THE title of this magisterial volume immediately raises the questions of what a sociology of Scotland can offer, and in what way is it different from other accounts. Professor David McCrone, joined by a handful of other writers, offers an analysis of Scotland, not primarily as history, culture or politics (although all three are present), but as a society. In so doing, he tries to understand the structures: demographic, occupational, class – and processes: economic, social, cultural and political – which have contributed to making Scotland.

At its best, this is a rich tapestry of observation and insight. It is in many respects an act of reclamation, professionally and personally.

Post-war sociology at UK universities studied British society and regarded the march to a more homogeneous society as the norm. But slowly this proved difficult to reconcile with the facts of a divided kingdom.

McCrone quotes Tom Burns, the first professor of sociology at Edinburgh University, from his inaugural lecture in 1970: “One cannot speak of the sociology of Scotland as one can of the Scottish economy …” Life and academia have moved on from such lofty disdain, and this book has an unstated tone of a generation rebelling against those who went before.

In his prologue, McCrone comments invitingly that “Readers of this book should not feel constrained in answering or arguing back” and that this is merely “one sociologist’s way of telling the story of Scotland”.

Yet in a work of this size and ambition there are bound to be shortcomings. Even taking into account that it is impossible to cover everything about Scottish society and sociology with equal flair and insight, there are still some fundamental weaknesses and exclusions.

McCrone offers an exploration of Scotland and how it became what it is, but certain key terms are not well enough defined, “civil society” being one, along with the more serious and egregious “nationalism”, used throughout without a systematic attempt at its many meanings. Ideology is almost completely missing from this book. Hence the ideas of socialism which shaped 20th-century Scotland get little more than a mention.

Similarly, neoliberalism is given passing reference, but is nowhere pinned down.

The only ideology present is globalisation, but this isn’t presented as such. McCrone concedes it is more than an “economic force” and is also “political, social and cultural”, but he leaves this tantalisingly unexplored. The recent Scotland of the indyref and its wider context is not present. McCrone does not draw from the explosion of voices which emerged during the campaign or after, which showcased a disparate, diverse, argumentative Scotland finding expression, one which cast its gaze way beyond the narrow constitutional question.

Added to this, a whole range of counter-voices to conventional wisdom that should be recognised are ignored. Examples range from Neil Davidson’s critiques of the origins of Scottish nationalism to Eleanor Yule’s cultural miserablism and Scott Hames’s questioning of whether culture re-imagined Scotland post-1979. Similarly, research by NGOs and third sector national bodies are conspicuous by their absence. There is an uneven balance between a long view of trends and everyday life. McCrone contracted out three chapters to Steve Bruce on religion, Lindsay Paterson on education and Susan McVie on crime. Bruce’s chapter dismisses out of hand the idea that there is such a phenomenon as systematic sectarianism in modern Scotland. Neither he nor McCrone cites academic or other hard evidence that shows that, in relation to “the Old Firm”, there is still a problem because it doesn’t suit their thesis. In this they are on uneasy common ground with Celtic and Rangers who a few years ago denied any link between the spike in domestic violence in when they play each other and their behaviour as clubs.

Nowhere is there a detailed account of how power and authority have shifted in recent years. Thus, despite football having a chapter, the implosion of Rangers FC, the biggest story in the country pre-indyref, passes without mention. There is equally nothing on the Catholic Church’s many scandals, while the crash of the Royal Bank of Scotland passes with a couple of lines. Equally galling, the cultural war of Section 28, pivotal to how Scotland came to terms with homosexuality, doesn’t merit any attention.

While, politics runs through this book, lived, actual experience of political discourse, engagement and ideas is missing. Instead, this is often reduced to the statistical difference in voting between Scotland and England. Too much of the book reinforces the received wisdom of the last few decades – strange given this is the author who invented the phrase “Thatcherism in a Cold Climate” to describe post-1979 Tory politics north of the Border. Thus, “Margaret Thatcher turned out, unwittingly, to be … the midwife of Scottish home rule.” Similarly, the Scottish Parliament was “the creature of civil society in Scotland designed in the long, dark days of opposition in the 1980s and 1990s.” Isn’t it the sociologist’s job to question and investigate, not recycle such myths?

There is still much to admire and value in this book, but, overall, it is not the definitive article it dares to claim to be. Instead, the author has failed the first test of intellectual inquiry, which should be about revising and scrutinising their own assumptions of two decades ago.

I feel a little guilty, even sad, writing this. However, this work should not be read as the final word or as the textbook for students, but as one of many critical texts. It should thus be investigated, challenged and questioned, and its biases and omissions laid bare, as well as its many stimulating points. This is, as McCrone tells us, merely one story of Scotland. It is one which invites a new generation to be as critical of it as he is of those who shaped his views.

The New Sociology of Scotland by David McCrone is published by Sage Publications, priced £32.99