lucid and balanced account, David McCrone lays out the key issues and debates around a subject which is too often obscured by polemic. Among topics covered are: * classical and contemporary theories of nationalism * nationalism and ethnicity * nationalism and the nation state * colonial and post-colonial nationalisms * neo nationalism and post communist nationalism.

The markers and rules of Scottish national identity

This article examines how people set about the task of national identity construction and maintenance in the context of a study of landed and arts elites in Scotland. With reference to our empirical material throughout, we outline the key national identity processes: claim, attribution and the receipt of claims and attributions. Central to these are identity markers and rules. Identity markers are those social characteristics presented to others to support a national identity claim and looked to in others, either to attribute national identity, or receive and assess any claims or attributions made. Identity rules are probabilistic rules of thumb, guidelines to how these identity markers are interpreted, combined or given precedence over others within these three processes. Particular attention is given to identity rules, and consideration of the contexts in which they are adhered to or transgressed.

Who are We? Problematising National Identity

While the concern with ‘identity politics’ has grown in recent years, there are few studies of the ways in which people order and negotiate their national identities. The study reported here focuses on the identities used by members of the arts and landed elites in Scotland in the assertion of perceived cultural differences between Scots and non-Scots. These two groups have good reason to be sensitive to the problematic and negotiated nature of national identity in a changing cultural and political context in Scotland. The raw materials of national identity, in particular, birth, residence and ancestry, are used by individuals in these groups to make claims which are sustained by and through social interaction in the course of which various ‘identity claims’ are made and received in various ways.

National identity and economic development: reiteration, recapture, reinterpretation and repudiation†

Abstract. This article attempts to move beyond assumptions that nationalism is essentially cultural and/or narrowly political, and that it is primarily past-oriented and defensive. We do this by examining evidence relating to the creative (re)construction of the nation from a contemporary economic perspective. Paying particular attention to Scotland and Wales, we show that the mobilisation of national identity within this process of (re)construction is not exclusive to those who seek greater political autonomy. National identity is also mobilised, often in a ‘banal’ fashion, by non-political national institutions such as economic development agencies. We argue that, within the strategies and discourses of economic development, historic national characteristics are reconciled with contemporary needs and aspirations through four processes: reiteration, recapture, reinterpretation and repudiation.

Timespans and plans among young adults

This article uses data from a survey of young adults in Kirkcaldy, Fife, together with associated qualitative interviews, to throw empirical light on their sense of control over their lives and their perceived willingness and ability to plan their lives. Its principal conclusion, contrary to the suggestions of much previous literature, is that a majority of young adults of both genders do, by their early twenties at least, feel in control of their lives and able to exercise forethought over quite long periods of time with respect to many aspects of their futures. Far from seeing the future as simply ‘an extended present’, they see active opportunities for choice and for formulating their own lives in the years ahead. Only a minority, predominantly those who feel themselves in particularly insecure circumstances, live primarily for the present or think ahead only or principally for the very short term.

National identity and social inclusion

Abstract In terms of our national identity, who we are and are judged to be in a particular context depends on how well our claims are regarded by those around us. Being considered not ‘one of us’ means being an outsider whether one wants to be or not. National identity may lead ultimately to social inclusion or exclusion. Using mainly 2005 survey data, this paper explores cultural markers such as ethnicity, birthplace, residence, accent and ancestry regarding claims to be ‘Scottish’. It shows that being born in Scotland enables people to make claims and to have them accepted. Claims to be Scottish by a white and a non-white person on the basis of various markers are received in much the same way. The cultural markers which people use to judge claims represent the raw materials of identity differences with the potential to become the basis of social exclusion under appropriate conditions.

Sooner rather than later? Younger and middle-aged adults preparing for retirement

During the 1990s, the British population has been urged by government and financial institutions to make more personal preparation for retirement and to begin doing so while they are still relatively young. This paper, set within a wider analysis of peoples long-term planning behaviour, investigates the extent to which a sample of the general population of Kirkcaldy in Scotland, mostly aged between 30 and 49, has given thought to the question of retirement, feels they have made financial preparation for it, and also how comfortable they expect retirement to be. While it seems likely that early planning for retirement is more common today than 20 years ago, there remain substantial sections of the population, including – but going well beyond – many in lower income groups, who appear not to be preparing, for varying combinations of reasons (including family responsibilities, personal history, cultural and general orientation to life). The study concludes that planning for retirement must be seen as part of planning as a whole, and that the propensity to plan is the outcome of a complex web of material, social, cultural and psychological factors. This suggests that even very high profile urging from politicians and financial institutions is unlikely to deliver adequate pensions for significant sections of the UK population.

The Political Economy of Place

Visitors to Edinburgh in the late eighteenth century were generally struck by three things: by the appalling squalor, the great density of population pressed into the multi-storey tenements, and the close proximity to each other of the different social strata. The social ranks were not segregated by street or district at this time, but simply by the level of the tenement they occupied. The wealthier and nobler families lived in the middle floors high enough to be spared the worst of the smells which filled the street and lower apartments, but not so far up the stairs as to make the climb wearisome. Smout cites a contemporary report which revealed that: one tenement in the High Street had a fishmonger’s house on the ground floor, a respectable lodging-house on the second floor, the rooms of the dowager Countess of Balcarres on the third floor, Mrs Buchan of Kelly living above that, the Misses Elliots, milliners and mantuamakers above that, and the garrets occupied by a great variety of tailors and other tradesmen (Smout, 1969:370).

Claiming National Identity

Abstract Using data from the British and Scottish Social Attitudes surveys 2006, this article examines the willingness of people living and born in England and Scotland to accept or reject claims to national identity made by those living in but not born in the appropriate territory. It compares the way claims employing key markers, notably birthplace, accent, parentage and ‘race’ are received in the two countries. It is a significant finding that the results for the two countries do not differ greatly. National identity, thinking of oneself as ‘exclusively national’, is the critical criterion explaining the extent to which respondents reject claims, while there is a modest educational effect if the respondent does not have a university degree. National identity is not to be equated with citizenship but involves cultural markers of birth, ancestry and accent as well as residence. Understanding how people identify and use markers of national identity is not as straightforward as politicians in particular believe and imply.