Module Identifier
HY36730
Module Title
POVERTY, DISEASE AND REFORM IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Dr Owen G Roberts
Semester
Intended for use in future years
Mutually Exclusive
HA36730

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 18 x 50 minute lectures
Seminars / Tutorials 10 x 50 minute seminars
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment TWO ESSAYS OF 2500 WORDS EACH  40%
Semester Exam 3 Hours   CLOSED THREE-HOUR, 3 QUESTION EXAMINATION  60%
Supplementary Assessment ANY WRITTEN WORK NOT PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED  40%
Supplementary Exam 3 Hours   CLOSED THREE-HOUR, THREE QUESTION EXAMINATION  60%

Learning Outcomes

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

Recognise, order and review a body of knowledge in the field of social reform in Victorian Britain

Critically examine the conseqences of industrialisation and urbanisation, and understand the motivations behind attempts to remedy perceived social problems

Locate the issue of social reform within the broader context of nineteenth-century British history

Present historical arguments with increasing confidence and sophistication, both orally and in written work

To work both independently and collaboratively

Brief description

The module will begin with an analysis of the social problems which came in the wake of industrialisation and urbanisation, and how such problems were comprehended within the framework of contemporary ideas on the role of the state, social order, and the economy. In this context, students will study early social reforms such as the New Poor Law, and factory legislation. The module will also study the impact of cholera and the public health `crisis? of the mid-19th century, and examine how various agencies began to formulate solutions. The module will also consider questions of crime, social order and housing, before assessing the impact of social reform on the lives of people in Britain by the end of the century. The module will conclude by evaluating the long-term impact of Victorian ideas of social reform.

Aims

The module will introduce students to an important aspect of the social history of Victorian Britain. It will give them an opportunity to study how the social consequences of industrialisation and urbanisation were comprehended, and how solutions to such problems were formulated and politically negotiated. Students will also be expected to evaluate the success of social reforms, and study the long-term consequences of Victorian reform movements

Content

Lectures:
1. Introduction
2. 19th century Britain. Urbanisation and economic change
3. The `Condition of England question': the impetus for social reform
4. Poverty and the New Poor Law
5. Working conditions and early factory reforms
6. Life and death: Britain's health by the early 1830s
7. The new plague: cholera and its effects
8. Edwin Chadwick and the `sanitary idea'
9. Bullied into health?: the rise and fall of the General Board of Health
10. Collectivism, civic pride and urban reform
11. Water, the cornerstone of public health?
12. Cleaning the urban environment
13. Religion, rational recreation and `civilising' the working class.
14. Housing Reform I: defining the `slum'
15. Housing Reform II: the greatest failure of Victorian social reform?
16. The `bacteriological revolution' and medicine, 1870-1900
17. Living conditions at the turn of the century
18. Conclusion. The legacy of Victorian social reform

Seminars:
1. Britain in the 1830s: political ideas and social realities
2. The New Poor Law and its consequences
3. The reform of working conditions
4. Cholera, fever and infant mortality
5. Edwin Chadwick and state intervention in public health
6. Health - the catalyst of urban reform?
7. Recreation, and civilising the urban streets
8. Dealing with the Victorian slum
9. Mortality decline in the last quarter of the 19th century - the great debate
10. Concluding issues.

Individual tutorials
2 tutorials of 15 minutes, primarily for giving feedback on written work.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number Students will need to understand and apply some statistics on subjects such as mortality, which will be presented in the lectures and seminars.
Communication This skill will be developed through the two essays and oral discussions. Students will also be expected to give seminar presentations during the term. Written communication will be assessed as part of the coursework assessment and examination. Oral presentations are not formally assessed but feedback is given to students.
Improving own Learning and Performance Essays will be returned in essay tutorials where advice will be given on improving students¿ research techniques and essay writing skills
Information Technology Students will be encouraged to locate suitable material through verious electronic sources and apply it appropriately to their own work. Students will also be encouraged to word-process their work.
Personal Development and Career planning This module will help develop written and oral skills. Other activities, including research, assessment of information and writing in a critical and clear manner, will further develop useful skills of analysis and presentation.
Problem solving Students will be expected to identify and respond to historical problems and carry out appropriate research before the seminars and before writing essays. This will be assessed as part of the coursework assessment and examination.
Research skills These skills will be developed through the research students are expected to carry out before the seminars and for the essays. This will be assessed as part of the coursework assessment and examination.
Subject Specific Skills The module will further develop students¿ ability to gather historical evidence from a range of sources, and incorporate it into coherent arguments within a conceptual and theoretical framework.
Team work Students will work together in seminar preparation and discussion

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6