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The Rise of Capitalism in Britain 1660-1830 (Sources)

Module description

A series of economic revolutions – agricultural, consumer, financial, industrial – transformed Britain over the long eighteenth century, in conjunction with the capture of overseas markets through imperial expansion. In this module you will explore these dramatic changes and consider the extent to which they marked the emergence of a modern capitalist society. The profound shift in the role of markets, property rights and wages will be examined from a range of cultural, social, legal, intellectual and political perspectives. What was the effect on people’s lives as more goods were made to be bought and sold in markets, more land came under private ownership, and more people became dependent on selling their labour to survive? You will reflect on these underlying shifts as we consider different aspects of Britain in the long eighteenth century, such as the division of men and women’s labour, attitudes to luxury consumer goods, and the exploitation of natural resources. Throughout the module we will continually situate Britain’s economic development in a global context, from the development of plantation slavery to the dominance of Asian textile production.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module has two broad aims: to show the diverse range primary sources that can be used to study economic history in eighteenth-century Britain; and to explore how these sources can be analysed in relation to the history of capitalism.

In this module, the focus will be on exploring the rich variety of sources historians use to examine economic history, in which dissecting the symbolic meanings in a painting will be equally as important as making calculations from a table of data. You will learn how to examine economic change by combining insights from polemical pamphlets, satirical cartoons, household accounts, rural poetry, court cases, family portraits, how-to manuals, diaries, contracts for indentured servitude, letters or trade cards. You will consider how we can recover evidence of ‘hidden’ forms of work, especially by women, and how we can reconstruct the economic lives of the poor.

You will be encouraged to reflect on how broad theories about the history of capitalism can be used to analyse such sources, while also asking how the primary evidence we examine supports or conflicts with different narratives of capitalist development.

Some familiarity with the early modern period (c.1500-1800) will be helpful, but no specialist knowledge of economic history is necessary. The co-requisite Context module will provide the historiographical and theoretical grounding to explore the sources in this module.

Through working with the extensive primary source collections available, you will develop a range of research, analytical, interpretative and communication skills that can be applied in further academic studies or in graduate careers.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Identify the complex range of sources and methods used for studying economic themes in the eighteenth century
• 2. Analyse sources in terms of their relevance to the history of capitalism
• 3. Evaluate evidence in relation to key debates about British economic developments c.1660-1830

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Analyse primary sources closely to assess their value as historical evidence
• 5. Comprehend and interpret complex texts in historical context
• 6. Understand and deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible and sophisticated manner

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Undertake independent and autonomous study and group work, including presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 8. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment

Syllabus plan

This module will allow you to engage with a wide variety of sources. Usually each week will encourage you to focus on a specific type of source, but sometimes you will be asked to compare a range of different sources. Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Women’s work and the gendered division of labour
• The increase in the numbers of people working for wages
• Unfree workers: servants and slaves
• Theories of capitalism and the new global history of capitalism
• Wealth, poverty and inequality
• Attitudes to work, industriousness and labour discipline
• Agrarian capitalism and the enclosure of common land
• Industrialisation and living standards
• The Anthropocene, or ‘Capitalocene’
• Consumer revolution and luxury goods
• Commodities and markets
• Trade, imperialism and the East India Company
• Financial revolution and the Bank of England
• Financial crises and the South Sea Bubble
• Money, credit and debt

Some of you will already have studied some economic history; others will not. The introductory sessions will therefore be important in offering a broad overview within which framework everyone can place their subsequent work. The co-requisite module will also provide a close focus on the historical sources available for study. You will be expected to prepare for seminars by reading and evaluating the respective sources in advance, and will discuss the issues raised by them in the seminars.

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

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

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

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

• B. Mandeville, The Fable of The Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits (1714)
• F.M. Eden, The State of the Poor: Or, An History of the Labouring Classes in England, from the Conquest to the Present Period (1795, 1797)
• D. Defoe, The Compleat English Tradesman (1726)
• Stephen Duck, ‘The Thresher’s Labour’ (1730) & Mary Collier, ‘The Woman’s Labour’ (1739)
• The Remembrances of Elizabeth Freke 1671-1714, ed. Raymond Anselment (London, 2001).
• The Diary of Edmund Harrold, Wigmaker of Manchester 1712–15, ed. Craig Horner (2008)
• T. Stone, Suggestions for rendering the inclosure of common fields and waste lands a source of population and riches (1787)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – Faculty to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
• British History Online
• Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
• Early English Books Online (EEBO)
• Broadside Ballads Online
• John Johnson Collection (http://johnjohnson.chadwyck.co.uk/marketing.do)
• Court Depositions of South West England, 1500-1700 (http://humanities-research.exeter.ac.uk/womenswork/courtdepositions/)
• The Proceedings of the Old Bailey – http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
• London Lives 1690 to 1800: Crime, Poverty and Social Policy in the Metropolis (https://www.londonlives.org/)
• Burney Collection of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Newspapers Online
• Legacies of British Slave-ownership Database: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs
• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database: https://www.slavevoyages.org/
• ‘The South Sea Scheme’ by William Hogarth (https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-south-sea-scheme)
• 'Jonathan Tyers and his family' https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw08292/Jonathan-Tyers-and-his-family?search=sp&sText=Jonathan+Tyers&rNo=0

Key words search

Capitalism, work, economy, wealth, poverty, industrialisation, finance