IA139-3-FY-CO:
Post-War Britain: Identity, Culture, Conflict and Change

The details
2024/25
Essex Pathways
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Foundation/Year Zero: Level 3
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 27 June 2025
30
04 November 2024

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

BA T710 American Studies (United States) (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA V31B Art History (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA V350 Art History (Including Foundation Year),
BA V531 Continental Philosophy (Including Foundation Year),
BA W808 Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
BA W408 Drama (Including Foundation Year),
BA WQ28 Drama and Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA Q320 English Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA R9R9 European Studies with Spanish (Including Foundation Year),
BA PW88 Film and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
BA W628 Film Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA PQ38 Film Studies and Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA V102 History (Including Foundation Year),
BA QV2C History and Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA LV38 History and Sociology (Including Foundation Year),
BA V1W8 History with Film Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA V1L8 History with Human Rights (Including Foundation Year),
BA T7N3 Latin American Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA T7N4 Latin American studies with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA T7M8 Latin American studies with Human Rights (Including Foundation Year),
BA LQV0 Liberal Arts (Including Foundation Year),
BA Q900 Liberal Arts (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA V144 Modern History (Including Foundation Year),
BA VL18 Modern History and International Relations (Including Foundation Year),
BA LV28 Modern History and Politics (Including Foundation Year),
BA V502 Philosophy (Including Foundation Year),
BA V508 Philosophy (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA MVC8 Philosophy and Law (Including Foundation Year),
BA VM58 Philosophy and Law (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA VQ52 Philosophy and Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA VQ58 Philosophy and Literature (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA LV2H Philosophy and Politics (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA LV8M Philosophy and Politics (Including Foundation Year),
BA V5M8 Philosophy with Human Rights (Including Foundation Year),
BA VLM8 Philosophy with Human Rights (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA VV58 Philosophy, Religion and Ethics (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV59 Philosophy, Religion and Ethics (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA V359 Curating (Including Foundation Year),
BA V35B Curating (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA QW38 Literature and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
BA Q218 English and Comparative Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA W353 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA P403 Film and Drama (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV21 Philosophy with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA R101 Art History and Language Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA R103 Art History with Language Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA R109 European Studies and Language Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA V306 Curating with Politics (Including Foundation Year),
BA V310 Curating with History (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV41 Art History, Heritage and Museum Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA V302 Curating, Heritage and Human Rights (Including Foundation Year),
BA V201 History and Heritage (Including Foundation Year),
BA VM11 History and Law (Including Foundation Year),
BA WW81 Drama and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
BA P566 Film and Journalism (Including Foundation Year),
BA V5L6 Philosophy, Ethics and Sustainability (Including Foundation Year)

Module description

After the Second World War, the United Kingdom underwent a series of political, societal, and cultural changes that were to have a profound effect on its perception of itself, its and its changing world role. This module offers an introduction to the historical events and processes that have helped to shape the contemporary United Kingdom, focusing on a range of issues including those of identity – of what it means to be British in the modern age. It examines the principle causes and phases of change during this period (including, perhaps most importantly, conflict) and the effect these changes have had on British society, its culture, and its people.


This module develops skills that will enable students to have an understanding of modern Britain, so that they are able to critique the actions of players and the beliefs of thinkers and thus become possible agents of future change, through interpreting information, thinking critically, assessing evidence and undertaking research. The module does not require any prior knowledge or experience of studying British history.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • To enhance students' knowledge of and interest in the subject/s by preparing them for potential undergraduate study of the subject (History or similar humanities subjects)

  • To provide a firm foundation of knowledge and understanding of key developments in UK history during the period 1945 to the present day.

  • To increase students' awareness of the many different approaches (chiefly: political, cultural, social and economic) towards the study of history, and the provisional, ever-evolving nature of contemporary (British) history.

  • To select and evaluate appropriate primary, secondly and, if applicable, tertiary sources.

  • To enable students to gain confidence in their knowledge of historiography and analytical skills by learning the basics of how to read and understand viewpoints by critically assessing conventional practices and schools of thought; in order to explore new ways of thinking and new ways of viewing historical happenings.

  • To develop students' ability to think critically in order to understand, critique, construct and convey an argument, both oral and written.

