National identity in Scotland is ubiquitous, but usually implicit and taken-for-granted.
People in Scotland give priority to their ‘national’ (Scottish) identity over their ‘state’ (British) identity without denying or undervaluing the latter.
While ‘politics’ is an important context for expressing Scottish national identity, it is not the only one, and usually of low salience. If anything, ‘culture’ matters more than ‘politics’.
Judging claims to national identity puts a small premium on matters of ‘race’ and ethnicity, but issues of birthplace and accent matter more in getting one’s claim to being Scottish accepted.
National identity involves ‘othering’, defining oneself vis-à-vis others. Scots judge the Irish to be people most like them, but there is little ‘othering’ of the English.
