The LSE GROUPS initiative, designed and coordinated by Claire Gordon and Jane Pritchard of the TLC’s educational development team, forms part of the School’s Maximising Your Potential programme of events. LSE Group Research Opportunity Undergraduate Projects (LSE GROUPS) brings together undergraduates from across the School in mixed-year, mixed disciplinary groups to carry out a research project, including writing a paper and presenting it at the final conference. The aim of LSE GROUPS is to provide undergraduate students with an experience of conducting a social science research project in groups around a different theme each year. This year the theme was ‘Diversity: London/LSE’. Eleven groups from 13 departments spent the last two weeks of summer term working intensely and enthusiastically on a wide range of questions.
One group conducted their research on the involvement of ethnic minorities in local politics within the London borough of Tower Hamlets. The creation of a Political Participation Index (PPI) indicated that respondents from a White British background were more politically engaged. However, South Asians have a greater voter turnout rate in local elections. Interviews with local council workers and councillors suggested that various policies that cater for the community as a whole (‘universal’ policies) and for the ethnic groups (‘specific’ policies) try to foster participation. Survey results suggest that their implementation has had limited success. In this post, the group spells out the research.
