Why do some people feel they belong to a nation and others do not? Under what conditions does nationalism affect people’s political attitudes? These questions preoccupy those who try to understand developments in the Balkans, Cyprus, or Northern Ireland. Understanding nationalism, its good and bad sides, can be a first step to understanding sources of conflict. But these questions also affect us closer to home. What does it mean to be a Quebecer? Who can be considered a Canadian? Understanding national identity is part of Comprehending belonging, how we feel about ourselves, our neighbours, our nation, our state.

This book...

National identity in both Scotland and Quebec rests on how each nation perceives its relationship with the larger state and its sense of distinctiveness. Quebec can thus draw on the fact that it is a Frenchspeaking, largely Catholic political jurisdiction, once a colony of France, which has maintained a level of autonomy since Confederation. Scotland’s history as an autonomous state prior to 1707 has justified its administrative accommodation with the United Kingdom and continues to sustain a sense of national difference. Both nations easily identify their markers of difference, one grounded in language and culture, the other in former independence...

Examining the characteristics that distinguish the nation from the larger state provides us with a sense of the salient markers of nationhood. If we subscribe to the first definition of a nation, that it is a bounded territory with a population that shares a history and culture, then establishing the existence of a separate language or religion or identifying patterns of institutional accommodation is useful to understanding the external boundaries of the nation. If we rely on the second definition of a nation, that it is a sociological construct willed into being by its imagined community, then we must acknowledge...

Research on the development of political attitudes grounds our personal beliefs, visions of society, and participation in agents of childhood socialization such as the family, religious environment, and education system. The media, political parties, and the governments they form can colour our perceptions as adults, socializing us into a wider culture. Often it is state institutions that exert a dominant role, largely because the state has a monopoly on the institutions that structure our daily lives, whether through education, law, or the government. In stateless nations, the absence of a state does not leave individuals without agents of socialization. Instead,...

How might we measure an individual’s identity? We might ask people to talk about their vision of their own identity and who they feel they are. Or we could ask them to fill out surveys and track over time how the different ways that people describe themselves change. The former approach lends itself more to qualitative analysis, while the latter often relies on quantitative measurement. These measurements are gathered for a sample of the population that allows researchers to track identity changes over time. Often criticized as blunt instruments of social investigation, aggregate indicators of identity and the measures used...

If we are hoping to examine the impact of national identity on political culture in Scotland and Quebec, it is important not only to identify the broad themes within the political cultures in Scotland and Quebec but also to articulate clearly what we mean by political culture. The definition provided in the introduction includes subjective orientations and the objective relationship between individuals and the state. It also includes views of fellow citizens. These factors mandate us to explore the dominant values, attitudes, and behaviours within the polities, as described by existing research and available data. They also require us to...

Do nations have centres and peripheries? The previous chapters show that nations can be distinct within a larger state and that claims to this effect can be used by political parties and other actors to reinforce the boundaries of the nation. In addition, we have evidence at our disposal that significant proportions of residents within Scotland and Quebec feel that they hold a national identity, as well as dispositions that are different from those living beyond their borders. Thus far we have robust evidence of national difference within the state. If we are exploring the impact of national identity on...

In its investigation of the relationship between national identity and political culture, this work has explored the promotion of identity markers, the identity process, and the interaction of identity and political attitudes. In part, the study was motivated by the underexplored relationship between national identity and political culture. Recent increased attention to political-culture studies and the growth in social-capital research suggest that cultural analyses of the polity have much to offer political science. At the same time, such analyses have often avoided references to national identity. As a result, these two literatures have only rarely crossed paths. In its analysis...