Abstract
‘Society’ provides a survey of Scotland's population (its DNA origins, size, ethnic make-up), living standards, people, Highland and Lowland society, and the place of the Highlands in Scottish cultural identity. Scotland's population has been between a million people (c. 1700) and 5.3 million (2000) but there have been drastic fluctuations in population due to famine, plague, high infant mortality, and the Highland Clearances. Practically speaking, what did feudalism mean in Scottish society? How did the 19th and 20th centuries change Scottish society? What were the effects of the Highland Clearances, and how traumatic were they? How did Highland culture differ from Lowland culture, and are those differences till visible today?
