History of England 2

obligatory courses

An outline survey of the history of modern England, with particular attention paid to social and cultural trends and developments. The course begins with a review of the geographical and economic conditions and examines in detail the period from 1485 to 1945.

An outline survey of the history of modern England, with particular attention paid to social and cultural developments. The course begins with a review of the geographical and economic conditions and examines in detail the period from 1485 to 1945 within the following framework, treated chronologically: changes in patterns of agriculture, manufacture and commerce; rural England: the agricultural labourer, domestic service; urbanisation, particularly in the period from 1780; the impact of changes in transport and communications; local government structures and community organisation; the growth of the middle classes and middle-class life styles and demands; the standard of living and housing of the labouring classes; self-help, self-association, Luddism, the growth of trade unions; social reform movements from the late 18th century, including the Methodist movement, Temperance, the anti-slavery campaign; the development of public education from 1870, developments in higher education; changing patterns of crime and punishment; the development of welfare provisions, particularly from 1834; political structures from the Elizabethan parliament through to the parliamentary reform movements of the 19th century; overseas expansion, the growth of Empire and the two world wars.

The themes examined in this context are: shifting balances of wealth and power, land versus money; the relative significance of the urban and the rural; the impact of material progress, housing, medicine; relations between rulers and ruled, attitudes to authority, ideologies of collectivism and individualism; religious belief and ideology; ideas of nation, nationalism, attitudes to the outside world and Empire; senses of the centre and periphery, regionalism and centralising tendencies; attitudes to crime and punishment; war and peace; sex, gender, family and the community; education; leisure, recreation and sport; attitudes to the past.

Kenneth O. Morgan (ed.) Oxford History of Britain, OUP, 2001:

- John Guy, John Morrill, The Tudors and Stuarts.

- Paul Langford, Christopher Harvie, The Eighteenth Century and the Age of Industry.

- H.C.G. Matthew, Kenneth O. Morgan, The Modern Age.

"Pelican History of England" series:

- S.T. Bindoff, Tudor England.

- Maurice Ashley, England in the Seventeenth Century.

- J.H. Plumb, England in the Eighteenth Century.

- David Thomson, England in the Nineteenth Century.

- David Thomson, England in the Twentieth Century.

Asa Briggs, A Social History of England, Penguin 1986.

Henryk Zins, Historia Anglii, Ossolineum, 2001.

The aim of this course is to provide students with:

1) outline knowledge about the social, cultural and political history of England; knowledge of differing British experiences throughout history depending on perspectives dictated by class, race and gender;

2) the following skills:

a) ability to use varied materials on the basis of which pictures of historical development are constructed;

b) awareness that historical sources present experience from different perspectives and with different motivations;

c) awareness of differing British experiences throughout history depending on perspectives dictated by class, race and gender;

d) ability to draw general conclusions on the basis of patterns constructed by particular events.

e) skills in detecting different perspectives and different motivations of historical writing and reconstructions;

f) social competences in recognising the historical determinants of patterns of development in contemporary British society.

Written examination assessed on the basis of:

1. knowledge about the social, cultural and political history of England;

2. ability to present ideas and interpretations clearly and logically.