Class, Poverty and Inequality in Scotland: Independence and the Creation of Affective Polarisations

This chapter examines the 2014 Scottish independence referendum through the lens of affective polarisation. The apparent homogeneity of opinion-based identity ‘YES’ for independence combined a multiplicity of differentiating and contradictory affective ‘in-group’ polarisations which themselves related to more traditional structural based identities. The chapter demonstrates that the structural identities of class, poverty and inequality, were predominant within the affective polarisations visible within Scottish independence movement. The chapter further examines the extent to which these affective polarisations are associated with longer-term changes in the electoral base for the SNP after 2014. The chapter concludes that support for a second independence referendum, Indyref 2, is inextricably linked to the extent to which the independence movement continues to provide an affective polarisation which centres on an optimistic vision of a radically different independent Scotland.