The Alignment of Gender, Class & Generation against Independence? An empirical sociological enquiry

Abstract

This research set out to look at why it is largely Scotland's middle-classes who rejected the chance to make an independent Scotland in the 2014 Referendum. I also focus upon other significant indicators of voting in the Referendum and ask whether there was an alignment of class, gender and generation that produced a 'No' vote last year. My empirical basis was Mortonhall Golf Club (Edinburgh) where I interviewed nine middle-class voters who shared their opinions and views regarding Scottish Independence with me (with all except one of my informants voting No in the referendum). My research location made for an interesting piece of research as so many studies on Scottish nationalism have focussed upon largely working-class locations. This research, then, offers the middle-class view of Scottish Independence. My findings indicate that the middle classes have a much deeper sense of 'British' identity than that found in the working-class, and lack any real socio-economic or cultural motivation to engage with nationalism and so their reasons for opting against Scottish Independence are more or less exclusively accounted for or framed by economic or monetary concerns.