Revolution, Reform, and Utopia: An Intellectual and Cultural History of British Radicalism

HIST31651 Revolution, Reform, and Utopia: An Intellectual and Cultural History of British Radicalism 20 Semester 1 Undergraduate Level 3 Thomas Scriven Unit coordinator History 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Last part of a Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 This module examines the intellectual and cultural history of the popular movements for political and social change that developed in Britain from the French Revolution to the period of the Second Reform Act. This course will look at the array of plebeian organisations that arose and developed during this time - including Chartism, Trade Unionism, Socialism and Feminism – assessing the ideas that formed their political, social and economic critiques of the changing society of the 19th century. Alongside these intellectual currents, this course will study the culture, activities and strategies that these movements, their leaders and their members adopted to put these ideas into practice, discussing topics ranging from print culture, gender and sexual roles, to the politicisation of everyday life. This course will therefore assess how across the century a sophisticated popular political culture developed and changed, informing political currents that have lasted into this century. This module examines the intellectual and cultural history of the popular movements for political and social change that developed in Britain from the French Revolution to the period of the Second Reform Act. This course will look at the array of plebeian organisations that arose and developed during this time - including Chartism, Trade Unionism, Socialism and Feminism – assessing the ideas that formed their political, social and economic critiques of the changing society of the 19th century. Alongside these intellectual currents, this course will study the culture, activities and strategies that these movements, their leaders and their members adopted to put these ideas into practice, discussing topics ranging from print culture, gender and sexual roles, to the politicisation of everyday life. This course will therefore assess how across the century a sophisticated popular political culture developed and changed, informing political currents that have lasted into this century. This course will: <ul> <li> Demonstrate the varied intellectual influences on popular Radicalism during the period studied, such as political economy, political theory, and religious free thought</li> <li> Develop students’ understanding of the role of Radical activists within popular culture during the period, including as innovators and purveyors</li> <li> Explore how Radicals sought to enact political ideas, through cultural practice, forms of organization, and political strategy</li> <li> Integrate issues of gender, class, race and sexuality into study of politics and political culture</li> <li> Explore continuity and change within British Radicalism during the period</li> <li> Advance students’ abilities to utilize a variety of textual and visual primary sources</li> <li> Consolidate students’ skills at engaging in historiographical debates</li> </ul> By the end of this course students will be able to:   <ul> <li> Possess knowledge of the broad political, intellectual, economic, social, and cultural contexts of Radicalism;</li> <li> Understand how key radicals utilized these contexts to develop ‘Radicalism’ itself and its political culture;</li> <li> Understand how Radical politics changed over the period studied, and in what ways it remained the same, and engage with the historiographical debates about this continuity and change;</li> <li> Appreciate how intellectual and political history relates to the history of everyday life and culture during the period.</li> </ul> <ul> <li> Students will be able to analyse and situate primary sources within a variety of intellectual contexts;</li> <li> Students will develop the ability to utilize and synthesize a wide and diverse range of different historiographical topics;</li> <li> Students will hone their skills with using textual and visual primary sources, and develop discussing these sources in relation to historical debates.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>  Produce Essays that incorporate original research;</li> <li> Encourage students’ familiarity with online primary sources, including database collections, newspapers, online archives, and books and pamphlets;</li> <li> Confidence with seminar discussion and debate;</li> <li> Primary source research, analysis and interpretation.</li> </ul> <ul> <li> Encouraging independent research skills;</li> <li> Learning to interpret a range of different sources;</li> <li> Improve written and oral communication skills;</li> <li> Become confident in developing and sharing students’ own ideas.</li> </ul> Oral communication Students will develop skills in oral and written communication, presentations, independent study and research, group discussion and producing work to deadlines. <ol> <li> The French Revolution in Britain</li> <li> Peterloo and Post-war Radicalism</li> <li> The Radical Underworld: Pornography, Infidelism and Satire in the 1820s</li> <li> The New Moral World: Owenism and Feminism</li> <li> Radical Political Economy before Marx</li> <li> Internationalism: America and France in early C19th radicalism</li> <li> Atheism, Freethought, and Dissent: Christianity and Radicalism</li> <li> Sexuality, Gender, and Morality in the Chartist Movement</li> <li> After Chartism: The Mind and Body in mid-Victorian Radicalism and Popular Culture</li> <li> Nationalism in Radical politics</li> <li> The Radical Legacy: Liberalism, Toryism, Socialism</li> </ol> 1 x 3-hour lecture/seminar per week (will include field trips)Office hours equivalent to 1-hour per weekWeekly directed reading of primary and secondary sources utilising blackboard and other electronic resources. Primary sources databases will be regularly consulted, such as Nineteenth Century Collections Online, or the British Library C19th Newspapers database 2 Written assignment (inc essay) 100% <ul> <li> Oral feedback on seminar work/discussions</li> <li> Written feedback on review and essays 1 and 2</li> <li> Additional one-to-one feedback (during consultation hour or by making an appointment)</li> </ul> HIST31651 is restricted to History programmes, History and American Studies programmes and European Studies programmes (please check your programme regulations for further details). N Iain McCalman, Radical Underworld: Prophets, Revolutionaries, and Pornographers in London, 1795-1840 (Cambridge, 1988). Ian Haywood, The Revolution in Popular Literature: Print, Politics and the People, 1790-1860 (Cambridge, 2004). Barbara Taylor, Eve and the New Jerusalem: Socialism and Feminism in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1983). Harrison, Robert Owen and Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World (London, 1969). Anna Clark, The Struggle for the Breeches: Gender and the Making of the British Working Class (London, 1990). Laura Schwarz, Infidel Feminism: Secularism, religion and women's emancipation, England 1830−1914 (Manchester, 2013). E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class Seminars 33 Supervised time in studio/wksp 11 0 156 Assessment:Review: 1,500 words, 20%Essay: 3,000, 40%Essay: 3,000, 40%