Understanding Scotland has been recognized since publication as the key text on the sociology of Scotland. This wholly revised edition provides the first sustained study of post devolution Scottish society. It contains new material on the establishment of the Scottish parliament in 1999: social and political data from the 1997 general elections: the new cultural iconography of Scotland: and Scotland as a European society. For anyone wishing to understand Scottish society in particular or the general issues involved in nation building, McCrone's clear-headed coherently argued account of the main issues will be essential reading.