Please note that this module was
available until 2016, but has now
been withdrawn and is no longer available.

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Tutor: Dr Angela Davis Module Details Lecture and Seminar Topics Bibliography, Seminar Reading, and Seminar Questions

 
This undergraduate 30 CATS second-year option module will provide students with an historical overview of the family in Britain from 1860 to the present. It will introduce students to a range of theoretical perspectives surrounding the family; and will consider the developing interest of the state in the health and social welfare of its citizens. The module will also look at family structure, the economics of family life and the division of labour; and the changing role of children, adolescents, women, men and the elderly within the family.

We will analyse the relationship between the family and gender, class, ethnicity and locality. Students will be encouraged to consider the histories of the family and to interrogate theoretical debates and discuss a range of issues; to assess the extent to which social institutions function to support certain versions of gender roles in the family; and to consider the role of the media in the maintenance of gender and age specific roles in the family. The module will focus on British sources and students will be introduced to a range of primary source material, including oral history, diaries and autobiographies, social surveys and community studies, the reports of government committees, and film and pictorial sources. The module will be taught through weekly lectures and seminars which students are required to attend. Emphasis will be on student-led seminars.