British Social and Cultural History (1870-2000) - MA Seminar 4
General data
Course ID: | 3301-KBS4HA |
Erasmus code / ISCED: |
08.305
|
Course title: | British Social and Cultural History (1870-2000) - MA Seminar 4 |
Name in Polish: | Społ. i kulturowa historia Anglii /1870-2000/ - Sem. mgr 4 |
Organizational unit: | Institute of English Studies |
Course groups: |
(in Polish) Seminaria magisterskie dla studiów dziennych |
ECTS credit allocation (and other scores): |
(not available)
|
Language: | English |
Type of course: | Master's seminars |
Short description: |
The seminar deals with the major social/economic, political and cultural themes in the history of Great Britain from c. 1867 to the end of the 20th century. It is based on the assumption that the "modern" world begins in the 1860s, and that examination of developments from that point onwards is necessary in order to understand contemporary Britain: the connections between past and present are highlighted throughout the course. Fourth semester. |
Full description: |
The seminar deals with the major social/economic, political and cultural themes in the history of Great Britain from c. 1867 to the beginning of the twenty first century. It is based on the assumption that the "modern" world begins in the 1860s, and that examination of developments from that point onwards is necessary in order to understand contemporary Britain: the connections between past and present are highlighted throughout the course. The seminar is organised in three bands of themes, which are in turn broken down into strands that are followed through the period: A. Social and economic themes: 1. Rural and urban 2. Work and leisure, social class 3. Women, men, the family and the state 4. The "standard of living" B Political themes: 5. Britain and the outside world 6. Political and social thought 7. Political practice C. Cultural themes: 8. Cultural theory 9. Cultural practice 10. Literature as a mirror of cultural practice Work with primary sources includes examination of: published official documents, autobiography, letters, newspapers and records from other mass media, statistical publications, opinion surveys, works of fiction, visual images: film, fine and commercial art. |
Bibliography: |
Luigi Barzini, The Europeans, 1983 William Beveridge, Full Employment in a Free Society, 1944 Ronald Blythe, Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, 1969 Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth, 1933 Bill Bryson, Notes from a small island, London 1995 Alan Clark, Diaries, 1986 Margaret Forster, Hidden Lives, 1995 Paul Fussell, Class, 1983 Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, 1908 Robert Graves, Goodbye to All That, 1929 Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch, 1970 Richard Hoggart, Townscape with Figures. Farnham, Portrait of a Town, 1994 Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, 1957 Richard Hoggart, An imagined life, 1993 Ian Jack, The repackaging of Glasgow (in Before the Oil Ran Out), 1984 Henry Mayhew, London's Underworld, 1851-62 George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, 1937 John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, 1873 William Morris, News from Nowhere, 1890-91 Jonathan Raban, Soft City, 1973 Jonathan Raban, Coasting, 1986 Raphael Samuel, What's happened to the North of England? 1995 Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, 1877 Alan Sillitoe, Leading the blind. A century of Guidebook Travel 1815-1911, 1995 Samuel Smiles, Self-Help, 1859 R. H. Tawney, The Acquisitive Society, 1921 Keith Thomas, Man and the Natural World, 1983 E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working class, 1963 Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4, 1982 Patrick Wright, The Village that Died for England, 1995 Michael Young and Peter Willmott, Family and Kinship in East London, 1957 |
Learning outcomes: |
A student will acquire advanced information about :British Social and Cultural History (1870-2000) and will develop his/her analytical skills. The aim is to provide students with the following learning outcomes: 1. knowledge of differing British experiences throughout history, but primarily from the Victorian period to the present day, depending on perspectives dictated by class, race and gender; and the following skills: 1. ability to use varied materials on the basis of which analyses of historical development are constructed; 2. awareness that historical sources present experience from different perspectives and with different motivations; 3. awareness of differing British experiences throughout history depending on perspectives dictated by class, race and gender; 4. ability to draw general conclusions on the basis of patterns constructed by particular events. 5. ability to evaluate different theoretical approaches and make use of them in research; 6. ability to interpret and rank source material used in research. |
Assessment methods and assessment criteria: |
assessed on the basis of: 1. knowledge in the field of the contemporary social, cultural and political history of England; 2. ability to present ideas and judgements logically and clearly in speech and writing. |
Copyright by University of Warsaw.