Undergraduate Course: The Swinging Sixties? Exploring Culture and Society in Britain, c. 1956-1974 (SCHI10074)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course explores the history of that iconic era, the 1960s. It examines the myths and stereotypes of the 'swinging sixties' and seeks to understand how and why it became, and remains, such a mythologised, celebrated and contested era. The course covers a range of topics, including affluence, permissiveness, secularisation, class, race and immigration, and the growing significance of youth in society in order to critically analyse the 'swinging sixties'. |
| Course description |
This course explores the history of that iconic era, the 1960s. It examines the myths and stereotypes of the 'swinging sixties' and seeks to understand how and why it became and remains such a mythologised, celebrated and contested era. The course covers a range of topics, including affluence, permissiveness, secularisation, class, race and immigration, and the growing significance of youth in society. A number of key social, cultural, economic, and political shifts are identified and explored in order to assess both continuity and change during the 'long sixties' (c. 1956-1974). Throughout the course, students will reflect on the dominant narratives and images found in the historiography of the sixties and evaluate these against evidence, examples and key case studies from around Britain. Did permissiveness reach Scotland, for example? Were youths in working-class communities as affluent as commentators believed? Did Britain 'swing'? The course will also explore how the 1960s were (and continue to be) represented in the media, film and wider popular culture and thus will draw upon film and television footage, photographic material and newspaper clippings alongside other historical sources in order to critically analyse the 'swinging sixties'.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, PTs are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course including an ability to describe and analyse key changes associated with the 1960s and to identify, through evidence and examples, areas of continuity and change;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material, including documentary and fictional film, newspapers, photographs, and oral testimony, and be able to integrate these with the findings of secondary scholarship to produce analyses of their own;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Bell, E. & L. Gunn (eds.), The Scottish Sixties: Reading, Rebellion, Revolution? (Rodopi: Amsterdam, 2013).
Brown, C. G., Religion and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain (Harlow: Longman, 2006).
Collins, M., The Permissive Society and its Enemies: Sixties British Culture (London: Rivers Oram, 2007).
Donnelly, M., Sixties Britain: Culture, Society and Politics (Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2005).
Green, J., All Dressed Up: The Sixties and the Counterculture (London: Pimlico, 1999).
Lewis, J., Women in Britain since 1945: women, family, work and the state in the post-war years (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992).
McLeod, H., The Religious Crisis of the 1960s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
Marwick, A., The Sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy and the United States, c. 1958-c. 1974 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Moore-Gilbert, B. & Seed, J. (eds.), Cultural Revolution? The Challenge of the Arts in the 1960s (London: Routledge, 1992).
Sandbrook, D., White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties (London: Abacus, 2007).
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | The Swinging Sixties |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Angela Bartie
Tel: 0131 650 3768
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Rosie Filipiak
Tel: (0131 6)50 3843
Email: |
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