ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the transformative impact of North Sea oil on the Scottish economic imaginary. The chapter argues that oil not only had an objective impact on British public finances and the measurable size of Scottish economic output but also brought new conflicts, particularly around Scotland’s relationship with the British state and the measurement of Scotland’s (under/over)development. The chapter is structured around six sections that analyse the interests of states and major oil companies; the adaptation of the declining Scottish capitalist class to offshore oil; the potential of oil for a radical/New Left reimagining of working-class agency; the role of nationalism in shaping debates around oil; the Scottish nationalist claim of a conspiracy surrounding North Sea oil; and the emergence of new official institutions to direct Scottish development and public spending. By drawing on documents and interviews from the 1970s, this chapter demonstrates how oil helped to reshape the prospects for collective political agency at a Scottish level.
