LHIST5222 The Impact of Thatcherism: Politics, Economics, and Society Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This course explores the way Britain was transformed in the 1980s, the era of Margaret Thatcher. The course explores the political history of the period, but situates this within a wider context of economic and societal transformation. The course will enable students to understand the transformative processes that gave shape to contemporary British society and politics.   

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures/seminars 

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR 

Directed study 

4-12 scheduled hours, the exact number varying according to the balance of 1:1s, 2:1s, or small groups. The plan will be confirmed by the start of the course, taking into account student numbers and      the proposed  topics, readings, and specific tasks.

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150 

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE. 

Summative Assessments

For the written assignment students will gather and analyse data with understanding of the social, economic and political context of 1980s Britain. For the exam, students will utilise knowledge of the societal, economic and political context of 1980s Britain to answer questions asked.

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Edmund Neill, Conservatism (Polity Press, 2021)
• Making Thatcher’s Britain, ed. Ben Jackson and Robert Saunders (Cambridge University Press, 2012)

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Political History of 1980s Britain
• Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister
• Cultural Change in 1980s Britain
• The Legacy of Thatcherism