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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Economic and Social History

Undergraduate Course: Leisure and the Rise of Industrial Society in Britain C.1780-1880 (ECSH10004)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe course uses leisure, the manner in which free time was used and organised to investigate wider economic, social and cultural changes in Britain in the period from industrialisation to the later nineteenth century. In the process, the importance of differing experiences, according to class, age, gender, national and regional identities are also explored.
Course description Social and economic changes provide the essential context for the course. The period from about 1780 to 1880 marked the transformation of Britain from a largely rural society, structured around small towns and villages, to a substantially urban society, with a population increasingly located in large towns and cities. In terms of leisure, it witnessed a shift from what might be termed a 'traditional' to a recognisably 'modern' leisure culture- from a leisure calendar made up of occasional, mostly local events, to one in which events which were more national in scope and more regular, both in terms of the frequency with which they took place and the order by which they were conducted, bounded by formal sets of rules. By the 1880s, many of what we would think of as modern leisure forms were in place. Definite limits were placed on the length of the working week, providing increasingly fixed and predictable times for leisure. The same applied to leisure during year, with the introduction of fixed Bank Holidays across the country from the 1870s. It also saw the emergence of 'national' leisure forms: Music Hall; holidaymaking; the rise of national sporting events familiar today. Various themes may be seen to run through the topics, including the balance between change and continuity in society, the means by which change occurred, the impact of class differences, and the importance of continued tensions within as well as between the classes. The course thus offers a distinctive take on themes central to the social and economic history of modern Britain.

Course note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. The course organiser has not identified any sensitive content within this course's focus, however course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Students should only be enrolled on this course with approval from the History Honours Programme Administrator.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students must have 3 History courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Enrolments for this course are managed by the CAHSS Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department. All enquiries to enrol must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  0
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 30, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 164 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 50 %, Coursework 50 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Coursework:
2,500 word essay (40%)
500 word gobbet (10%)

Exam:
2 hour paper (50%)
Feedback Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment.
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December):120
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
  2. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
  3. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
  4. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
  5. demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
Reading List
1. P. Borsay, A History of Leisure: The British Experience since 1500 (Basingstoke, 2006).

2. H. Cunningham, 'Leisure and culture',
in F.M.L. Thompson, ed., The Cambridge Social History of Britain, 1750-1950. Vol.2. People and their environment (Cambridge, 1990), pp.279-339.

3. W. Hamish Fraser, 'Developments in Leisure',
in W. Hamish Fraser and R.J. Morris, eds., People and Society in Scotland. II. 1830-1914 (Edinburgh, 1990), pp.236-64.

4. T. Griffiths, Work, Leisure and Time in the Nineteenth Century, in T. Griffiths and G. Morton (eds), A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1800 to 1900 (Edinburgh, 2010), pp.170-95.

5. D.A. Reid, Playing and Praying, in M. Daunton, ed., The Cambridge Urban History of Britain. Volume III, 1840-1950 (Cambridge, 2000), pp.745-807.

6. J.M. Golby and A.W. Purdue, The Civilisation of the Crowd. Popular Culture in England, 1750-1900 (1984).

7. E. King, Popular Culture in Glasgow, in R.A. Cage (ed.,), The Working Class in Glasgow, 1750-1914 (Beckenham, 1987), pp.142-87.

8. H. Cunningham, Leisure in the Industrial Revolution, 1780-1880 (1980).

9. N. Tranter, Sport, economy and society in Britain, 1750-1914 (Cambridge, 1998).

10. J. Flanders, Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain (2006).

11. R. Holt, Sport and the British. A Modern History (Oxford, 1989).

12. H.-J. Voth, Time and Work in England, 1750-1830 (Oxford, 2000),
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsLeisure and the Rise
Contacts
Course organiserDr Trevor Griffiths
Tel: (0131 6)50 6897
Email: Trevor.Griffiths@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Annabel Samson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3783
Email: Annabel.Stobie@ed.ac.uk
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