Module Guide: 5GK015 Contemporary Britain
Aims
This module aims to develop students’ understanding of the main political, cultural, social and economic changes in British Society since 1945. It examines attempts made by historians, political scientists and sociologists to explain these changes and evaluate their consequences.
Learning Outcomes
On the successful completion of the module you should be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the main changes which have shaped the nature of British Society since 1945
- Identify the main trends in Britain’s economic, social and political evolution since 1945
- Appreciate the main trends in debates about changes in class and identity in Britain
Assessment (See below for full details)
Assessment
Tasks |
% weighting
for items of assessment |
Hand in date
(Teaching week) |
Minimum pass grade for assessment task(s) (see note below) |
1. Essay | 50% | Week 7 (20/3/15) | 40% |
2. Exam | 50% | Tbc (w/c 18/5/15) | 40% |
Essay question: The 1960s are often seen as a period of great culture change: discuss the evidence for this viewpoint.
Learning Materials:
Key Text:
A. Marwick British Society since 1945 ( 4th edn. 2003)
Recommended Reading
The following books will provide you with historical background and can be used in conjunction with many of the topics listed below:
A.Marr A History of Modern Britain (2007)
- Childs, Britain Since 1945, (2006 and earlier eds.)
- Clarke, Hope and Glory: Britain 1900-1990, (1997)
There are two, on-going, series about post-war Britain which are worth consulting for the relevant periods. One is by David Kynaston and the other by Dominic Sandbrook. The volumes published to date are:
Kynaston:
Austerity Britain 1945-51 (2008)
Austerity Britain 1948-51: smoke in the valley (2008)
Family Britain 1951-57 (2009)
Modernity Britain: opening the box, 1957-59 (2013)
Modernity Britain: book two. A shake of the dice 1959-62 (2014)
Modernity Britain: 1957-62 (2014)
- Sandbrook
Never had it so good: a history of Britain from Suez to the Beatles (2006)
White Heat: a history of Britain in the swinging sixties (2007)
State of Emergency: the way we were. Britain, 1970-1974 (2010)
Seasons in the Sun: the battle for Britain, 1974-1979 (2014)
Essays on many of the topics covered in the module can be found in P. Addison/ H. Jones (eds.) Companion to Contemporary Britain 1939- 2000 (2005) and in F. Carnevali/ J.-M.Strange (eds.) Twentieth Century Britain: economic, cultural and social change (2007, 2nd ed.), part 3.
HMSO, Britain (the library contains a volume for each year since 1986)
- Jowell (ed.), British Social Attitudes (multi-volumed by year and theme)
Use of the Internet
Its value for the study of British history and politics is largely in terms of ease of access to documents and articles that have been put on line. So you must familiarise with the huge range of other resources that exist in the Learning Centre.
Useful Websites
British Political facts at http://www.ukpol.co.uk
History Today Web Site : www.historytoday.com
History and Policy.org
There may be other useful websites; do some browsing and use your discretion. Try to ensure they are linked to reputable agencies or institutions such as universities or the BBC. It is also strongly advised to browse in journals for additional material; Contemporary British History (classmark 942.085) is particularly recommended for aspects of political, economic and cultural developments in post-war Britain.
Additional reading
Class and Classes:
- Goldethorpe, Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain (1987)
- Cannadine Class in Britain (2000) chs. 4 and 5
- Mann, The Making of an English Underclass, (1992), ch. 5.
- Roberts, Class in Modern Britain, (2001)
- Abercrombie and A. Warde, Contemporary British Society, (2000).
- Abercrombie and A. Warde, Social Change in Contemporary Britain, (1992).
- Kumar, From Post-Industrial to Post-Modern Society, (1991)
- Clarke, Hope and Glory, chs. 8 and 9.
- Marshall, Repositioning Class, (1997), chs. 3 and 6.
- Lawrence `Class, “Affluence” and the study of everyday life in Britain c. 1930-64’ Cultural and Social History 10 (2), 2013
- Gildart `From Dead End Streets to Shangri Las: negotiating social class and post-war politics with Ray Davies and the Kinks’ Contemporary British History 26 (3) 2012
- Firth `”This is where I belong”: identity, social class and the nostalgic Englishness of Ray Davies and the Kinks’ Popular Music and Society 29 (2), 2006
The post-war period and the 1950s
P.Hennessy Never Again: Britain 1945-51 (1993)
P.Hennessy Having it so good: Britain in the Fifties (2006)
- Barnett The Lost Victory (1995)
C.Barnett The Verdict of Peace (2002)
For a history of the Welfare State see N. Timmins, The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State (2001)
- Fyrth (ed.) Labour’s Promised Land? Culture and Society in Labour’s Britain 1945 -51 (1995)
- Brooke `Gender and Working-Class identity in Britain during the 1950s’ Journal of Social History
The 1960s and social change
- Marwick, The Sixties (1998)
- Street, ‘Youth Culture and the Emergence of Popular Music’ in Gourvish and O’Day.
