Scottish cringe
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates The Scottish cringe is a cultural cringe relating to Scotland, and claimed to exist by politicians and commentators.<ref>"'I want to end the Scottish cringe'", BBC News, 28 February 2004. URL accessed on 10 June 2006.</ref><ref>"Taking Scots beyond the 'cringe'", BBC News, 24 November 2003. URL accessed on 10 June 2006.</ref><ref>We must shake off the Scottish cringe and win back our sporting pride", Scotsman.com, 27 March 2004. URL accessed on 10 June 2006.</ref>
These cultural commentators claim that a sense of cultural inferiority is felt by many Scots, particularly in relation to the dominance of English culture within the culture of the United Kingdom, and consequently a sense of Scottish resentment and underachievement. The cringe is said to manifest as feelings of low self-worth and embarrassment felt by Scottish people in response to overt expressions of Scottish cultural identity<ref>Unger, J. (2010) "Legitimating inaction: Differing identity constructions of the Scots language" in European Journal of Cultural Studies Volume 13:99-117</ref> and heritage such as the Lowland Scots and Scottish Gaelic languages, and the kilt Template:Crossref.
Former First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell suggested in 2004 that the "Scottish cringe" included opposition to free-market capitalism and alleged that the cringe meant people felt "enterprise was even something to be ashamed of or embarrassed by".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>