Postgraduate Course: Questioning the 'Revolutions' in Economic and Social History (online) (PGHC11471)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The term 'revolution' has so often been applied to the past. Whilst many of these labels are accepted into common usage, the historiography often thrives on questioning the validity of the term. This course looks at five such revolutions in economic and social history, including the Price Revolution, the Financial Revolution, the Consumer Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. |
| Course description |
The term 'revolution' has so often been applied to the past. Perhaps most usually, it is used in a political context, though many economic and social trends have also been given this description, whether deservedly or not. Whilst many of these labels are accepted into common usage, the historiography often raises questions about the validity of the term. This course looks at five such revolutions in economic and social history, including the Price Revolution, the Financial Revolution, the Consumer Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. To what extent is the term 'revolution' appropriate, and how have historians sought to either explain or to contradict such usage? Where has it been used uncritically? Whilst the term is often accepted as a convenient shorthand for complex phenomena, a more critical approach will give insight into how historians have looked at these events. This course will therefore explore historiographical aspects of the five revolutions by considering what questions have been asked about these 'revolutions'.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning the five 'revolutions';
- demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship, primary source materials concerning, and conceptual discussions about the approaches to the five 'revolutions';
- demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay, an ability to understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices for both quantitative and qualitative data;
- demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in seminars and in written assessment by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course;
- demonstrate in seminar discussions, forum posts and written assessment originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy;
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Reading List
Fischer, D. H., The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)
Carus-Wilson, E. M. (ed.) Essays in Economic History, 3 vols (London: Edward Arnold, 1966)
Ramsey, P. H., The Price Revolution in Sixteenth-Century England (London: Methuen, 1971)
Temin, P. and Voth, H. J., Prometheus shackled Goldsmith Banks and England's financial revolution after 1700 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)
Carruthers, B. G., City of Capital: Politics and Markets in the English Financial Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999)
Weatherill, L, Consumer Behaviour & Material Culture in Britain 1660 - 1760 (London: Routledge, 1996)
Davis, D., A History of Shopping (London: Routledge, 1966)
Cox, N., The Complete Tradesman: A Study of Retailing, 1550-1820 (London: Routledge, 2016), Introduction
Overton, M., Agricultural Revolution in England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996)
Gibson, R., The Scottish Countryside: Its Changing Face, 1700-2000 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2007)
Reynolds, T. S., Stronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002)
Morris, R. J. and Rodger, R. (eds.), The Victorian City: A Reader in British Urban History, 1820-1914 (London: Longman, 1993) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Aaron Allen
Tel: (0131 6)50 2384
Email: Aaron.Allen@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk |
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