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Pre Requisite Comment

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Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module explores politics in Britain since the Second World War. But rather than being a conventional – and very familiar – survey course with Parliament at the centre, it considers politics in the broadest possible sense: about power, but also about choices, about ideas, about moral causes, about identity. The broad thematic sections – one each week – allow for a multi-faceted way of understanding change as seen through the range and diversity of national life from 1945 to the present. It will consider very contemporary events too, and explain and understand them through the context that contemporary history provides. You will be able to write about any section you wish, and the wide range of primary resources available will help prepare you for third year and your dissertations.

Outline Of Syllabus

Subjects may be subject to variation:

media
parties and movements
popular culture
government
electoral reform
attitudes
nationalism
gender
sexuality
race and immigration

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

1. Present a rounded understanding of national life in Britain since 1945 achieved through the widest variety of sources.

2. Use multiple types of sources and media to understand the complexities of contemporary Britain including official publications, government records, fiction and poetry, art, newspapers and broadcast media, social media, cinema and TV.

3. Understand the key patterns of social, economic, cultural, and political aspects of Britain.

4. To think critically about the issues and legacies presented by the study of contemporary history.

Intended Skill Outcomes

Overall this module aims to ensure a defined progression for students from Stage 1 to Stage 2 and to prepare them for Stage 3. This is driven primarily to defined work on key skills (outlined below), as well as the content and approaches taken in the teaching and independent study elements of the module described above.

Practical skills

•       to use and critically evaluate primary sources
•       to identify and retrieve information from a wide variety of sources

Key skills

•       to achieve effective oral and written communication
•       to show initiative, self-discipline and self-direction in learning
•       to improve performance through reflection, self-assessment and using feedback effectively

Cognitive (thinking) skills

•       To critically evaluate, analyse and discuss a wide range of source materials.
•       To construct extended written assessments supported by relevant historical evidence.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures will introduce topics and provide expert orientation and exposition on a broad range of themes and issues, supplemented by the module reading list.

Seminars will also consolidate the learning progress from lectures, and weekly readings by enabling students to focus on connected issues and material in greater depth.

Both lecturers and seminars will often be led by ongoing events which allows for the exposition and appreciation of historical context.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Work submitted during the delivery of the module forms a means of determining student progress. Submitted work tests intended knowledge and skills outcomes, develops key skills in research, reading and writing. The written exercise is intended to offer the chance for feedback and understanding writing technique which the research essay will build upon.

The research essay is an extended piece of writing based on primary materials, intended to prepare students for their stage 3, including dissertations.

Students will be able to choose freely from a wide variety of questions, with more than one for every lecture topic, as well as broader thematic questions.

General Notes

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