Society and Politics in Victorian Britain Part 1

Module overview

In this module we will examine the principal themes of the political and social history of Britain during the Victorian era (c.1830-1900). We will investigate the development of new forms of political participation and examine the ways that men and women across the nation helped to shape Victorian society. While the main focus of the module will be placed on the metropolitan Britain, we will explore how ‘Britian’ and ‘empire’ were not separate or distinct entities but rather were mutually constitutive and completely interconnected. Taken as a whole, the module will interrogate how metropolitan Britain was reconfigured and reimagined in the Victorian period, always in ways that were shaped by gender, race and class.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

Key political developments in Victorian Britain.
Roots of modern democracy
Opportunities for political participation in Victorian Britain.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Analyse critically primary source materials from the period.
Understand the context of how documentation was produced and how it might be located.
Assess the different categories of evidence and the different approaches of historians and other scholars.
Reflect critically on the historiography of Victorian Britain and 19th century politics.
Discuss and present ideas about both primary evidence and historical interpretations clearly and persuasively in written work.
Crtique and contextualise primary source material in a form appropriate for the ‘gobbet’ assignment.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Develop time management skills.
Undertake research using archival material for essays and gobbets.
Work effectively to locate sources and literature.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

This module will be delivered through small group seminars and individual tutorials. The Special Subject is deeply rooted in rich archival resources and we will be making extensive use of the extensive holdings of nineteenth century political papers in the Archives and Special Collections of the Hartley Library.

Study time
Type	Hours
Seminar	48
Guided independent study	252
Total study time	300

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

G. Marsden (1998). Victorian Values. Pearson.

T. Hoppen (1998). The Mid-Victorian Generation 1846-1886. Oxford.

W. D. Rubinstein (1998). Britain's Century. Arnold.

C. Hall, et al., (2000). Defining the Victorian Nation. Cambridge University Press.

H. Pelling (1979). Popular Politics and Society in Victorian Britain.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	50%
Written assignment	50%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Assessment tasks	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Written assignment	50%
Essay	50%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External