History 4321/5321
Social and Intellectual History
of Europe Since 1830

Dr. Ken Barnes
tel: 450-5631 (office); 336-8389 (home)

Texts:
Roland Stromberg, European Intellectual History Since 1789 Prentice Hall, 6th editions (Recommended)
Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (any edition)
Robert Musil, Young T”rless (any edition)
Albert Camus, The Stranger (any edition)
Alan Sillitoe, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (any edition)

Objectives:

Students should be able to demonstrate:
  • 1. an understanding of the concepts of "social," "intellectual," and "cultural" history
  • 2. knowledge of how Europeans lived from 1830s to the present
  • 3. knowledge of patterns of thought and culture from 1830 to the present

    Tests and Evaluation:

    Two midterms 100 points each
    Final exam 150 points
    Quizzes 50 points
    Course project 100 points

    Exams will be essay type, bring blue book to class Final Exam will be partially comprehensive

    Course Project:

    You have a choice of three options for the course project.
    • 1. A Book Review. Choose a book from the list below (or another book subject to instructor approval), and write a review which includes the following sections:
      short introduction
      information about the author
      concise summary of the book (approx. 1/3 of paper)
      critical evaluation of the book (1/2 of paper)
      short conclusion

      Suggestions include:

      Fritz Stern, The Politics of Cultural Despair
      E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class
      Gareth Stedman Jones, Outcast London: A Study in the Relationship between Classes in Victorian Society
      Ronald Pearsall, The Worm in the Bud: The World of Victorian Sexuality
      Gertrude Himmelfarb, Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution
      Edward Shorter, The Making of the Modern Family
      Jacques Barzun, Darwin, Marx, and Wagner
      Carl Schorske, Fin de Siecle Vienna
      Joan Scott, The Glassworkers of Carmaux: French Craftsmen and Political Action in a 19th Century City
      Roland Stromberg, Redemption by War: The Intellectuals and 1914
      Dagmar Barnouw, Weimar Intellectuals and the Treat of Modernity
      Mary Evans, Simone de Beauvoir, A Feminist Mandarin
      Richard J. Evans, The Feminists: Women's Emancipation Movements 1844-1920
      James Miller, The Passion of Michel Foucault

      Option 2: Film Review. Choose two European films from the list below, one made before 1950 and one after 1950. For each film write a 3-4 page review which addresses the following:

      a. writer/filmmaker, and short history of the film
      b. short summary of the film
      c. the film as a cultural text for its time

      Option 3: Short Research Paper (7-10 pages) on a limited topic in social/intellectual history. Some possibilities and examples include:
      FOOD--"Changes in the working-class diet in the 19th century"
      "The bourgeois dinner party as social event"
      LEISURE--"Competitive soccer in the late 1800s", "Vaudeville in the Gay 90s", "The growth of English beach resorts"
      FASHION--"Rise and Fall of the Bustle" ,"World War I and Women's clothing"
      SEXUALITY--"Prostitution as big business in 19th century Paris", "The arrival and impact of the condom"
      RELIGION--"Church attendance and the Industrial Revolution", "Cults in post-war Europe"
      FAMILY--"Family structure and the Industrial Revolution"

      CLASS SCHEDULE

      August 23 Introduction of course; review of Enlightenment and Romanticism

      August 30 Slides of Romantic art; Industrial Revolution & its social impact

      Sept. 6 Discussion of Mary Barton; Development of 19th Century Ideologies

      Sept. 13 Ideologies (cont): Conservatism, Liberalism, Nationalism, Marxism

      September 20 19th-century Science & Philosophy: positivism and idealism

      September 27 First midterm exam; Victorian values, the position of women

      October 4 Realism: an artistic & cultural movement; prophets of doubt

      October 11 Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche and the repudiation of Victorian culture. Fin de siecle science.

      October 18 Cultural revolution at the turn of the century: art, music, architecture, literature

      October 25 Cultural impact of WWI; Discussion of Young T”rless

      November 1 Second midterm exam; the roaring 20s

      November 8 Film: Blue Angel; the Depression and the rise of the dictators: Hitler and Stalin

      November 15 World War II and existentialism; discussion of The Stranger

      November 22 no class (Thanksgiving break)

      November 29 Post-war materialism, feminist and sexual revolutions; Discussion of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

      December 6 The Contemporary Scene; Course Review exercise

      December 13 Final Exam

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