The Western Family Since 1850 (ES0078)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : HCA-P-WF1850

This course is conducted through ten seminars, each lasting 90 minutes. Each seminar confronts an area of current debate, so themes will change over time, but the principal focus is on conveying to students insight into the most significant changes in the household economy and the social and economic consequences of demographic change. Among current issues are: changes in the life cycle and its consequences for family life; the causes and consequences of legitimate fertility and nuptiality changes since 1914; the fall and rise of cohabitation and births to non-married parents; changing patterns of marital dissolution and their consequences; changing patterns of women's employment; domestic labour; household internal allocation processes; coping and getting by; the changing patterns and functions of kinship; families and the State in a multi-cultural society; changes in the family and household experience of the aged. Comparative material will be used where appropriate.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of History and Classics), (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

The course seeks to develop:
- Advanced knowledge of and competency in this field of social and demographic history.
- An ability to apply social and demographic theory to an understanding of key themes in the development of the family and demography of the Western world (especially Europe and the USA) post-1850.
- A knowledge and understanding of major developments and differences in the comparative history of the Western family in this period.
- An awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the principal sources available for the study of Western family and demographic history in the period, and of the principal techniques commonly used in their analysis.
- The ability to produce written work and oral presentation showing an understanding of the field, assessing a wide range of evidence of varying kinds and and incorporating appropriate literary, data-analytical and bibliographical skills.