Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A study of major developments and controversies -- social, cultural, political, religious, economic -- during the period of the rise of industrial and class society.

COURSE DETAILS:

The Victorian era (roughly the 1830s-1900) saw the rise of Britain as the world's leading industrial and imperial power. This seminar examines the social, political, and cultural history of Britain during this crucial era. Our themes and topics are wide-ranging. We will talk about capitalism, the industrial city, and factory work; the building of workhouses and what the workhouse system reveals about ideologies of class and gender; the transformation of rural society in an age of machines; the social effects of steam power and gas lighting; the cultural challenge presented by new science, especially Darwin and his precursors; and how the British empire re-made daily life, identities, and attitudes in Britain. We also will consider how political movements challenged the ruling order at several key flash points, including the Chartist working class movement of the 1830s-1840s, the women's suffrage movement, and the campaign for Irish home rule that polarized British politics in the last decades of the century.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: