History

History Short Period: Britain in the 20th Century

Module code: V1321
Level 5
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay

This module is concerned primarily with the social history of Britain in the 20th century though the module is built on the premise that this cannot be understood outside of its political, economic and cultural context.

We will take a thematic approach to show just how radically the lives of the British people, their attitudes and their outlook on the world changed from the turn of the century to Thatcher’s Britain in the 1980s.

You will be studying the world wars, the rise of the welfare state, attitudes to empire and immigration as well as learning about changes that affected work and family life over the course of the century.

As part of this module, you will also be introduced to many of the sources available to the historian of this period, including key primary material for historians of modern Britain from the Mass Observation archive housed at Sussex.

Module learning outcomes

• Deploy existing knowledge of topics of broad historical significance to the analysis of the national history of a particular country or region.
• Apply understanding of the historical concept of change over time to varied and contested national and regional chronologies.
• Deploy existing knowledge of historiographical debates to questions specific to particular national histories.
• Communicate information, arguments and analysis relating to national and regional history in written forms suitable for an informed audience.