ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how opinion surveys are used to measure environmental beliefs and behaviour in Scotland. Policy-makers and environmentalists are far from agreed on which reforms can best promote sustainable development. The critics of a Scottish Parliament did not dispute the consistent finding that 70 per cent of Scots supported the devolution before and during the referendum campaign. Scottish attitudes appear to have followed a similar trend as in the rest of Britain. The 1998 Scottish study does not enable us to take these comparisons within Britain any further, but it does allow attitudinal differences within Scotland to be considered. Socio-economic group was, generally, a less powerful means of distinguishing between respondents' attitudes than their age group. Scottish men and women do not appear to hold significantly different views on the environment. Housing tenure is often assumed to be a resilient determinant of Scottish attitudes. Educational attainment emerges as the most powerful factor in discriminating between attitudes.
