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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
1 There have been important developments recently in the efforts made by policy makers to reduce discrimination and promote equality. These include the establishment of three 'public sector equality duties', a Discrimination Law Review, and the creation of a new commission, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (the 'commission') with responsibility for tackling discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion/belief and sexual orientation.
2 As well as working towards the elimination of discrimination the new commission is also responsible for promoting public understanding of human rights in relation to reserved issues. Meanwhile the Scottish Government and Parliament have power to promote equal opportunities through, for example, undertaking information campaigns. Thus both bodies have an interest in understanding public attitudes towards discrimination in Scotland.
3 This report looks at attitudes towards discrimination on all six of the grounds for which anti-discrimination legislation exists in Great Britain. The evidence comes from a module of questions included on the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, a high quality survey undertaken annually by the Scottish Centre for Social Research. A representative sample of 1,594 adults was interviewed between August 2006 and January 2007. The work is in part a follow-up to similar research undertaken in 2002 that looked at discriminatory attitudes in respect of four areas, ethnic background, gender, disability and sexual orientation.
4 The analysis in this report addresses two main questions:
1. What is the extent and character of discriminatory attitudes in Scotland?
2. Why do people hold discriminatory attitudes?
5 The report focuses in particular on attitudes towards three topics, relationships, employment and the provision of goods and services (in the last case focusing on the provision of bed and breakfast). It is anticipated that discriminatory attitudes might be more common in respect of more intimate matters, such as relationships, than in the case of less intimate ones such as employment and the provision of goods and services. As some of the questions on the 2006 survey were also asked previously in 2002 or 2003, the report is also able to consider whether the incidence of discriminatory attitudes has increased or diminished in recent years.
6 In asking why people hold discriminatory attitudes the report examines in particular whether discriminatory attitudes are only less likely to occur if people do not feel 'different' from members of a particular group, or alternatively whether they may be lessened if people like living in a 'diverse' society. The analysis also considers whether the kind of place in which someone lives affects their attitudes.
Attitudes towards prejudice
7 In response to a question designed to provide an overall indication of the extent to which people in Scotland hold a discriminatory outlook, 29% said that 'sometimes there is good reason to be prejudiced'. In contrast 65% agree that 'Scotland should do everything to get rid of all kinds of prejudice'. Evidently only a minority uphold a discriminatory point of view, but equally that minority is not an insubstantial one. Those with fewer educational qualifications are more likely than those with more advanced qualifications to feel that sometimes there is good reason to be prejudiced. Otherwise the incidence of a discriminatory point of view as measured by this question appears to be more or less evenly spread across Scottish society.
Relationships
8 Respondents to the survey were asked if they would be happy or unhappy if a close relative formed a relationship with someone from a particular group. The answers varied considerably depending on the group in question. As many as half said they would be unhappy if a close relative formed a relationship with someone who had had a sex change operation, while around a third said the same in respect of an asylum seeker, a Gypsy/Traveller, and someone of the same sex. In contrast only around one in ten expressed unhappiness at the possibility that a relative might form a relationship with someone who was black or Asian, Jewish or from a Chinese background.
9 In general those with more educational qualifications are less likely to express unhappiness. So also are younger people. Those who say they know someone who belongs to a particular group are also less likely to say they would be unhappy if a relative formed a relationship with someone from that group. These patterns are, however, largely absent when people are asked about a relationship with someone who has a learning disability.
10 Over half think that sexual relations between two men or between two women are either 'rarely wrong' or 'not wrong at all'. Three in ten feel that they are 'always' or 'mostly' wrong. Similarly, over half agree that same sex couples should have the right to 'marry' while only around one in five disagree. However, attitudes vary significantly from one section of society to another. A majority of those aged 65 and over believe that sexual relations between two people of the same sex are always or mostly wrong. The same is true of those who attend a religious service regularly. In contrast, less than one in five of those aged 18-24 and only around a quarter who never attend a religious service take that view. Men are also less comfortable than women about same sex relationships. The fact that different sections of society have very different views about same sex relationships may help explain why such relationships are frequently the subject of public controversy.
