HS2O61-Representations of the People: Democracy and Society in Britain 1838-1928

Module Provider: History
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:5
Terms in which taught: Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2023/4

Module Convenor: Prof David Stack
Email: d.a.stack@reading.ac.uk

Module Co-convenor: Dr Jacqui Turner
Email: e.j.turner@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

The 1928 Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act granted equal votes to women and men for the first time, and enabled all adults aged over 21 years to vote in British parliamentary elections. When the People’s Charter had been drafted ninety years earlier, in 1838, only 18% of adult males and no women were allowed to vote. This module focusses on the extraordinary changes in identities and representations of the people that occurred in less than a century and transformed Britain into a recognisable democracy. 

Aims:

Part 2 Options can be either chronological or thematic. Chronological Options will usually take the form of a survey of a particular geographical area or nation over a defined period of one or two centuries. These Options aim to acquaint students with the causes and consequences of continuity and change over the long term in the political, social, economic and cultural systems under study. Thematic Options take key concepts, ideas, or debates in history and study them in a number of different contexts, either geographically or across historical periods. The aim again is to acquaint students with the causes of continuity and change, but this time by a more comparative approach.

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module it is expected that the student will be able to:

• identify and explain the main issues and events studied


• appraise critically the primary sources and historiographical interpretations of the subject


• think comparatively about aspects of British political and social history


• assess the nature of social, economic, political and cultural change and the particular methodologies associated with tracing it


• organise material and articulate arguments effectively in different kinds of written and oral exercises


• locate and assemble bibliographic and other information by independent research, using IT as appropriate

Additional outcomes:

The module aims to encourage the development of oral communication skills and the student’s effectiveness in group situations and team-working. Students will also develop their IT skills by use of relevant web resources and databases where appropriate.

Outline content:

The 1928 Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act granted equal votes to women and men for the first time, and enabled all adults aged over 21 years to vote in British parliamentary elections. When the People’s Charter had been drafted ninety years earlier, in 1838, only 18% of adult males and no women were allowed to vote. This module focusses on the extraordinary changes in identities and representations of the people that occurred in less than a century and transformed Britain into a recognisable democracy.  The module begins by considering the process of the forging of the British nation in the period before Queen Victoria’s ascent to the throne in 1837, and the rapid series of changes - urbanisation, industrialisation, and imperialistic expansion that accompanied her reign. Thereafter the module focusses on the struggle for democracy (the Chartists and the Suffragettes); the changing role of religion in society (including secularisation and the rise of socialism); and the dynamic character of gender identities of masculinity and femininity. The module also considers the attempts to construct Britain biologically through the new science of eugenics and culminates in a consideration of democracy and society in the 1920s:

• Introduction: Class, race, and nation, 1838-1928 (DAS)


• Separate Spheres? Masculinity, femininity and family (JET)


• Chartism (DAS)


• March of Women:Suffrage (JET)


• Secularisation and the Crisis of Faith (DAS)


• Better Together: British Socialism and ‘Social Salvation’ (JET)


• Making Biological Britons: Eugenics (DAS)


• The Roaring Twenties (JET)

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The course is team-taught via a series of two-hour lectures and two-hour seminars (4 hours teaching per week) over a period of 8 weeks. The lecturers will engage with their specialist subjects, as well providing open discussion with each other and their seminar group. Seminars will require preparatory reading and investigation, may include informal and interactive presentations by the module teachers; structured group discussion; short seminar papers by students; tutorials; team-based simulat ion exercises and debates; extensive examination of primary and secondary sources. Both will be available for consultation as necessary.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Seminars		30
Project Supervision		1
Guided independent study:
Wider reading (independent)		12
Wider reading (directed)		20
Exam revision/preparation		10
Other		71
Preparation for seminars		30
Completion of formative assessment tasks		16
Essay preparation		10
Total hours by term	0	200	0
Total hours for module	200

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Written assignment including essay	100

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

Students will write TWO essays of 2,500 words or choose an alternative assessment, to be handed in by 12 noon on Monday of week 11 of term, which should be submitted electronically via Blackboard. One essay will be chosen from each lecturer’s specialist subject. Five marks will be deducted if the coursework essay exceeds 2,625 words (ie 5% over the word limit). There will be no examinations.

Formative assessment methods:

1,000 words or two pages of A4 maximum to include, at the module convener’s discretion, an essay plan, bibliography, book review or other oral preparatory work towards the summative essay.

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:

A mark of 40% overall.

Reassessment arrangements:

Where a re-sit is permitted, students will be assessed on the failed element(s) only in August.  Any element(s) already passed will be carried forward if it bears a confirmed mark of 40% or more.  Any element which is re-sat in August is capped at 40%.  Failed coursework must be re-submitted by 12 noon, on the last Friday of August.

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: 30 March 2023