Blog by Pippa Goldschmidt
Nine years ago Carol
Craig’s book The Scots’ Crisis of
Confidence claimed that Scottish people suffer from a collective lack of
self-belief, and that this has a massive effect on our society. Since then –
and partly as a result of the maturation of the Scottish Parliament and the
SNP’s political success, she’s updated the book and a new edition has been
published.
In discussion with
Sheena McDonald, Carol Craig used a variety of anecdotes to support her claim,
identifying events such as the Reformation triggering a certain type of dour
egalitarianism which seeks to bring people down to a common level and stop them
‘getting above themselves’. She’s had conversations with both indigenous Scots
and immigrants who lack confidence due to the prevalent feeling that they
shouldn’t speak out, or try and effect change.
As she said herself,
more academic studies don’t really bear this out, and Scottish people don’t
seem to do any worse than other people in the UK and elsewhere when their
self-confidence is formally measured. And as people in the audience commented,
Scottish people are also noted for their entrepreneurialism and intellectual
achievements, citing the Glasgow School of Art and the Glasgow trade union
movement as two examples from a city commonly assumed to suffer more than its
fair share of social problems.
A weakness in the
argument surely lies in its reduction of the plurality of Scottish culture(s)
to serve a single issue which, according to Carol Craig, explains everything
from poor educational results to the shocking life expectancy in parts of the country.
But if this effect is so important, it can’t be beyond the wit of a social
scientist to measure it.
And yet, the collective
sigh of recognition by today’s audience when Carol Craig used the phrase ‘I
kent his faither’ (Scots for ‘I knew his father’; a general put-down for
someone who’s perceived to be getting above their station in life) as a summing
up of the attitude she was referring to, indicates that this argument does
resonate. Just how uniquely Scottish this resonance is, is another matter.
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