National Identities and Politics After Devolution

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National Identities and Politics After Devolution

• Ross Bond Michael Rosie
• University of Edinburgh

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Measuring national identities in the UK
multiple choices

• Please say which, if any, of the words on this
  card describes the way you think of yourself.
  Please choose as many or as few as apply.
• African Northern Irish
• Asian Scottish
• British Ulster
• English Welsh
• European Other
• Irish None of these

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Measuring national identities best or
forced choice

• Do you consider yourself to be British,
  Scottish, English, Irish, Welsh or something else
  ?
• OR
• And if you had to choose, which one best
  describes the way you think of yourself?
• (depends on year and location of study)
• Provides single variable rather than series
• But does not take account of dual identities
• We can use the multiple choice measure to derive
  dual identities, but this does not represent
  relative importance of these identities. Hence

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Measuring national identities scales

• Which, if any, of the following best describes
  how you see yourself?
• Scottish (English/Welsh) not British
• More Scottish (English/Welsh) than British
• Equally Scottish (English/Welsh) and British
• More British than Scottish (English/Welsh)
• British not Scottish (English/Welsh)
• Other description
• None of these

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Measuring national identities key identities

• People differ in how they think of or describe
  themselves.
• If you had to pick just one thing from this list
  to describe yourself something that is very
  important to you when you think of yourself, what
  would it be?
• And what would the second most important thing
  be?
• And what would the third most important thing be?

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Measuring national identities key identities

• Working class British
• Elderly Woman/Man
• Not religious Wife/Husband
• Catholic Country person
• City person Protestant
• Mother/Father Middle class
• Black Retired
• Religious Scottish (or English etc.)
• Working person Young
• White Asian
• Unemployed Other
• None of these/no further answer

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Important caveats in the study of (national)
identities

• Identities are multiple different identities
  mobilised in different contexts?
• Territorial identities hierarchical or
  concentric
• Same identity, different understandings
• Use of the term identity may itself be
  problematic
• BUT
• Well-established tradition of researching
  national identities in a categorical fashion
• Identities may subsume diversity and yet still be
  significant in themselves.
• Problems with survey measures, but consistent
  patterns of difference between territories and
  consistent correlation with other variables

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Multiple choice national identities, 2003/2005
(2003 in Wales and N. Ireland 2005 in England
and Scotland)
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Best choice national identities, 2005 (2003 in
Wales)
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Moreno national identities (X English,
Scottish or Welsh)
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Most important Identities
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Consistency between different measures?

• Salience of Scottish national identity compared
  to Welsh and (particularly) English identities
• Britishness secondary for most in Scotland, and
  to some extent in Wales
• In England, Britishness and Englishness more
  evenly balanced - if anything, Britishness
  somewhat more important
• Dual identities prominent in all British
  nations, but not in N. Ireland
• But is there consistency over time, and has
  devolution made a difference?

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Multiple Choice identities, Scotland 1996-2005
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Best/Forced Choice, Scotland 1979-2005
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Moreno, Scotland 1992-2005
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Multiple Choice identities, England 1996-2005
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Best/Forced Choice, England 1979-2005
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Moreno, England 1997-2005
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Multiple Choice identities, Wales 1996-2005
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Best/Forced Choice, Wales 1979-2005
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Moreno, Wales 1997-2005
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National identities and political attitudes in
England, 2005
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National identities and political attitudes in
Scotland, 2005
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National identities and political attitudes in
Wales, 2003
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National identities and political attitudes in N.
Ireland, 2003
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Conclusions

• Evident consistencies between different measures
  of national identities and, to a degree, over
  time - albeit with notable fluctuations
• Contrasts in identities between territories
  suggests potential basis for constitutional
  instability, but no obvious post-devolution
  shifts
• Evidence of direct political significance also
  inconclusive weak association between identities
  and attitudes in England and substantial
  non-alignment in Scotland and Wales. In
  Northern Ireland, despite stronger alignment and
  less consensus, alternatives to devolution seem
  unlikely
• Overall, national identities in UK show
  significant patterns of variation and political
  significance but unlikely to provide basis for
  radical constitutional change.