Module Identifier | HY39720 | ||
Module Title | STATE AND SOCIETY IN 20TH CENTURY AMERICA | ||
Academic Year | 2000/2001 | ||
Co-ordinator | Dr Robert Harrison | ||
Semester | Semester 1 | ||
Pre-Requisite | AS10120 , AS10220 | ||
Mutually Exclusive | HY38830 | ||
Course delivery | Lecture | 18 Hours | |
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 Hours | ||
Assessment | Exam | 2 Hours | 60% |
Essay | 2 x 2,500 word essays | 40% |
Brief description
In this module the growth of the state will be placed against the context of the dramatic changes in American society during the early part of the century and the transition from a Victorian to a characteristically modern culture. Although the module will focus particularly on two principal periods of reform, the Progressive Era and the New Deal, pointing out both the continuities and the differences between them, attention will also be paid to the 1920s, in order both to challenge the conventional image of a period of unmitigated reaction and to point out the ways in which the politics of the decade reflected the conflicts and tensions of a society in change, and to the post-Second World War period, when the New Deal tradition was both challenged and reinvigorated. A number of themes will be kept in the foreground throughout, including the role of women, social policy, labour relations, farm policy, and the problems of a multiracial and multicultural society
Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should have command over a body of historical knowledge in the field of twentieth-century US history; an ability to investigate the relationship between political and social development; an understanding of a variety of approaches to the interpretation of the period; an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically on selected historical texts; an ability to develop and sustain historical arguments; an ability to gather and sift appropriate items of historical evidence; an ability to work independently and collaboratively and to participate in group discussions.
Reading Lists
Books
** Recommended Text
Alan Dawley.
Struggles for Justice: Social Responsibility and the Liberal State.
Richard Hofstadter.
The Age of Reform: From Bryan to FDR.