Consumer Revolution? Food, Things and Fashion in England 1500-1800: Context (HIH3598)

Staff	Professor Jane Whittle - Convenor
Credit Value	30
ECTS Value	15
NQF Level	6
Pre-requisites	At least 90 credits of History at level 1 and/or level 2
Co-requisites	HIH3597 Consumer Revolution? Food, Things and Fashion in England 1500-1800: Sources
Duration of Module	Term 1: 11 weeks; Term 2: 11 weeks;

Module aims

To examine the changing nature of consumption in early modern England, particularly changes in diet, housing and clothing, and the ways in which such things were acquired. It examines the adoption of new items such as tea, coffee, clocks, forks and cotton cloth, changes in housing, and the spread of shops, and asks whether by the eighteenth century, these changes constituted a 'consumer revolution'. It draws on a theoretical literature about the place of consumption in modern life, and examines whether it is applicable to historical circumstances, as well as surveying the new and lively field of historical research into early modern consumption. The module investigates how items were marketed and acquired by consumers; it examines how and why new patterns of consumption were adopted, and who by, in particular looking at the role of gender; and looks at people's attitudes to changing consumption patterns.

ILO: Module-specific skills

1. Evaluate the different complex themes within the topic 'Consumer Revolution? Food, Things and Fashion in England 1500-1800'
2. Make close specialist evaluation of the key developments within the period, developed through independent study and seminar work

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

3. Analyse the key developments within a particular historical environment
4. Focus on and comprehend complex issues
5. Understand and deploy historical terminology in a comprehensible manner

ILO: Personal and key skills

6. Carry out independent and autonomous study in addition to group work, including presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
7. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
8. Present complex arguments orally

Syllabus plan

After an introductory session on the meaning of consumption, the following topics may be covered:

Food and diet, drinking and sociability
Cooking and dining
Elite houses
Vernacular houses, furnishing the home
New things (clocks and mirrors)
Elite fashion
Men’s clothes
Plebeian fashion
Purchasing goods
Shopping and gender
Was there a ‘Consumer revolution’? Different theoretical approaches will also be considered such as Norbert Elias on manners and etiquette
Anthropological work on gifts and commodities
Thorsten Veblen on emulation

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
44	256	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching	44	22 x 2 hour seminars
Guided independent study	256	Reading and preparation for seminars and presentations

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Seminar discussion	Ongoing through course	1-6, 9	Oral feedback from tutor and fellow students

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
50	50	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	25	3000 words	1-8	Oral and written feedback
Essay	25	3000 words	1-8	Oral and written feedback
Unseen examination	50	2 questions in 2 hours	1-8	Oral and written feedback

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay (3000 words)	Essay (3000 words)	1-8	Referral/Deferral period
Essay (3000 words)	Essay (3000 words)	1-8	Referral/Deferral period
Unseen examination (2 questions in 2 hours)	Unseen examination (2 questions in 2 hours)	1-8	Referral/Deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

John E. Crowley, The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America (John Hopkins University Press, 2001).
Matthew Johnson, English Houses 1300-1800: Vernacular Architecture, Social Life (Pearson Longman, 2010).
Joan Thirsk, Food in Early Modern England: Phases, Fads and Fashions 1500-1760 (Hambledon Continuum, London, 2007).
Susan Vincent, Dressing the Elite: Clothes in Early Modern England, (Berg, 2003).
Woodruff D. Smith, Consumption and the Making of Respectability 1600-1800 (Routledge, 2002).
Amanda Vickery, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England (Yale University Press, 2009).
L. Weatherill, Consumer Behaviour and Material Culture in Britain 1660-1760, (Routledge, London, 1988).
Jane Whittle and Elizabeth Griffiths, Consumption and Gender in the Early Seventeenth-Century Household: The World of Alice Le Strange (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Available as distance learning?

Origin date

01/12/2012

Last revision date

14/12/2018

Key words search

Consumer Revolution, Food, Fashion, English History