Checking date: 04/06/2021

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Course: 2022/2023

Social and economic history of 19th and 20th century in Europe
(13028)
Bachelor in Sociology (2008 Study Plan) (Plan: 151 - Estudio: 208)


Coordinating teacher: CARMONA PIDAL, JUAN ANTONIO

Department assigned to the subject: Social Sciences Department

Type: Electives
ECTS Credits: 6.0 ECTS

Course:
Semester:



Objectives
Regarding knowledge: - to identify economic, social and demographic dynamics in the long run related to modern economic growth - to relate these dynamics during history with analytical categories of sociology like modernization, urbanization, secularization - to use appropriately use basic economic concepts (productivity, convergence, structural change, integration, globalization, income distribution) - to correctly interpret demographic (birth rate, death rate, fertility) and socio-economic indicators (growth rate, GDP per capita and hour worked, unemployment rate, Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient) which are related to the topics of the course. Regarding skills and abilities: - to develop basic abilities regarding the analyis of texts, compilation and processing of information, precision in the use of analytic concepts, clarity in establishing causal relationships between phenomena; - to develop advanced abilities regarding comparing texts, estimation and use of quantitative indicators, the writing of a complex text according to academic and scientific criteria; - to develop skills regarding the public (oral) presentation of the results of the students' work
Skills and learning outcomes
Link to document

Description of contents: programme
1) Modern economic growth and the demographic transition 2) Dynamic forces of growth: markets, institutions and technological change 3) The evolution of living standards and inequality in income distribution 4) The industrial revolution: Structural and organizational change 5) Globalization and migration: the impact on labour markets 6) The political economy of the the two World Wars and the Great Depression 7) The demand for social protection and the expansion of the welfare state in the 20th century 8) Divergence and convergence of living standards in the long run
Learning activities and methodology
Competences regarding knowledge and skills will be aquired by the student through: -lectures, designed to present analytical concepts and the historical traits of the program's topics; -resolution of home- and classwork by the students, designed to deepen the analytical and historical content through compulsory readings and data work; -writing a final essay. The course will develop as follows: Students will receive three types of teaching material: a) theoretical material (that is power point slides, compulsory readings, data bases) b) weekly assignments, consisting in 1) the answer of analytic questions regarding the compulsory readings, 2) the estimation of simple quantitative indicators o 3) the analysis of graphs and texts in short essay form during the class. The works can be individual or to be carried out in groups of two (with the aim of promoting group work), and will be handed in to the instructor in written form. They will be discussed in class. c) a list of topics with bibliography for the final essay. The essays are expected to be elaborated by each students alone, to promote the capacity to work individually). The teaching materials will include a guide on "How to write an essay", designed to help the students to comply with the basic criteria for the elaboration of academic assignments/reports. Apart from handing in their essays in written form, students will also present to the public (the class) there main results in an oral presentation. The students will receive at the beginning of course a time schedule with days and hours of the lectures, assigments/homeworks and presentations. The 6 ECTS credits correspond approximately to 3 presential credits, 2 credits for homeworks/assignments and 1 credit for the elaboration of the essay and presentation.
Assessment System
  • % end-of-term-examination 60
  • % of continuous assessment (assigments, laboratory, practicals...) 40

Basic Bibliography
  • ALLEN, Robert C. Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction.. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2011
  • CLARK, Gregory. Factory Discipline. Journal of Economic History, 54, n. 1, pp. 128-163. 1994
  • FINDLAY, Ronald, O'ROURKE, Kevin H.. Power and Plenty. Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2007.
  • HOBSBAWM, Eric. The Age of Extremes: the short twentieth century, 1914-1991, chapter 10. London 1994.
  • JAMES, Harold. The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression, ch. 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
  • JONES Eric. The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003 (3rd ed.).
  • LIVI BACCI Massimo. A concise history of world population. Oxford: Blackwell. 2007
  • MILANOVIC Branko. The haves and the have-nots : a brief and idiosyncratic history of global inequality . Basic Books. 2011
  • MOKYR Joel. The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress, chapter 7. Oxford Paperbacks, 1992.
  • NORTH Douglass C., THOMAS Robert. The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History. Cambridge University Press, 1973/76.
  • O'ROURKE Kevin, WILLIAMSON Jeffrey. Globalization and History. The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy. Cambridge, MA/London: The MIT Press, 1999.
  • PERSSON, K.Gunnar. An Economic History of Europe. Cambridge, 2010.
  • RODRIK Dani. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. W.W. Norton. 2011
  • SANCHEZ ALONSO Blanca. Las causas de la emigración española, 1880-1930. Alianza, Madrid: 1995.
  • TEMIN Peter. Lessons from the great depression : the Lionel Robbins lectures for 1989. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 1989
  • WRIGLEY, E.A.. A Simple Model of London's Importance in Changing English Society and Economy 1650-1750. Past & Present, No. 37 (Jul., 1967), pp. 44-70.
Additional Bibliography
  • ACEMOGLU, Daron / ROBINSON, James. Why Nations Fail. New York: Crown Business. 2012
  • ALESINA, Alberto; GLAESER, Edward; SACERDOTE, Bruce. Why Doesn't the US have a European-Style Welfare System. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 8524. 2001
  • BROADBERRY Stephen, HARRISON Mark. 'Economics of the Two World Wars', in New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. London, Macmillan: 2008.
  • BROADBERRY, Stephen / O'ROURKE, Kevin. The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press. 2010
  • BURNETTE, Joyce. An investigation of the Male-female Wage GAp in industrial revolution britain. Economic History Review, 1997, 257-281.
  • CLARK, Greogory. A Farewell to Alms. Princeton, 2007.
  • DE VRIES, Jan. The Industrious Revolution. Cambridge University Press. 2008
  • DIAMOND, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. W.W. Norton. 1999
  • EICHENGREEN, B.. Globalizing Capital. Princeton University Press. 1996
  • FEINSTEIN Charles, TEMIN Peter, TONIOLO Gianni. The European Economy Between the Wars. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 1997.
  • HATTON Timothy, WILLIAMSON Jeffrey. The Age of Mass Migration. Causes and Economic Impact. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 1998.
  • HUMPHRIES, Jane. Childhood and child labour in the British Industrial Revolution. Cambridge University Press. 2012
  • JONES, Eric. Growth recurring : economic change in world history . Claredon Press. 1999
  • LINDERT Peter H.. Growing Public. Social Spending and Economics Growth since the Eighteen Century. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 2004.
  • MOKYR, Joel. The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy . Princeton University Press. 2005
  • REHER David, SANZ-GIMENO A.. Mortality and economic development over the course of modernization: An analysis of short-run fluctuations in Spain, 1850-1990¿,. Population Studies, 2000, 54, n.2, pp. 135-152.
  • THOMPSON, E.P.. Customs in Common: Studies in Traditional Popular Culture. London: Merlin. 1991
  • WILLIAMSON, Jeffrey G.. Trade and poverty : when the Third World fell behind . Cambridge: MIT Press. 2011

The course syllabus may change due academic events or other reasons.