Assignment, 625 words (Module Sunmmary Assignment) [Learning outcomes 1,2,3]
Assignment, 1875 words (Topic Assignment) - Second Assignment [Learning outcomes 1,2,4]

The module applies recent approaches to the role of consumption and sociability to C18 England. It will consider themes such as Early industrialisation - agricultural 'improvement' and manufacturing innovation, Changing patterns of consumption and sociability - the growth of consumer consumption including the importation and consumption of colonial products like sugar and coffee, the new 'sociability' deriving from the growth of coffee houses, printed press, novels, provincial literary and philosophical societies etc.; Women and space - the new 'revisionist' approach to the role of women in the making of public and private space (Amanda Vickery and others); Science and medicine - the development of a more professional and market-orientated approach with public lecturing and 'showmen', Erasmus Darwin and the role of the Lunar Society, role of health spas, growth of male midwifery; Patrician and plebeian cultures - deference and dissent, custom and tradition, the radicalisation of the 1790s; Josiah Wedgwood - local case-study including his application of scientific research techniques, time and work-discipline practices and marketing strategies.

The lectures will introduce the main themes and arguments of the module content including video extracts and slides. The seminars will provide for follow-up discussion of the themes from the lectures and some analysis of primary source extracts and video extracts and guidance on research. The independent study element should be used for background reading, reading for the seminars, and research and preparation of the written assignments.

Recommended Library books and journals and videos/dvd?s in the University library and use of online resources.
University Slide Library.
Internet access data projection in lectures if available.
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.

(*) = Set text:
Barker, Hannah & Challus, Elaine (eds) Gender in Eighteenth Century England: Roles, Representations and Responsibilities, Longman, London, 1997
Berg, Maxine The Age of Manufactures, 1700-1820: Industry, Innovation and Work in Britain, Routledge, London, 2nd edition, 1994
Brewer, John & Porter, Roy (eds) Consumption and the World of Goods, Routledge, London, 1993
Brewer, John The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century, Harper Collins, London, 1997
Carter, Philip Men and the Emergence of Polite Society 1660-1800, Longman, Harlow, 2000
Clark, Peter British Clubs and Societies 1550-1880: The Origins of an Associational World, OUP, Oxford, 2000
Gretchen, Gerzina Black England: Life Before Emancipation, John Murray, London, 1995
Langford, Paul (ed) The Eighteenth Century, OUP, Oxford, 2001
McCalman, Iain (ed) An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age: British Culture, 1776-1832, OUP, Oxford, 1999
O'Gorman, Frank The Long Eighteenth Century, Arnold, London, 1997
(*) Porter, Roy English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Penguin, London, Revised ed. 1990, Re-issued 2001
Prest, William Albion Ascendant: English History 1660-1815, OUP, Oxford, 1998
Uglow, Jenny The Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future, Faber & Faber, London, 2002
Vaughan, William British Painting: The Golden Age from Hogarth to Turner, Thames & Hudson, London, 1999
Walvin, James Fruits of Empire: Exotic Produce and British Taste, 1660-1800, Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1997
Young, Hilary (ed) The Genius of Wedgwood, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1995