- Clarke, Hope and Glory, ch. 8.
- Green All dressed up: the sixties and counter-culture (1998)
- Donnelly Sixties Britain (2005)
- Thompson `Labour’s Gannex conscience? Politics and popular attitudes in the “permissive society”’ in P. Coopey et al (eds) The Wilson Governments 1964-1970 (1993)
J.Weeks, Sex, Politics, and Society, ( 1989) chs 13 and 14
- Collins The Permissive Sixties and its enemies (2007)
D.Morrison and M.Tracey, American Theory and British Practice, in R. Dhavan and C.Davies (eds), Censorship and Obscenity (1978)
M.Durham, The Thatcher Government and the Moral Right, Parliamentary Affairs, January 1989
M.Durham, Sex and Politics (1991)
T.Newburn, Permission and Regulation (1992)
D.Cliff, `Religion, Morality and the Middle Class’, in R.King and N.Nugent (eds), Respectable Rebels (1979)
Second Wave Feminism
- Amos and P. Parmar `Challenging imperial feminism’ Feminist Review 17 (1984)
- Bryan, S. Dadzie and S. Scafe `Chain reactions: black women organising’ Race and Class 27 (1) 1985
- Byrne `The politics of the women’s movement’ Parliamentary Affairs 49 (1), 1996
- Caine English Feminism 1780-1980 (1997)
- Carter The Politics of Women’s Rights (1998)
- Griffin Feminist Activism in the 1990s (1995)
- Meehan `British Feminism from the 1960s to the 1990s’ in H. Smith (ed.) British Feminism in the Twentieth Century (1990)
- Mitchell `Reflections on twenty years of feminism’ in J. Mitchell and A. Oakley (eds) What is feminism? (1986)
- Nain `Black Women, sexism and racism: Black or anti-racism feminism?’ Feminist Review 37, 1991
- Rowbotham The Past is Before Us: Feminism inaction since the 1960s (1989)
- Welch `Origins and development of the Women’s Liberation Movement’ http://pers-www.wlv.acuk/~le1810/wlm.htm
- Welch `Feminist Theory, Consciousness Raising and Political Action’ http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~e 1810ftcrpa.htm
- Weir and E. Wilson `The British Women’s Movement’ in W. Wilson Hidden Agenda: theory, politics and experience in the women’s movement (1986)
- Thane, ‘Towards Equal Opportunities? Women in Britain since 1945’ in Gourvish and O’Day
- Clarke, Hope and Glory, chapter 11.
- T. Mallier and M. J. Rosser, Women and the Economy, (1987)
- O’Donnell and P. Hall, Getting Equal, (1988)
- Webster, Shaping Women’s Work, (1996)
- Coyle and J. Skinner, Women and Work, (1988)
- Lovenduski and V. Randall, Contemporary Feminist Politics, (1992).
- L. Smith, British Feminism, (1990)
- Coote and B. Campbell, Sweet Freedoms, (1986)
- Rowbotham Promise of a Dream (2001)
The crisis of the 1970s (and the debate over Britain’s economic decline)
A.Beckett When the lights went out (2009)
- Pemberton `Strange Days Indeed: British politics in the 1970s’ Review article Contemporary British History 23 (4), 2009.
- Coates The Question of UK Decline (1994)
- Collins & K. Robbins (eds) British culture and economic decline (1990)
- Barnett The Audit of War (1987)
R.English & M. Kenny (eds) Rethinking British Decline (2000)
- Middleton (Review article) `The Political Economy of Decline’ Journal of Contemporary History 43(3), 2006.
- Gourvish and A. O’Day, ‘Decline or Resurgence? in Gourvish and O’Day (eds.) Britain Since 1945
- W. Kirby, ‘The Economic Record since 1945’, ibid.
A Gamble Britain in Decline (1994, 4th ed.)
W Hutton The State We’re In (1996)
- Wright `British Decline: political or economic?’ Parliamentary Affairs 40 (1), 1987.
The Conservative Party and Thatcherism
All the Politics textbooks at classmark 320.941 have sections on the Conservative Party and for more detailed accounts see:
- Riddell The Thatcher Decade (1989)
- Kavanagh & A. Seldon The Thatcher Effect (1989)
- Skidelsky (ed) Thatcherism (1998)
- Gamble The Free Economy and the Strong State (1994 4th ed.)
S Hall and M Jacques (eds) The Politics of Thatcherism (1983)
A Sampson, Who Runs This Place? (2004).
- Evans `The Not So Odd Couple: Margaret Thatcher and One Nation Conservatism’ Contemporary British History 23 (1), 2009
(The journal Parliamentary Affairs has numerous review articles on Thatcherism in editions from 1984 to 1991; check these years).
New Labour
All the Politics textbooks (see classmark reference for topic above) have sections on the Labour Party and the emergence of New Labour. Also see:
W. Leggett After New Labour (part 1) (2005)
- Fielding The Labour Party (2003)
- Fielding Labour: decline and renewal (1999) chs. 8-10
- Gamble `New Labour and Political Change’ Parliamentary Affairs 63 (4), 2010
Much of the more specialist material on the character and development of New Labour is to be found in journal articles. If you want further references for these, please consult the module leader.