  • To challenge students to look beyond the obvious ways of viewing historical incidences and during seminar sessions engage in thoughtful discussions and debates. To gain an understanding of the existing framework and enforcement mechanisms in the field of digital technologies

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students will be expected to:



  1. Demonstrate knowledge of key events in the United Kingdom during the period under study including the most significant cultural changes within UK society and the UK's changing relationships with its key overseas partners and allies.

  2. Engage fully with the study of History through the taking of lecture notes, the undertaking of independent study and active participation in seminar discussion.

  3. Apply the key skill of critical, analytical thinking to the examination of historical evidence from a variety of sources in order to incorporate this analysis of evidence into various kinds of work.

  4. Analyse assignment and test questions, and research and construct an appropriate academic argument in response that is clear and effective.

  5. Summarise, comment on and analyse historical arguments and debates in written work and seminar discussions.

  6. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate relevant historical perspectives by engaging in thoughtful academic dialogue and debate.

Skills for your professional life (Transferable Skills)


By the end of this module, students will have practised the following transferrable skills:



  1. Applying schools of thought to various contemporary issues.

  2. Team working though problem solving in small groups.

  3. Time-management and managing workload with weekly tasks and timely completion of assignments.

  4. Resilience and confidence building by practicing and honing one’s critical thinking skills and analytical skills in relation to the material.

  5. Reflective practice via self-evaluation and feed forward to future assignments.

  6. Taking responsibility for one’s own learning, by undertaking research on a topic of your choosing – this allows personalisation.

  7. Enhancing IT skills through the use of various technologies, such as Moodle, FASER, Talis, Microsoft PowerPoint and Word.

Module information

Indicative syllabus



  • What is History / Historical Research? + Changes & Developments up to 1945

  • Post-War Britain: The Spirit of ’45 and the Creation of the Welfare State (45-50)

  • Consumerism & Consensus (The 50’s and 60’s #1)

  • Conflict & Change (The 50’s and 60’s #2)

  • Britain and the Wider World (1945 – 1969)

  • The Decade of Decline? (The 1970s #1)

  • The Decade of Decline? (The 1970s #2)

  • A Revolutionary Decade? (The 1980s # 1)

  • The Them & Us Society. (The 1980s # 2)

  • Britain and the Wider World (1970 -1999)

  • Identity #I: Devolution & Religion

  • Identity #II: Race & Ethnicity

  • Identity #III: Gender & Sexuality

  • Identity #IV: Class & the Establishment

  • A Major Solution or A Major Disaster? (The 1990#s #1)

  • Cool Britannia? Life in Blair’s ‘New’ Britain (The 1990#s #2)

  • Britain and the Wider World (2000 on)

  • From Millennium to Coalition. (AKA the Noughties 2000-2009)

  • From A to B (Austerity to Brexit) The Road to Nowhere? (2010-2016)

  • From B to C. Storm to Weather: Post Brexit Britain (2017 on)

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

  • Thirty-two 110-minute lectures
  • Thirty-two 2-hour seminars

Teaching and learning on Essex Pathways modules offers students the ability to develop the foundation knowledge, skills, and competences to study at undergraduate level, through a curriculum that is purposely designed to provide an exceptional learning experience. All teaching, learning and assessment materials will be available via Moodle in a consistent and user-friendly manner.

Some lectures involve the viewing of audio-visual material – due to the technology used this may or may not take place within the lectures, if not it will be given as additional work or during seminars. Seminars will involve whole-group discussion of the weekly topic and set reading, small-group work. Moodle will be used to distribute module documentation and learning materials.  

Learning support

Students are expected to engage with Moodle for materials and support activities. Students are also supported through the Listen Again facility and other teaching and learning technologies such as the TALIS list. All students will also be assisted during a weekly Academic Support hour.

Bibliography

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   In-person, open book (restricted) test 2 hrs (30%) - 01/05/2025    30% 
Coursework   Learning Journal (20%)  13/12/2024  20% 
Coursework   Process Essay (50%)  11/04/2025  50% 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Mr Christopher Walklett, email: cwalk@essex.ac.uk.
Mr Christopher Walklett
Becky Humphreys - becky.humphreys@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
No
No
No

External examiner

Ms Linda Hurley
University of Southampton
Senior Teaching Fellow
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 40 hours, 40 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Essex Pathways

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