The Holocaust and Society
| Module title | The Holocaust and Society |
|---|---|
| Module code | SOC3046 |
| Academic year | 2020/1 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Nigel Pleasants (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 10 |
|---|
Module description
In this module you will investigate the nature and causes of the Nazi Holocaust and reflect on the continuing significance of this momentous event for our understanding of human nature and social organisation. You will draw on theories, methodologies and concepts from sociology, social psychology, historical explanation and moral philosophy. The module combines historical and social scientific inquiry with philosophical reflection on the nature and significance of the Holocaust and kindred events, processes and institutions. In virtue of its interdisciplinary ethos, the module is delivered simultaneously to sociology students (taking SOC2046 & SOC3046) and philosophy students (taking PHL2046 & PHL3046), showing how historical and social scientific explanation and understanding of the Holocaust and kindred phenomena inevitably raises questions of a philosophical nature.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This is an interdisciplinary course, and not as such a history of the Holocaust. It combines historical and social scientific inquiry with philosophical reflection on the nature and significance of the Holocaust and (possibly) kindred events, processes and institutions. Reflecting its interdisciplinary ethos, the module is delivered simultaneously to social science students and philosophy students taking PHL3046 - because historical and social scientific explanation and understanding of the Holocaust and kindred phenomena inherently raises questions of a philosophical nature. In this module you will therefore draw on theories, methodologies and concepts from sociology, social psychology, historical explanation and moral philosophy. Issues to be explored include: questions on what kind of event the Holocaust was, what kind of knowledge and understanding it affords, and its relationship to other events and practices of a putatively similar kind; different approaches to explaining the causes, conditions and essential features of the Holocaust; the nature of evil and the moral character of perpetrators and other participants; the relationship between the Holocaust and modernity; reflection on human nature, civilisation, social organisation and social progress; questions on perpetrator motivation and action, moral responsibility and blame.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Think social scientifically about the nature, origins and causes of the Holocaust.
- 2. Reflect critically on the significance and import of the Holocaust for wider conceptions of the social organisation and ethical life of modern societies.
- 3. Examine critically and assess some of the leading philosophical, social scientific and interpretative attempts to account for socially organised evil- and wrong-doing in modern societies.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Apply and evaluate a range of social scientific and historical explanations and theories of the Holocaust and to identify and reflect on the puzzling and disturbing issues that they generate
- 5. Reflect on the core social scientific and historical disciplines as explanatory and interpretive endeavours and assess their success and limitations in making sense of the Holocaust and other kindred events, processes and institutions
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Reflect on, and examine critically, taken-for-granted moral and cultural beliefs and values
- 7. Analyse and communicate, clearly and directly, a range of social scientific, theoretical, explanatory, epistemological, ontological, and normative issues arising from study of the Holocaust and other kindred events, processes and institutions
- 8. Work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
1.Introduction & orientation: Why study the Holocaust?
2.Uniqueness and comprehensibility: Was the Holocaust a unique event?
3 Dialectic of Enlightenment and the Modernity thesis: was the Holocaust an essentially modern phenomenon?
4 The nature of evil: Radical or Banal?
5 Social psychology: situationist explanation and the fundamental attributional error
6 Explaining direct perpetrators' actions and motivations: Browning's situationist explanation
7 Explaining direct perpetrators' actions and motivations: Goldhagen's cognitive explanation
8 Rescue and resistance: supererogation, ordinary goodness and the social conditions of altruism.
9 Normalisation of the Holocaust? Comparison & analogy with other genocides and putative cases of social wrong- and evil-doing
10 Knowledge, ignorance and responsibility
11 Judgement and understanding: compatible or incompatible?
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | 127 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activity | 16.5 | 11 x 1.5 hour lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activity | 5 | 5 x fortnightly 1 hour smaller group seminars |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 1.5 | Revision session |
| Guided independent study | 47 | Assigned readings associated with each lecture |
| Guided independent study | 40 | Preparation for essay |
| Guided Independent Study | 40 | Preparation for exam |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peer marking and assessment exercise to show students practically good and bad practice and operative practical marking criteria | Seminar based exercise; no coursework | 1-6 | In class |
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 | 50 | 1,800 words | 1-7 | Written feedback |
| Examination | 50 | 1.5 hours | 1-8 | Written feedback |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
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 | Essay (1,800 words) | 1-7 | August/September assessment period |
| Examination | Examination (1.5 hours) | 1-8 | August/September assessment period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
H. Arendt (1965) Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil
Z. Bauman (1989) Modernity and the Holocaust
C. Browning (1992) Ordinary men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland
E. Garrard & G. Scarre (eds) (2003) Moral philosophy and the Holocaust
D. Goldhagen (1997) Hitler's willing executioners: ordinary Germans and the Holocaust
R. Hilberg (1961; 1985) The destruction of the European Jews
D. Jones (1999) Moral responsibility in the Holocaust: A study in the ethics of character
B. Schlink (1998) The Reader
A. Vetlesen (2005) Evil and Human Agency: Understanding Collective Evildoing
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 06/10/2002 |
| Last revision date | 09/07/2018 |