I grew up very privileged. I am a white male born in the South East of England who attended a grammar school and has subsequently gone to Cambridge, a university defined by its historic place in the upper echelons of British society. One might imagine university as a place with economic and social diversity. But, in reality, 27.3% of Cambridge students come from private education, compared to 6% of the population, and one-third do not take out student loans. This is an institution with a disproportionate level of economic privilege in its student body, and because of this a huge number of students run the same risk as I do, where privilege provides an insulating safety blanket from the political happenings in the world around us.

Economic downturn and political mismanagement by incompetent governments typically affects low-income households and people of colour disproportionately. The high levels of wealth among many Cambridge students, as well as the phenomenon of the Cambridge bubble, create the perfect storm that could result in a flood of political ignorance in our generation of students. Rather than, for example, having to understand the new government budget because it will help them choose between heating their homes or putting a Christmas dinner on the table, many students at Cambridge have no personal incentive to demystify the labyrinth of British politics. As such, they are happy to numb themselves to the wider happenings outside of this tiny city.

“many students at Cambridge have no personal incentive to demystify the labyrinth of British politics”

British politics is, as many newcomers will find, difficult to get to grips with. When I was growing up, I was repeatedly faced by yet another generic old politician on the telly talking about finances or the opaque structures that make up our government. It was the daunting tip of a scarily large iceberg, which subsequently disincentivised me from any further exploration. I turned away from the difficulty of sifting through overlapping political views, and instead, without realising it, sank further into the depths of a middle-class, privileged echo chamber.

This is my greatest fear for an apolitical future, particularly for, but not limited to, young men like me. Being at greater risk of dangerous right-wing thinking compared to young women and non-binary people, an uninformed young man at a place of incredible privilege like Cambridge is much more likely to find radicalising views that confirm or exceed his own naïve assumptions. Rather than encountering people or instances that ask him to question his beliefs, instead he can unintentionally find himself much deeper in the bubble than his fellow students, resulting in a social circle that confirms, rather than challenges, assumptions about privilege.

“As every HSPS student will (constantly) tell you, politics shapes our daily lives”

I would urge those who do not engage in politics at the moment, particularly those from a privileged background, to try to create their own incentives, to question assumptions, to defamiliarise themselves from privilege. I am not saying that being from an economically or socially privileged background automatically means that a student is ignorant of what is going on around them, but it tends to be that privilege enables the apolitical bubble rather than bursting it. As Elsie McDowell brilliantly points out in her latest piece “London has a Cambridge problem”, we are part of a university that, along with “fueling the capital’s wealth inequality,” also brings students unprecedented access to the most important places in our society, and the paychecks that come with this.

It is terrifying to think that this cohort of students could be the next generation of top doctors, journalists, and lawyers who have rarely ventured outside of the privileged pipeline that enters and exits Cambridge, and as such often remain uninformed about the political sphere. As every HSPS student will (constantly) tell you, politics shapes our daily lives, albeit much more for some than for others. It is paramount not to be swept along, but instead to forge your own path of understanding in the social and political stream. Start small, read BBC News occasionally, and you will start to understand what you take for granted.