Social Class and Politics in Greenwich

Abstract

r NHE GREENWICH Election Survey was designed as a study in the sociology of politics. It was concerned to observe the workings of F i organizations and institutions, as well as of individuals, and much of the data collected was of a qualitative kind. The pnmary purpose of the organizations studied, however, was to influence the political behavJour of the individuals, and some quantitative measure of their efficacy was needed To this end an opinion survey was undertaken. A random sample of I,O22 Greenwich electors was drawn from the electoral register and interviewed through the agency of the British Institute of Public Opinion, who very generously did their work at cost. In order to observe the effects, if any, of party campaigning, a system of repeated interviews was adapted from the Lazarsfeld 1 model. The scheme required that each lndividual in the sample should be interviewed on at least two occasions at an interval of two months. The first wave of interviewing took place throughout December I949, before the date of the election was known; the final wave followed ediately upon polling-day, ten weeks later. An intermediate interview, conducted during the actual fortnight of