The Rhetoric of Lived Experience in the Scottish Government’s Policymaking

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Rhetoric of Lived Experience in the Scottish Government’s Policymaking

AU - Monteux, Sebastian

AU - Smith, Mark

AU - MacLeod, Marion

AU - Fenton, Jane

N1 - Copyright: © Edinburgh University Press.

PY - 2026/5/11

Y1 - 2026/5/11

N2 - The relationship between evidence and policy is never straightforward. Notwithstanding, we should reasonably expect that policy formulation should draw on well-established bodies of knowledge from a range of sources, suitably analysed. In recent years, the Scottish Government appears to have given up on what was previously axiomatic by elevating knowledge from one source, that of ‘lived experience’, above all others. This has occurred with insufficient academic, professional, or political critique. At one level, this lack of critique is understandable in that questioning someone’s personal experience is difficult, precisely because it is personal. This article traces the turn to lived experience as the predominant political driver for social welfare policy in Scotland. It proceeds to examine the troubled National Care Service proposals to illustrate the extent and the consequences of the Scottish Government’s preoccupation with lived experience. It will conclude that there is a place for lived experience in policy debates, but that the conceptual flimsiness of the term renders it an inadequate basis for policy formulation or implementation and leaves it open to political misappropriation.

AB - The relationship between evidence and policy is never straightforward. Notwithstanding, we should reasonably expect that policy formulation should draw on well-established bodies of knowledge from a range of sources, suitably analysed. In recent years, the Scottish Government appears to have given up on what was previously axiomatic by elevating knowledge from one source, that of ‘lived experience’, above all others. This has occurred with insufficient academic, professional, or political critique. At one level, this lack of critique is understandable in that questioning someone’s personal experience is difficult, precisely because it is personal. This article traces the turn to lived experience as the predominant political driver for social welfare policy in Scotland. It proceeds to examine the troubled National Care Service proposals to illustrate the extent and the consequences of the Scottish Government’s preoccupation with lived experience. It will conclude that there is a place for lived experience in policy debates, but that the conceptual flimsiness of the term renders it an inadequate basis for policy formulation or implementation and leaves it open to political misappropriation.

KW - policy

KW - evidence

KW - knowledge

KW - ‘lived experience’

KW - expertise

KW - National Care Service

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038833366

U2 - 10.3366/scot.2026.0587

DO - 10.3366/scot.2026.0587

M3 - Article

SN - 0966-0356

VL - 35

SP - 235

EP - 259

JO - Scottish Affairs

JF - Scottish Affairs

IS - 2

ER -