Scottish Social Attitudes 2025: attitudes to discrimination and positive action

9 Jul 2026 10:59 AM

Findings from the 2025 Scottish Social Attitudes survey on discrimination and positive action. It explores attitudes to prejudice, diversity and immigration, trends over time, and identifies groups most at risk, alongside mixed public views on equality and support for positive action in Scotland.

Introduction

This report presents findings from the 2025 Scottish Social Attitudes survey (SSA). It explores the current state of public attitudes towards discrimination and positive action in Scotland. As this is the fifth time that SSA has included questions on attitudes to discrimination and positive action, following previous studies in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2015, this report also provides insight into how public attitudes have changed over time.

In 2025, SSA included questions on general attitudes towards prejudice, personal relationships, employment and equality of opportunity in the labour market, positive action and promoting equality in the workplace, and attitudes towards immigration. These questions were funded by the Scottish Government.

Definitions

Discriminatory attitudes

The definition of a ‘discriminatory attitude’ used throughout this report was first developed as part of the 2002 SSA discrimination module. For the purposes of this report a ‘discriminatory attitude’ is defined as:

‘One that directly or indirectly suggests that some social groups may not be entitled to engage in the full panoply of social, economic and political activities that are thought to be the norm for most citizens. In short, it is an attitude that openly or tacitly legitimates some form of social exclusion.’

This definition does not reflect any legal definition of discrimination, but encompasses any attitude that indicates a reluctance to allow people from particular groups to participate in activities which would not be denied to (most) other people, irrespective of whether or not it is legal to deny people such opportunities.

It is important to note that this report focuses on discriminatory attitudes rather than discriminatory behaviour. Discriminatory behaviour is behaviour by individuals and institutions ‘that either deliberately or inadvertently excludes particular groups from enjoying the rights, dignity, services and resources available to others’. While it is possible for discriminatory behaviour to occur in the absence of individual discriminatory attitudes, for example as a result of institutional bias, in practice discriminatory attitudes often underpin discriminatory behaviour.

If people believe that certain groups in society should not be entitled to the same rights and resources as others, they may be more likely to express this through actions that exclude members of that group. Even where discriminatory attitudes do not translate into particular discriminatory behaviours, reducing the prevalence of such attitudes remains an important part of building and maintaining positive relationships across society.

Positive action

The definition of ‘positive action’ used throughout this report reflects sections 158 and 159 of the Equality Act 2010. Positive action refers to proportionate measures that may be taken, in certain circumstances, to address disadvantage, meet different needs, or increase participation among people who share a protected characteristic. In limited circumstances, the Act also permits the use of positive action in recruitment or promotion where specific statutory conditions are met.

Positive action can be lawful under the Equality Act 2010 and is most applied in an employment context to provide people who share particular protected characteristics (sometimes referred to in this report as ‘equalities groups’) with equal access to employment or training opportunities. Positive action is described by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) as an action to ‘encourage people from groups with different needs or with a past track record of disadvantage or low participation to take up training, development, promotion or transfer opportunities’.

Positive action in the workplace can include providing access to specific schemes to those from equalities groups and encouraging candidates from equalities groups to apply for positions within an organisation where those groups are under-represented.

Positive action is distinct from positive discrimination. Positive discrimination is generally unlawful under the Equality Act 2010 which prohibits the treatment of someone more favourably because of their protected characteristic to the detriment of others. For example, it is generally unlawful to advertise for a female senior manager, as this would amount to direct discrimination on grounds of sex, unless an employer can demonstrate that being female is an occupational requirement and that the application of that requirement is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. There is an exception to this in relation to disability. Under the Equality Act 2010, it is lawful to treat disabled people more favourably than non-disabled people. For example, an employer may advertise a role specifically for disabled people, and a candidate who is rejected because they are not disabled would not be able to bring a disability discrimination claim on that basis. However, this exception does not permit more favourable treatment of a person with a particular disability over someone else with a different disability.

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