Sectarianism in Scotland: A ‘West of Scotland’ Problem, a Patchwork or a Cobweb?

Abstract

Drawing on research carried out for the Scottish Government in 2014, this article explores how people experience sectarianism in Scotland today. For some, sectarianism is manifestly part of their everyday experience, but for others it is almost invisible in their social world. The article sets out a metaphor of sectarianism experienced like a cobweb in Scotland; running strongly down the generations and across masculine culture particularly, but experienced quite differently by different people depending on their social relationships. Using the examples of song and marching, the article suggests that sectarian prejudice should be conceived of as much as a cultural phenomenon as in social and legal terms. A multidisciplinary and intergenerational approach to tackling sectarian prejudice would help emphasise its cultural and relational construction. Much can also be learned from examining the broader research on prejudice worldwide, rather than treating Scottish sectarianism as if it is a unique and inexplicable quality of the national character.

Social distance and the multimodal construction of the Other in sectarian song

“…However, amongst the broader sweep of research on music and cultural conflict, there has been more specifically been some significant work done on the lyrics of songs and their effect on people's perception of social distance (Eveland et al 1999), the relationships between music and conflict (O'Connell and Castelo-Branco 2010), the relationship between social distance and music social media sharing (Tran et al 2011), anti-black racism in popular music (Mullen 2012), fascist music (Machin and Richardson 2012;Shaffer 2013), music and its use in contexts of war and torture (Pettan 1998;Grant et al 2010;Grant 2012) and in the UK and Irish contexts, work on religio-ethnic discrimination and prejudice in music (Fiddler 2014;Casserly 2013;Cooper 2010;Vallely 2014). In the Scottish context, which is the focus of this article, there has been a growth of research into sectarianism between Scottish Protestants and Catholics in recent times, 1 both in terms of the meta-statistical sociological analyses (Hinchliffe et al 2015;Justice Analytical Services 2013) and in terms of more focused ethnographic research (Goodall et al 2015). There has been little social semiotic work on the discursive or multimodal construction of sectarianism, and given the particular power of colours, flags, symbols, tunes and songs, this paper attempts to show through an insider reading of an online music video how the sectarian agency in one particular text can be located in its multimodal collocation, rather than in any single mode in the text.…”

Women as Sectarian Agents: Looking Beyond the Football Cliché in Scotland

“…In the Community Experiences of Sectarianism study, for instance, it was found that the public manifestation of sectarianism was highly gendered and ‘overlaid with masculine attributes and behaviours’ (Goodall et al, 2015: 15). Participants more frequently described typically masculine cultures such as the familial and community role of men in transmitting and instilling sectarian values as part of an intergenerational ‘hand-me-down identity’ (p. 10).…”

Let the people sing? Irish rebel songs, sectarianism, and Scotland's Offensive Behaviour Act

“…A 2003 survey by the NFO revealed that 74% of those who supported Celtic identified as Catholic, only 4% describing themselves as Protestant, while 65% of Rangers fans identified as Protestant, with 5% describing themselves as Catholic (NFO Social Research 2003, p. 10). For more on the connection between football and sectarianism in Scotland see Bradley (1995, 2004, 2006), Finn (2000), Devine (2000), Bruce et al (2004), Rosie (2004), Kelly (2011), Waiton (2012), Flint and Kelly (2013), Hinchliffe et al (2015) and Goodall et al (2015).…”