The Far Right in Britain
- Fielding The National Front (1981)
- T. Husbands What happens to the National Front Now? (1979) –online
- Walker The National Front (1977)
- Taylor The National Front in English Politics (1982)
- J. Goodwin `The extreme right in Britain: still an ugly duckling but for how long?’ Political Quarterly 78 (2), 2007.
- Ford and M.J. Goodwin `Angry White Men: individual and contextual predictors of support for the British National Party’ Political Studies 58 (1), 2010
- Halikiopoulou and S. Vasilopoulou `Towards a “Civic” Narrative: British national identity and the transformation of the BNP’ Political Quarterly 81 (4) 2010.
- Copsey and G. Macklin British National Party: Contemporary Perspectives (2011)
- Lynch et al. `The United Kingdom Independence Party: Understanding a niche party: Strategy, candidates and supporters’ Parliamentary Affairs 65 (4) 2012
- Ford and M. Goodwin Revolt on the Right: explaining support for the radical right in Britain (2013)
- Cantle `Review article: The Far Right: rumours about their death are premature’ Parliamentary Affairs 65 (4) 2012
The Contemporary Coalition
P.Taylor-Gooby & G. Stoker `The coalition programme: a new vision for Britain or Politics as usual?’ Political Quarterly 82 (1), 2011
- Fox `Five Days in May: a new political order emerges’ Parliamentary Affairs 63 (4), 2010
- Green `Strategic recovery? The Conservatives under David Cameron’ Parliamentary Affairs 63 (4), 2010.
Symposium in Parliamentary Affairs 67 (1), 2014
Britain and the EU
D.Allen `The United Kingdom: towards a parting of the ways’ in S.Bulmer and C. Lequesne (eds) The Member States of the European Union
- Jones and P. Norton Politics UK (2014) ch. 27
- Dangerfield `”Euro? What Euro?” the financial crisis and “business as usual”. UK attitudes to economic and monetary union. Split: Faculty of Economics (posted on WOLF)
Chs. on EU in I. Budge et al. The New British Politics
- Garnett and P. Lynch Exploring British Politics
- Wall `Is Britain a European Nation?’ Europe’s World (2008); available via www.europesworld.org
- Geddis Britain and the European Union (2013)
Financial Times has frequent articles on EU –use this paper.
Learning Activities:
Lectures, seminars, tutorials (for consultations and feedback on assignments). Normally, formal lectures of one hour and a seminar of one hour. The seminars are an opportunity for a deeper consideration of the events, ideas and concepts raised in the lecture and for planning for the assignments. Attendance at seminars is strongly recommended.
Assessment Methods and Weightings:
There is one essay and one exam. They each have a 50% weighting each and they are components. You must achieve a minimum pass grade of 40% in each to pass the module overall.
Assessment Tasks:
Component 1: 2000 word essay (50%).
Title: to be confirmed.
Component 2: Examination (50%): 2 hour duration
Assessment Criteria for essay:
Analysis: essays must analyse the arguments of different authors and critically assess competing interpretations of events, concepts etc. A simple, narrative account is not sufficient at level 2.
Structure: essays must be clearly structured with introduction setting out the main themes of the essay and a conclusion.
Appropriate use of sources: use reputable academic sources
Clarity of expression and presentation: correct grammar and spelling, proof-reading of work.
If you need more guidance about these, consult your seminar tutor.
Deadlines:
Component 1: 20/3/15
Component 2: Examination, tbc; w/c 18/5/15
You must keep a copy of any work whether it is submitted electronically or as a printed paper document.
N.B. A sample of students work will be retained for audit purposes, as part of the quality monitoring process.
Referencing:
Harvard referencing or footnotes are acceptable; be consistent. If in any doubt about referencing, consult your seminar tutor.
Return of Work/Collection Arrangements:
The normal expectation is that student work will be returned within a three working week period from the submission date. Collecting your work is very important since the written feedback provided on it will help you understand why you have received a particular grade. It will also help you to improve your work and develop your skills and knowledge further.
It is your responsibility to collect your work. You can do this in the following ways:
- collect your work from the module leader (details will be provided in the seminars and on WOLF at times of submission).
- attach a stamped addressed A4 envelope to your work when you submit it to the Student Office (where the work can be appropriately posted), and this will be posted to you (however, we accept NO responsibility for any items lost during transit).
You must do one of the above.
Resit Information:
If an essay is failed, the question should be resubmitted in light of the tutor’s feedback. If the examination is failed, there is one resit opportunity.
Please note that Submission deadlines for resit coursework and examinations are published on subject notice boards in MC building, outside Student Support MC125 and on WOLF.
Registration:
Students need to ensure they are registered on this module. You can check this on e:Vision.
- Cunningham
Jan. 2015
Valid 2014-15
Last Completed Projects
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