National consciousness and voting in Scotland.

The article focuses on a poll, concentrating on Scottish identity that emphasized the extent to which Scots have an uncertain vision of themselves. When people identify themselves as members of a certain group they are distinguishing those who are not members of this group. It is not so much that they must have enemies but that they are conscious of an out-group. When one identifies as a member of the working class the out-group is fairly clear. They are different not only in the sense that they have a different culture but also that they are believed to have different interests. In football and in one or two other spheres of life, which are not salient for politics, this awareness of differences exists but not in areas, which might normally affect the vote. Beyond this the boundary is often not clear. For the Scot, the archetypal Englishman is the upper class manager or administrator. National hostility is almost exclusively reserved for him. The Scottish National Party (SNP) is trying to do something for the upliftment of these people. The basic problem, which the SNP has, however, is that there are many people who share these identities and the alienation from British Establishment institutions but who do not vote for the SNP. The importance of the Scottish identity for politics is not fully developed for the majority of Scots.