What Does Scotland Really Think?

Title
What Does Scotland Really Think?: 10 years of Scottish Social Attitudes
Speaker(s)
Speaker: John Curtice # ScotCen; Speaker: David McCrone # Institute of Governance; Speaker: Frank Bechhofer # Institute of Governance; Speaker: Rachel Ormston # ScotCen and SSA; Speaker: Lindsay Paterson # Moray House School of Education
Date and Time
12th Oct 2010 10:00 – 12th Oct 2010 15:15
Location
Raeburn Room, Old College
URL
http://www.institute-of-governance.org/news-events/events/other_events/2010_2011/what_does_scotland_really_think

The decade since devolution has contained much to excite the political classes. Major policy divergences between Scotland and England, changes of Scottish and UK government, and ongoing tussles over Scotland’s constitutional future have helped fuel debate about the changing character and direction of Scotland in the 21st Century. What is less clear is how the Scottish public feels about these issues. Do they actually want Scotland to have different policies from England? Is the changing political character of Britain reflected in changing public beliefs about issues like redistribution and fairness? How does the public want Scotland to be governed? And are people’s understandings of what it is to be Scottish changing?

At this event, researchers will use the Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) survey to look at current attitudes to these issues and how public views have changed over time. SSA is a unique source of robust data on public attitudes to a wide range of social and public issues. Established in 1999, it benefits not only from being able to track change over the last decade, but by being able to compare views in Scotland with those in England, as measured by its sister survey, British Social Attitudes.

The seminar will explore recent findings and trends over time in public attitudes towards:

  • Understanding National Identities – exploring what difference birthplace, residence, ancestry and ethnicity make to acceptance of the claims of others to a Scottish identity.
  • How Scotland is governed and how it pays for its services - considering whether any of the options currently under discussion are likely to meet public aspirations.
  • Policy in principle and practice – using data from SSA and BSA to scrutinise the received wisdom that Scotland is more 'social democratic' in outlook and has different aspirations for policy compared with its nearest neighbour.

The event will also provide a forum for debate and reflection on what we can learn from data on public attitudes.

  • John Curtice is Research Consultant to the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) and Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University
  • Professor Frank Bechhofer is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Governance, University of Edinburgh
  • Professor David McCrone is Head of the Institute of Governance, University of Edinburgh
  • Rachel Ormston is a Research Director at ScotCen and co-director of SSA
  • Lindsay Paterson is Professor of Educational Policy at the Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh

PROGRAMME

10.00 Registration and Coffee
10.30 Introduction
10.45 What does it mean to be Scottish?: Presentation and Discussion
11.30 Independence, Calman, or a third way?: Presentation and Discussion
12.15 Attitudes to policy – differences across the border: Presentation and discussion
1.00 Buffet lunch
1.45 What can policy-makers learn from attitude surveys? Presentation and plenary discussion
3.15 Conclusion

VENUE

The seminar will be held in the Raeburn Room, Old College, University of Edinburgh, South Bridge.

BOOKING

The cost to attend this event is £50.00 plus £8.75 VAT – Total Cost: £58.75. This includes all refreshments.

To book a place please complete the booking form and return to Lindsay Adams

By email - ladamsATed.ac.uk

By fax - 0131 650 6345

By post - Institute of Governance, Chisholm House, High School Yards, Edinburgh, EH1 1LZ

This page was published on 8 October 2010


Accessibility menu