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Leisure and Pleasure in Georgian England, c.1714-1830

  • Module code: HS5009
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 5
  • Credits: 30
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This research-led module will explore the history of leisure and consumerism during the long eighteenth century. During this period, England was experiencing significant social change alongside rapid economic and urban growth. This led to demand for new forms of leisure activity and the emergence of a new commercialised leisure society. Drawing primary on social, cultural and gender history, this module will cover a wide variety of topics. Part 1 will look at ‘Leisure and Pleasure', considering urban and rural leisure activities, with a particular focus on polite, commercialised forms of entertainment. Part 2, ‘New World of Goods', will use case studies of new goods to explore habits of consumption and gain an understanding of social and economic trends. The module will build on some of the key historical themes introduced at Level 4. Most notably, it will expand on the leisure history studied as part of Chaplin to Churchill: Britain 1901-1959, as well as developing the ideas of gender that students examined as part of Private Lives, Public Roles. Complementing Level 5 core module, Life Among the Victorians' focus on social history and independent research, this module will allow students to focus on the eighteenth century as a pivotal period in the history of English leisure and consumption.

Lectures, combined with weekly set readings, will consider a wide range of eighteenth-century leisure practices, situating attitudes and experiences in the context of social class, gendered spaces, consumerism, industrialisation, and urbanisation. In seminars, a wide range of primary source material will be used to develop critical analysis skills and to provide a basis for group discussion. These will include guide books, trade directories, diaries, visual representations, material culture, newspapers, government records, novels, and architectural evidence. Students will be encouraged to make independent use of the digitised primary source material, both within seminars and as part of formative and summative assessments. The study of Britain in the eighteenth century has been transformed by the introduction of searchable online document databases. Forming an increasingly important part of researchers' exploration and analysis of the past, Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) provides a comprehensive online library of book titles published between 1700 and 1800. Guided throughout the module in the use of ECCO, students will learn to locate, manage and critically assess primary source material, whilst seminar discussions and formative assignments will encourage students to reflect on the benefits of online document databases for their own research.

Aims

  • To familiarise students with the history of leisure and consumerism during the long eighteenth century.
  • To provide students with an understanding of the major historical debates relating to this topic.
  • To develop students' understanding of leisure history and how it interacts and engages with social, cultural, economic, gender, medical, and urban history.
  • To develop students' powers of critical analysis and reflection through understanding and use of digitised primary sources.

Learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the eighteenth-century leisure and the rise of a consumer society.
  • Understand how eighteenth-century consumerist and leisure practices were situated in the wider social, cultural, political, gender, urban, medical, and economic contexts of the period.
  • Engage with and evaluate key historical debates relating to this topic.
  • Synthesise information from a variety of sources and communicate ideas in both verbal and written form.
  • Find and critically assess primary source material through the use of online databases.

Curriculum content

  • Part one will focus on leisure and pleasure during the eighteenth century. Lectures will explore the different forms of eighteenth-century leisure, thinking in particular about the importance of space and place. Topics will include spas, the rise of the seaside resort, sporting events, popular leisure, music and theatre, the grand tour and the rise of the picturesque.
  • Part two will consider the rising consumer culture through an analysis of the new world of goods. In addition to the analysis of texts and images, lectures and seminars will look at the history of material culture: how can the study of objects such as Chinese pottery and textiles provide insight into eighteenth-century consumption? Weekly topics will include: tea, coffee, sugar, shops and shopping, reading and the rise of the novel, and club culture.

Teaching and learning strategy

The course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and workshop sessions. Weekly lectures will provide an introduction to the topic, focusing on key themes and historical debates. Each week will focus on a new aspect of eighteenth-century leisure and/or consumption. Lectures will emphasis change over time, with a particular emphasis on what each case study reveals about wider eighteenth-century culture and society.

Lectures will be followed by seminars, within which students will be expected to take a leading participatory role.  Guided by preparatory reading, seminars will allow students the opportunity to reflect on, discuss and debate the week's topic. The focus for weekly seminars will vary, with primary source analysis and evaluation historiographical debate playing a significant role. Student engagement will be encouraged through individual presentations.

Two workshop sessions will provide students with some 'feed forward' on their summative assessments. In TB1, the focus will be on the use of online primary source databases, particularly Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO). Students will be guided in locating and analysing primary source documents. The second session in TB2 will look at pre-prepared essay plans, geared to enhance research and essay-writing skills.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching 22 one-hour lectures 20 one-hour seminars 2 one-hour workshops 22 20 2
Guided independent study Guided independent study 256
Total (number of credits x 10) 300

Assessment strategy

There will be two summative of assessments:

TB1. A 1,500 word Short Document Project chosen from a selection of topics from Teaching Block 1. Students will be required to locate and critically analyse primary source material primarily using online databases, such as Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO). This assessment will be worth 40% of the final grade.

TB2. A 2,500 word essay chosen from a selection of topics covered in Teaching Block 2. This essay will be worth 60% of the final grade.

Formative in-course assessments will be used in order to guide students' understanding of the topic, provide feedback and help them prepare for the summative assessments.

TB1. In preparation for the Short Document Project, students will be asked to locate primary source material in preparation for the seminar in week 5, using the online database ECCO. Students will be asked to reflect on their experience in a 500 word short essay due in Week 7, thinking in particular about the impact of online databases on historical research.

TB2. A five minute presentation of an eighteenth-century novel/novel adaptation, to be completed during Enrichment Week. Students will be encouraged to choose from a list of recommend list of works that provide insight into eighteenth-century society and/or leisure activities.

TB2. A 400 word essay plan on a list of questions taken from Teaching Block 2. Students will be asked to reflect on their plan during an essay writing workshop and will be given individual feedback on their work.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Demonstrate an understanding of the eighteenth-century leisure and the rise of a consumer society. Formatively assessed through seminar participation individual presentations. Summatively assessed through the short document project and essay.
Understand how eighteenth-century consumerist and leisure practices were situated in the wider social, cultural, political, gender, urban, medical, and economic contexts of the period. Formatively assessed through seminar participation and essay plan. Summatively assessed through the essay and short document project.
Engage with and evaluate key historical debates relating to this topic. Formatively assessed through seminar participation and essay plan. Summatively assessed through the short document project and essay.
Synthesise information from a variety of sources and communicate ideas in both verbal and written form. Formatively assessed through individual presentations, book review and essay plan. Summatively assessed through the short document project and essay.
Find and critically assess primary source material through the use of online databases.

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
CWK 1500 word case study 40%
CWK 2500 word essay 60%
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Borsay, Peter, A History of Leisure: The British Experience since 1500 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)

McKendrick, Neil, John Brewer and J.H. Plumb, The Birth of a Consumer Society: The Commercialization of Eighteenth-Century England (London: Europa, 1982)

Bibliography recommended reading

Borsay, Peter, The English Urban Renaissance: Culture and Society in the Provincial Town 1660-1770 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)

Clark, Peter, ed. The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Corfield, Penelope J., Vauxhall and the Invention of the Urban Pleasure Gardens (London: History & Social Actions, 2008)

De Vries, Jan, The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behaviour and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) 

Grieg, Hannah, The Beau Monde: Fashionable Society in Georgian London (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) 

Stobart, Jon and Leonard Schwarz, 'Leisure, Luxury and Urban Specialization in the Eighteenth Century', Urban History, 35.2 (2008), 216-36 

Walton, John K., The English Seaside Resort: A Social History, 1750-1914 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1983)

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