A series of major transformations took place in Britain between the end of the seventeenth century and the middle of the nineteenth century.  This period saw the rise of a global empire, the beginning of an industrial revolution and the emergence of new forms of politics, culture and social life.  This course examines a process by which many British people came to believe, during this era, that they were living in a fundamentally new kind of society and it investigates a range of responses to that belief.

The course helps participants to develop a critical and historical perspective on major contemporary issues: from globalization and market relations, to models of social development, principles of politics and theories of the modern state.  It will encourage debate about the origins and character of early 'modernity' in Britain and its relationship to broader patterns of social change.

• research technique (location of historical sources, use of electronic and paper resources)
• document and image analysis (techniques for analysing texts and images with a view to understanding their meaning, significance and utility for scholarly argument)
• critical thinking
• argument formation
• narrative and analytical writing
• oral presentation

• Langford, P., A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727-1783  (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).