Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LM Option: Gender and the Making of the Modern Britain, 1650-1832
School	History and Cultures
Department	History
Module Code	09 38828
Module Lead	Karen Harvey
Level	Masters Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	In this module we explore the experiences of men and women, as well as how thinking about gender can provide new perspectives on historical change. The course will encourage you to consider broad questions and theories about gender history through one specific context: Britain between the years 1650-1832. It was during this period that Britain was transformed from an early-modern to a modern nation. We will explore the comparative experiences of men and women during a series of momentous events, such as the Enlightenment, the industrial revolution, and new forms of political representation. We will follow men and women along the streets of new towns, and as they entered their places of work, shops and coffee houses. We will accompany both men and women as they sat down to dinner in their homes, engaged in polite conversation and sometimes argued with each other. We will examine the intimate relations of men and women and their experience of changing sexual identities, and we will consider how both men and women engaged in politics to change the face of British democracy. We will also follow some of these men and women as their families dispersed, they advanced the British empire and contributed to racial capitalism. The course will enable you to assess the part played by gender in the emergence of 'modern' British society, whilst also critically engaging notions of 'modernity'. Topics will include: what is gender history?; consumption and fashion; sexuality and the body; love and emotions; home and household; war, race and nation; education and religion; polite and impolite society; work and industrial revolution. The module will be taught through lectures, seminars and workshops using primary sources.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: analyse and critically appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny analyse and critically evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration summarise, synthesise and evaluate the subject material in a sophisticated written form
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 1 x 3,000 word assignment (100%) Reassessment: Resubmission of failed component(s)
Other
Reading List