ML2STA-Society, Thought, and Art in Modern Europe

Module Provider: Languages and Cultures
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:5
Terms in which taught: Autumn / Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded: HS2STA Society, Thought and Art in Modern Europe
Current from: 2022/3

Module Convenor: Dr Veronica Heath
Email: V.Heath@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module aims to provide students with a systematic historical and cross-national understanding of the key ideas, institutions and symbols that have come to constitute and represent modernity, in its original cradle in Europe and the rest of the world. The module examines the birth of modern men and women in Europe in the late eighteenth century, in the fulcrum of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, and the broad intellectual, cultural, economic, political and social conditions which have been shaping and re-shaping them since. The module further shows a) the contributions of different European nations to a common European reaction to and re-evaluation of tradition and innovation and b) the diffusion of modernity (Westernisation) from Europe to Asia and Africa and its role in the creation of a global world. Finally, it shows how art has played a leading role in the transformations of modernity - not only recording it but also constituting one of its central components.

Aims:

This module aims to provide students with a systematic historical and cross-national understanding of the key ideas, institutions and symbols that have come to constitute and represent modernity. The module examines the birth of modern men and women in Europe in the late eighteenth century and the broad intellectual, cultural, economic, political and social conditions which have been shaping and re-shaping them since. The module further shows a) the contributions of different European nations to a common European reaction to and re-evaluation of tradition and innovation; and b) the diffusion of modernity (Westernisation) from Europe to Asia and Africa and its role in the creation of a global world. Finally, it shows how art has played a leading role in the transformations brought about by modernity - not only recording them but also constituting one of the central components of modernity – modern art.

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module students will be expected to:

• Give an account of the European origin and dimension of modernity by showing the contributions of different European nations to the creation of modernity


• Define European modernity, trace its diffusion outside Europe and identify non-European , including non-Western, contributions to modern culture


• Demonstrate an ability to compare and contrast different national (both European and non-European) responses to modern ways of thinking, behaving and making art


• Identify the key thinkers whose ideas and values moulded the modern age and outline the main tenets of their thought


• Give an account of the critics of modernity and assess the changes and tensions involved in the passing of traditional society and the rise of modern society


• Be familiar with the debates surrounding the modern and the persistence and revival of pre-modern traditions in contemporary Europe


• Identify and analyse the icons of modernity: those visual images which have captured essential features of modernity


• Demonstrate an ability to use concepts from history, art history and the social sciences in analysing aspects of modernity.

Additional outcomes:

The module also aims to encourage the development of oral communication skills, team work through group projects, the critical analysis of texts, and the application of theoretical/ analytical concepts to empirical data. Students will also develop their IT skills by use of relevant web resources and databases, and their numeracy by the examination of key statistics and figures.

Outline content:

By using an inter- and multi-disciplinary perspective that combines history, art history, politics and sociology, the module examines the late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century roots of some of the most central ideas, values and institutions of contemporary Europe and our modern world . It explores the deep transformations in the conditions of human life which modernity has produced since the European Enlightenment through the study of: - First, the great thinkers who dared imagine new forms of human consciousness, collective identity and life in common, including Immanuel Kant, Tom Paine, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Auguste Comte, Johann Gottfried Herder, Adam Smith, Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud. The module examines key themes associated with these thinkers, their impact, and their legacy in contemporary Europe and the rest of the world: the critical spirit; liberty, democracy and citizenship; the evolution of human rights; cosmopolitanism and inter-/transnationalism; ethnicity and the nation-state; public secularism, cultural pluralism and religious toleration; the conflict between religion and science; the rise of the scientific method; evolution and the scientific study of mankind; the application of science in technology and rise of the new industrial economy; the struggle principle (Darwin) and the pleasure principle of human existence (Freud). - Second, the classic criticisms and assessments of the intended and unintended consequences of modern society associated with Ferdinand Tönnies, Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber. This part of the module examines the erosion of traditional closed communities; the rise of the city; the cultural origins of industrial capitalism; the decline of a common culture; the phenomena of anomie, individualism, consumerism and alienation; and the socialist critique of industrial, capitalist modernity. - And third, the works of art which came to embody the most salient features of modernity thereby becoming the icons of the ideals and discontents of this age, such as Delacroix’s Liberty Guiding the People, Manet’s Dead Christ with Angels, Pellizza’s The Fourth Estate, Munch’s Madonna, Boccioni’s The City Rises, and Picasso’s Guernica.

Global context:

A major implication of this module is the rise of modern Europe, the ‘West’, as a global cultural and societal model and non-Western contributions to Western and global modernity.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The module is taught through lectures and seminars/tutorials, depending on the number of students taking this module. Seminars/tutorials will involve individual and group presentations, again, depending on student numbers. Lecture hours shown in the table below may be reduced somewhat for very small groups.

Students may also undertake an academic placement, through which they will learn how to apply the knowledge and skills gained in studying for this module in a professio nal context outside the University.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures	10	9
Seminars	5	4
Guided independent study:	85	87
Total hours by term	100	100	0
Total hours for module	200

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Written assignment including essay	80
Class test administered by School	20

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

The module is assessed by coursework: 2 essays and 1 multiple choice test.

One piece of assessment worth no more than 50% of the module mark can be replaced by a report produced after an academic placement. The placement must be agreed in advance by the module convenor; the length of the report is to be equivalent to standard departmental practice for coursework.  

Formative assessment methods:

Seminar presentations.

Penalties for late submission:

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:

40%

Reassessment arrangements:

Reassessment in August, in the event of failure in this module and of failure in Part 2 as a whole, or (for compulsory modules only) of failure to qualify in Part 2. Coursework for reassessment must be resubmitted by 12 NOON on the third Friday of August or, if the University is closed on the third Friday of August, by 12 NOON on the first working day thereafter.

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1) Required text books: 

2) Specialist equipment or materials: 

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear: 

4) Printing and binding: 

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification: 

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence: 

Last updated: 22 September 2022