Religious discrimination in Scotland: a rebuttal of Bruce et al.'s claim that sectarianism is a myth

Walls, P. and Williams, R. (2005) Religious discrimination in Scotland: a rebuttal of Bruce et al.'s claim that sectarianism is a myth. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28(4), pp. 759-767. (doi: 10.1080/01419870500092977)

Abstract

A recent article on sectarianism in Scotland in Ethnic and Racial Studies by Bruce et al. sought to undermine the conclusions of a previous paper of ours, also published in this journal. Bruce et al. contend that sectarianism is a myth, while we have provided new qualitative evidence for personal experience of anti-Catholic discrimination in employment, which clearly contradicts their thesis. To contextualize these papers, we have summarized some of the key points of the evidence, and of the increasing concern about sectarianism in Scotland. In an effort to ridicule this concern, Bruce has attacked us as he has previously attacked a number of others. He and his co-authors accuse us of relying on respondents’ fallible judgements about the actual and appropriate proportions of Catholics in workplaces; then they try to interpret some of our respondents’ statements and their own quantitative evidence as supporting their myth hypothesis. We document here the process of misrepresentation by which they have sought to support their allegations, and we re-affirm the actual argument which led to our conclusions. We suggest a more obvious alternative interpretation of their own quantitative data, while raising misgivings about their use of 2001 census data. Questions about sectarian discrimination in Glasgow in the period 1950–2000 can no longer be baulked.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: UNSPECIFIED
• Authors: Walls, P., and Williams, R.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing > Centre for Population and Health Sciences
• Journal Name: Ethnic and Racial Studies
• ISSN: 0141-9870