Unit name | Political Culture and Communication in Britain, 1867-1939 (Level I Special Field) |
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Unit code | HIST26015 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Thompson |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Recent years have seen revolutionary changes in our understanding of modern British political and intellectual history. Grand narratives of the rise of class, the growth of party, and the nationalisation of politics have come under increasing pressure. The enduring strength of a liberal free trade political culture has been repeatedly emphasised. This unit responds to these developments by examining the nature of political culture and communication in the years traditionally seen as those in which modern British politics was made.
The unit has four main themes. The first concerns the nature of popular politics, particularly attitudes to party and to violence. The second major theme is the relationship between politicians and the public. This is approached through the study party propaganda, both visual and literary. The period also sees significant developments in the modes of communication by which activists sought to build constituencies of support. Contemporary efforts to conceptualise such developments furnish a fourth object of study. The aim throughout is to understand political action as the self-conscious product of a complex and various culture.
1 x 2 hour exam
D. Jarvis, ‘Mrs Maggs and Betty: the conservative appeal to women voters in the 1920s’, Twentieth century British history (1994)
A. Jones, Powers of the press: newspapers, power and the public in nineteenth-century England (1996)
Patrick Joyce, Democratic subjects: the self and the social in nineteenth century England (1994)
Jon Lawrence, Speaking for the people: party, language and popular politics in Britain, 1867-1914 (1998)
A. J. Lee, The origins of the popular press in England 1855-1914 (1976)
H. C. G. Matthew, ‘Rhetoric and politics in Britain, 1860-1950' in P. J. Waller ed., Politics and social change in modern Britain (1987)