Employment
11 Respondents to the survey were asked how suitable certain people would be for the job of a primary school teacher. Around half said that a person with depression, a Gypsy/Traveller and a person aged 70 would be unsuitable. In the case of the last of these this was despite the fact that three quarters oppose a compulsory retirement age, an indication perhaps that people feel that someone aged 70 might not be able to cope effectively with the particular demands of primary school teaching. In contrast, hardly anyone at all (4%) said that a black or Asian person would be unsuitable, while around 15-20% said the same about a gay man or lesbian or a Muslim person. In general older people, those with few if any educational qualifications and those who say they do not know someone from a particular group are all more likely to say that someone would be unsuitable.
12 Just over one in five feel that a woman is more suitable as a primary school teacher than is a man, an indication that a minority at least are capable of holding stereotypical views about a particular job. A similar sized minority feel that a woman who takes time off work to have a baby should accept that she may be less likely to be promoted as a result. However, only one in ten do not agree that fathers should be just as able as mothers to take time off work when their children are ill, while one in seven feel that men should be responsible for bringing in an income while women look after the home and family. In each case these views are more common amongst older people, brought up at a time when women were less likely to go out to work.
13 Over a quarter say that the presence of ethnic minorities in Scotland makes it more difficult for other people to find a job. Nearly a third say the same about people from Eastern Europe. Strikingly, this view is particularly high amongst those aged 18-24, perhaps because they are less likely to be in secure employment themselves. Those in working class occupations and on a lower income, as well as those with fewer educational qualifications, are also more likely to be concerned. This again may be a reflection of the fact that they are less likely to be in secure employment.
Goods and services: the provision of bed and breakfast
14 The survey asked whether a person running a bed and breakfast business in their own home should be allowed to refuse a booking from certain groups. In all but one case no more than three in ten felt that a bed and breakfast owner should be able to refuse a booking, ranging from 29% in the case of someone aged 21 to 15% in respect of someone with a learning disability. However, just over half (51%) said it should be permissible for a bed and breakfast owner to refuse a booking to a same-sex couple. Even amongst those who do not think that sexual relations between two persons of the same sex are wrong, as many as two in five feel that it should be possible to refuse a booking from a same sex couple.
15 In general, attitudes towards the right to refuse a booking are not as sharply divided by age, education or whether someone knows someone from a particular group as they are in respect of relationships or primary school teaching. It appears that different or additional considerations affect people's attitudes towards this scenario than they do in the case of the other two.
Do circumstances matter?
16 In general people were more likely to express unhappiness about a close relative forming a relationship with someone from a particular group than they are to say that someone is unsuitable to be a primary school teacher. For example, while 34% say they would be unhappy about a relative forming a same sex relationship, just 21% feel that a gay man or lesbian would be unsuitable as a primary school teacher. Similarly, the equivalent figures for a Muslim person are 24% and 15% respectively. It appears that discriminatory attitudes are more likely to occur in the private realm of relationships than they are in the public realm of employment.
17 For the most part attitudes towards the right to refuse a bed and breakfast booking are on a par with those about the suitability of people to be a primary school teacher. However, this is clearly not true in the case of a same sex couple. Far more people say that it should be possible to refuse a bed and breakfast booking than express unhappiness about a close relative forming a same sex relationship or feel that a gay man or lesbian would be unsuitable as a primary school teacher.
Are attitudes changing?
18 Events following the attack on the twin towers in New York in September 2001 have often resulted in unfavourable media coverage of Muslims. Meanwhile recent relatively high levels of immigration have resulted in that topic becoming high on the list of the most important issues facing the country. We thus might anticipate that discriminatory attitudes towards Muslims and towards ethnic minorities have become more common.
19 In contrast, recent changes in the legal status of same sex couples, such as the introduction of civil partnerships and the right to apply to adopt a child on the same basis as mixed sex couples, may have been expected to have reduced the incidence of discriminatory attitudes towards gay men and lesbians.
