Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LH Special Subject: ‘The Young Ones’: Youth, popular culture, and social change in twentieth century Britain B
School	History and Cultures
Department	History
Module Code	09 39914
Module Lead	Dr Sarah Kenny
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites	LH Special Subject: ‘The Young Ones’: Youth, popular culture, and social change in twentieth century Britain A - (09 39786)
Restrictions	None
Exclusions
Description	This module will allow students to study a historical theme or area in great depth, under the guidance of an individual member of staff drawing on both secondary sources (i.e. books and articles) and primary sources (documents, newspapers etc), both published and unpublished. The module will allow students to study an aspect of history in detail and gain a fuller understanding of how different types of source material inform the historical process. Youth is a powerful category. It is also a contested one. Young people have historically signified both the promise of the future and the threat of the present. As such, young people are endowed with a particular political and social significance. But what did it mean to be young in the twentieth century, and how far did the experience of being young shift as new ideas about adolescence began to emerge? This advanced option introduces students to youth in the twentieth century, and asks how the lived experience of young people in Britain changed over the course of almost one hundred years. Students will explore how the very category of youth has been moulded by a range of bodies including politicians, institutions, commerce, and the media. This module will also explore how young people transformed the very face of modern Britain. By exploring young people's media, consumption habits, politics, and lifestyles, students will work directly with sources produced for, and in many cases produced by, young people. In doing so, the module shows how understanding youth experience is an essential way of charting social, cultural, and political change in modern Britain. Seminar topics may include: youth and the advent of mass consumerism, the 'invention' of the teenager; youth and the state; urban development and the spaces of teenage leisure; teenage magazines and youth media; teenage sexuality and sex education; youth culture and subculture; youth, work, and (un)employment.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: analyse and appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny analyse and evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration summarise and evaluate the subject material with clarity and confidence, in writing
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 1 x 2,000-word essay (50%) and 1 x 10-minute individual presentations (50%) Reassessment: Re-submit failed component(s)
Other
Reading List