How does participation in ‘exclusive’ university societies shape perspectives on these organisations and fuel student social polarisation?
Head Researcher: Yvonne Farrell
Researchers: Zoya Singh, Ella Gabrielle Maddock, Lusha Greer, and Francesca Glanville
Editors: Emma Jansen, Jay Fleischmann
Editor-in-Chief: Edwin Brattselius Thunfors
Executive Summary
This paper investigates the role that ‘exclusive’ societies and clubs play in universities and the effect they have on the wider student population. The paper begins by building on existing literature before providing new primary data through student opinions on this issue.
The pre-existing literature on this topic highlighted key areas of interest, such as discrimination, polarisation, and initiation rituals, that were explored further by the survey questions. Another interesting aspect was the comparison drawn between the ‘exclusive’ societies within the United Kingdom and the United States.
A survey was chosen because it was the most efficient method for gathering a significant amount of responses within a short period of time and allowed respondents to remain anonymous. The results of the survey revealed that respondents were more likely to have a negative perspective towards the private societies and provided additional perspectives on the role that these societies have in UK and US universities. The survey adds to the pre-existing literature by asking new questions about how universities can manage these societies and the motivation behind joining an ‘exclusive’ society.
This research paper concludes with recommendations for both universities and ‘exclusive’ societies to combat the criticisms revealed in the survey findings.