20 Both these expectations are fulfilled. In 2003 38% said that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if more Muslims came to live here; by 2006 this had increased to 50%. Over the same period there has been a four point increase in the proportion who say they would be unhappy about a relative forming a relationship with a Muslim person. Meanwhile there also appears to be increased concern about the impact of ethnic minorities on jobs; in the 2006 survey 27% agreed that ethnic minorities take jobs away from others in Scotland compared with 20% in 2002.
21 There has been an eleven point drop since 2003 in the proportion who say that sexual relations between two men, or between two women, are always or mostly wrong. Similarly, the proportion who do not feel that same sex couples should have the right to marry has fallen by eight points over the same period, while there has been a seven point fall in the proportion who feel that a gay man or lesbian would be unsuitable as a primary school teacher. These changes are in line with long-term trends in attitudes to same sex relations, and thus recent changes in the legal status of same sex couples are at least as much a reflection of past changes in attitudes as they are a possible cause of such changes.
22 In other respects there seems to have been little or no change in attitudes. In 2002 28% said that women are more suitable than men as primary school teachers, a figure that has now fallen to 22%. On the other hand there has been a small increase (from 11% to 14%) in the proportion supporting the view that a woman's place is in the home. Equally, whereas in 2006 29% said that sometimes there is good reason to be prejudiced, 26% did so in 2002.
Covert discrimination and positive action
23 It is often argued that people are reluctant to express discriminatory attitudes to an interviewer because they perceive that such attitudes are widely regarded as socially unacceptable. As a result surveys such as the one reported here may underestimate the incidence of discriminatory attitudes. Those attitudes may, however, be uncovered if people are asked their views about the anti-discrimination policies bring pursued by government. They may feel less reticent about criticising government policy than they are admitting, for example, that they would feel unhappy if a relative of theirs married someone from a particular group.
24 However, when asked whether attempts to give equal opportunities to women in Scotland have gone too far or not, just 6% said they had. Rather more, around one in five, said the same about attempts to give equal opportunities to gay men and lesbians. This, though, is little different from the pattern of answers to other questions in the survey about gay men and lesbians.
25 In addition, around one in five said that attempts to give equal opportunities to black and Asian people had gone too far. This is higher than the one in ten who would be unhappy if a relative formed a long-term relationship with a black or Asian person, and the 4% who said such a person would be unsuitable as a primary school teacher. On the other hand, 27% did express concern that ethnic minorities take jobs away from other people, while as many as 46% felt that Scotland would lose its identity if more black and Asian people came to live in Scotland. Rather than uncovering evidence of covertly held discriminatory attitudes it may well be that the question on equal opportunities for black and Asian people has, along with these latter questions, revealed that people are more likely to express discriminatory attitudes towards black and Asian people as a group than they are towards them as individuals.
26 Although supported by a majority, substantial minorities feel that it would not be fair if a company provided either women or black and Asian people with extra opportunities to secure training and qualifications in order to increase their chances of gaining promotion. Just over a third thought it would be unfair in the case of women, and two in five in the case of black and Asian people. Meanwhile a majority (57%) feel it would be unfair if a person with a disability were automatically to be interviewed for a job, even if other candidates appear to be better qualified. It looks as though attempts to secure greater equality of outcome may well be resisted if they are regarded as unfair procedurally.
27 The pattern of attitudes to these forms of positive action is different from that of most of the other questions on the survey. It is those with more qualifications and those in middle class jobs who are most likely to feel that these measures would be unfair. Moreover it is those aged 65 and over who are least likely to take that view. It seems that those who already have qualifications or a secure senior post are particularly reluctant to see others helped to obtain the advantages that they already hold.
Does place matter?
28 For the most part, where people live appears to make little difference to the likelihood that they will express a discriminatory attitude. In particular, once the individual characteristics of those who live there are taken into account, there is no evidence that those who live in an area where there is a relatively large proportion of Muslims, or a relatively large proportion of black and Asian people, are significantly less likely to express discriminatory attitudes towards those two groups.
