- UCAS course code
- VT17
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course unit details:
From Reagan to the Rainbow Coalition: Political Change in Contemporary America, 1968-2000
Unit code | AMER30111 |
---|---|
Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 3 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
In the America of 2024, constant political upheaval and sharp ideological disagreement can feel unprecedented. This module will allow students to historicise such contemporary developments, by studying another period of rapid change that shaped much of current political discourse—the last third of the twentieth century, from 1968 to 2000. These discussions will spotlight key figures including Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, and Gloria Steinem, movements including those against American intervention in Central America, and for the continued expansion of civil rights, and critical debates around the meaning of class, identity, and politics in an increasingly global and diverse society. The module approaches these years as a moment of challenge and transformation in American political life, where the parameters of political discussion were understood as ‘up for grabs’ in the wake of the seeming collapse of postwar America’s economic prosperity and social progress.
The module highlights a history of this period beyond conservative domination, informed by an array of secondary literature, political texts, and cultural sources. Using these documents, discussions will centre around the transformations and ideas that shaped how politicians, activists, and citizens understood concepts like identity, ideologies, and globalisation in a moment of upheaval. From these discussions, students will interrogate conventional understandings of the period and consider the alternative possibilities that inform new considerations of contemporary America, in the last century and our own time.
Aims
The aims of this unit are:
- To develop an interdisciplinary understanding of why the final decades of the twentieth century were so significant for modern American history and contemporary politics.
- To comprehend the proliferation of political movements and ideas during this period of American history.
- To engage with scholarship and primary source material around the political, cultural, and social climate of the late twentieth century and to make well-informed and contextualised arguments about them.
- To further students’ analytical and interpretive skills, using the primary sources that they are introduced to throughout the module.
- To understand how intellectual currents and ideas shaped understandings of American society throughout the period.
Learning outcomes
- Logical thought and critical reasoning.
- Strong oral and written communication.
- Resourcefulness in the gathering, analysis, and evaluation of key sources.
- Time management and self-motivation from the completion of independent work to deadlines.
- Understanding a range of viewpoints and critical approaches to the origins of some of the most significant issues in politics and society.
- Ability to engage in constructive debates with peers through class discussion and oral presentations.
- Ability to work well with others, to acknowledge competing views, and to work collaboratively on tasks.
Teaching and learning methods
This class will be taught by 1-hour lecture and 2-hour seminar (both within a weekly 3-hour session)
Materials including seminar questions, web links, reading lists, exercises, and handouts will be posted on Blackboard (and included in the module handbook).
Knowledge and understanding
- Demonstrate a grasp of the main debates that shaped US politics and society between 1968 and 2000.
- Comprehend the role that structural factors, such as deindustrialisation, and globalisation, played in contributing to shifts in American political attitudes in this period.
- Use interdisciplinary scholarly ideas to develop a nuanced understanding of these decades and their significance for American history and politics.
Intellectual skills
- Think critically and make critical judgements about contemporary American history.
- Demonstrate a complex understanding of how Americans understood their own political, cultural, and physical surroundings in the late twentieth century.
- Summarise and analyse key primary sources and secondary literature, and draw reasoned conclusions from them.
Practical skills
- Plan and complete independent research on late twentieth-century America.
- Make effective use of resources in physical and electronic formats related to the subjects discussed by the module.
- Write clearly about differing scholarly interpretations of the subject.
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- Find and critically evaluate material from physical and electronic sources
- Produce written work that collects and integrates evidence to evaluate critical arguments.
Assessment methods
Method | Weight |
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Other | 40% |
Written assignment (inc essay) | 60% |
Recommended reading
Indicative reading:
Jefferson Cowie, Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class (New Press, 2010).
Lily Geismer, Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality (Public Affairs Books, 2022).
Van Gosse and Richard Moser (eds.), The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America (Temple University Press, 2003).
Nelson Lichtenstein and Judith Stein, A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 2023).
Daniel Rodgers, Age of Fracture (Harvard University Press, 2011).
Bruce Schulman, ‘Post-1968 U.S. History: Neo-Consensus History for the Age of Polarisation’, Reviews in American History 47/3 (2019), pp.479-99.
Bruce Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (Da Capo Press, 2001).
Robert Self, All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy since the 1960s (Hill and Wang, 2013).