First Year Module
Module Leader: Dr Laura Ishiguro (with Dr Osborne and Dr Carter)
Rationale and Content:
This course looks at some key themes and debates in the history of British society and culture between 1780 and 1918. Although the course will include reference to the backdrop of key political, economic, national and imperial events and issues, its main focus will be social and cultural. What were the ideas and innovations that helped to transform British society, and arguably much of the wider world, in this period? How did British people define their identities and their place in the world? What held Britons together and what divided them? At the beginning of our period Britain was still a predominantly rural society. Industrialisation was in its infancy and still driven by horse-power. Less than 7% of the population had the right to vote. Around half of the population was illiterate. Class consciousness was just emerging and the State took little responsibility for the welfare of its citizens. Convicts were transported. Catholics were still discriminated against, and religion remained a key influence and complication in the quest to forge a united British identity. Britain's empire had suffered a setback with the loss of the American colonies and incessant wars against the French drained British lives, resources and taxes.
By contrast at the end of our period the British had become a predominantly urban people. Industrial pre-eminence had come and gone, but living conditions for the majority had improved. The majority of the adult population had been enfranchised and universal suffrage was only a decade away. State intervention was on the rise and had crept into the very the marrow of people's lives from factory legislation to education, from criminal justice to sanitation, and from old age pensions to conscription. Literacy had become almost universal. Innovative new technologies such as the railway had transformed the working lives and leisure of millions, and helped the development of suburbia. Increasing secularism had diminished the power of the Church, aided by the growth of science, and new ideas such as Darwinism. The British empire was at its territorial peak and seemed invincible. Yet continuities also endured. The nature of British identity itself remained contested. The Irish question remained unsolved and problematic. British society was still deeply hierarchical and undermined by countless divisions and disputes. And war once again cast an enormous shadow over British society and exacted a heavy price in terms of lives, resources and taxation. This course will explore the historical debates surrounding such changes and continuities, as well as the material lives, mentalities and actions of the men, women and children who comprised British society in the period 1780-1918.
Learning and Teaching Strategies:
This module will be delivered through weekly lectures and seminars plus tutorial support. Where appropriate supporting resources will also be made available online. Seminar sessions will be designed to encourage student participation and will support students in strengthening their skills of presentation, discussion,argument and debate,and in evaluating,interpreting and using secondary and primary sources.
Assessment:
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Module
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Mode
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Weighting %
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Length
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Submission date
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British Society and Culture, 1780 -1918
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Document commentary
Essay
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40
60
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1,500 words
2,000 words
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Week 6
Week 12
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Recommended introductory reading:
J.Black and D.M.Macraild, Nineteenth-Century Britain, (2003)
*H.Cunningham, The Challenge of Democracy: Britain 1832-1918, (2001).
J. Black and D. Macraild, Nineteenth-Century Britain, (2003).
C.Williams, A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Britain, (2007).
Further Reading:
A. August, The British Working Class 1832-1940, (2007)
A.Briggs, The Age of Improvement 1783-1867, (1959; 2000)
E.Evans, Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain 1783-1870, (3rd edn. 2001).
J.Harris, Private Lives, Public Spirit: Britain 1870-1914, (1994).
N.McCord and B.Purdue, British History 1815-1914, (2007).
K.Robbins (ed.), The British Isles 1901-1951, (2002).
F.L.M. Thompson, The Cambridge Social History of Britain 1750-1950, (3 vols.), (1990).
P.Thompson, The Edwardians, (1992)
A.S.Thompson, The Empire Strikes Back? The Impact of Imperialism on Britain from the Mid Nineteenth Century, (2005).
D.Cannadine, Class in Britain, (1998).
C.Emsley, Crime and Society in England 1750-1900, (2004).
P.Johnson, 20th Century Britain: Economic, Cultural and Social Change, (2nd edn. 2007).