29 There is some evidence that those who live in neighbourhoods where there are relatively large numbers of graduates are less likely to express discriminatory attitudes. But such evidence as there is is often more consistent with the argument that people who already have certain kinds of views are more likely to choose to live in certain kinds of places (such as near a university campus), than it is with the argument that graduates who hold relatively liberal views influence the attitudes of their neighbours.
30 Those who live in a remote rural part of Scotland are particularly likely to think that someone providing bed and breakfast should be allowed to refuse a booking from a same sex couple. However, in other respects the views of people living in remote rural areas are not particularly distinctive.
Why do people hold discriminatory attitudes?
31 Previous research conducted in 2002 found that people were less likely to express discriminatory attitudes if they said they preferred to live in an area that contains lots of different kinds of people. But at the same time it also found that people were less likely to hold such views towards a particular group if they felt that members of that group had a lot in common with the rest of society. The same was true (and is confirmed by the 2006 survey) if people said they knew someone who belonged to that group.
32 These results raised a conundrum. Is it the case that people will only stop upholding discriminatory views if they are persuaded that people who belong to other groups are much like themselves? Or might people be less inclined to uphold such views so long as they feel comfortable living in a society that contains lots of people who are acknowledged to be different from each other? If the former is the case then it would seem that any attempt to reduce the incidence of discriminatory attitudes is likely to be reliant on measures designed to promote the 'integration' of different groups into society. If the latter is the case then attempts to promote positive images of a diverse society might be effective.
33 Two scales that identify where people stand on these two dimensions were developed from questions included on the survey. One measures perceptions of the degree to which 'other' groups pose a 'cultural threat'; the other scale attempts to tap the degree to which people comfortable with culturally diverse expressions of difference. The link between where people stand on these two scales and their expression of discriminatory attitudes are extensively analysed.
34 In general, concerns about 'cultural threat' appear to be more strongly linked to the expression of discriminatory attitudes than are attitudes towards 'cultural diversity'. This, however, is more clearly the case in respect of people's attitudes towards relationships than it is attitudes towards the suitability of someone as a primary school teacher. Concerns about 'cultural threat' may thus be particularly important in the realm of private, intimate relationships. Meanwhile, neither scale is particularly effective at identifying who does and does not support the right of a bed and breakfast owner to refuse someone a booking, lending further weight to the suggestion that different or additional considerations affect attitudes on this subject. Equally neither scale appears to be strongly linked to people's attitudes towards positive action.
35 Concerns about 'cultural threat' appear to be more important for some groups than others. They seem to be particularly important in shaping attitudes towards Muslims, and probably also asylum seekers, both of whom are groups that have been the subject of unfavourable publicity in the media in recent years. Meanwhile cultural threat seems to influence attitudes towards black and Asian people as a group, but less so when they are referred to as individuals. In contrast cultural threat seems relatively unimportant in respect of attitudes towards someone with a learning disability. These findings are consistent with those of previous research that suggests there are differences in the images and stereotypes that people hold of different groups, differences that mean different kinds of groups may be subject to different kinds of prejudice.
Conclusion
36 For the most part only a minority uphold a discriminatory outlook. But discriminatory attitudes are more widespread in respect of some groups than others. They are particularly common in respect of Gypsies/Travellers and someone who has had a sex change operation (a description designed to refer to a transgender person). Otherwise, they seem most likely to be expressed in respect of gay men and lesbians. Thereafter they are most widespread when people are asked about Muslims or about black and Asian people as a group. On the other hand, discriminatory attitudes are relatively infrequent in respect of the roles of men and women, age and disability. Even so, significant minorities can not only still hold stereotypical views about the kinds of work that women do, but may in certain circumstances still express discriminatory attitudes about older or younger people, or about someone with a disability, perhaps because of concerns about their ability to 'cope' with the demands of a particular situation.
37 While discriminatory attitudes towards different groups have many characteristics in common, the creation of an integrated Equality and Human Rights Commission should not be at the expense of an appreciation of what is different about attitudes towards different groups.
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