Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 18 x 1 hour lectures |
| Seminars / Tutorials | 10 x 1 hour seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 2 x 2,500 word essays | 40% |
| Semester Exam | 3 Hours | 60% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
a) Demonstrate familiarity with a substantial body of historical knowledge in the field of early modern European social and economic history
b) Engage in source criticism, discussion and understanding of key concepts in social and economic history as these relate to this period
c) Demonstrate familiarity with a wide range of historical techniques relevant to the reconstruction of early modern communities, trade patterns, population movements and wage/price fluctuations
d) Gather and sift appropriate items of historical evidence
e) Read, analyse and reflect critically on secondary and primary texts, in particular on early examples of 'economic' writing relating to inflation and 'mercantilist' concerns
f) Explore the relationships between history and other disciplines, particularly sociology, social anthropology, economics and literary criticism
g) Develop the ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of particular historical arguments and where necessary challenge them.
h) Develop oral (not assessed) and written skills which will have been improved through seminar discussions and essays
i) Work both independently and collaboratively, and to participate in group discussions (not assessed).
Brief description
This option module is intended to provide students with a broad general understanding of social forms and economic activity in (mainly) western Europe between the later 15th and the 18th centuries. The module will combine approaches drawn from more traditional economic history, with the more recent work of cliometricians, historical demographers, and historians of popular culture. In this sense, the module aims to convey the totalising ambitions of historians currently working in this field, who are aiming to examine early modern society as a 'whole'. Among the topics considered are: trade, agriculture and manufacture; 'idleness' and poverty, marriage patterns, family and household forms, festivals, holy days, guilds, town life, population mobility.
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6