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The Holocaust, Genocide and Society

Module description

On this module you will inquire into the nature and conditions of genocide and the Holocaust and reflect on what can be learned from these phenomena in aid of understanding human nature and social organisation in modern society. You will develop interdisciplinary perspectives and insights that draw on theories, methodologies and concepts from sociology, social psychology, historical explanation and moral philosophy. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This is an interdisciplinary course, and not as such a history of the Holocaust or detailed comparative study of genocide. The overarching questions you will pursue are: What kind of events are the Holocaust and genocide, how do they fit into and relate to the modern societies in which they occur, and what are their ramifications and significance for the normal civilised lives that we currently enjoy? The module 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 under SOC3046a and philosophy students under PHL3046a.This is because historical and social scientific explanation and understanding of the Holocaust and kindred phenomena inherently raises questions of a philosophical nature. The module therefore draws on theories, methodologies and concepts from sociology, social psychology, historical explanation and moral philosophy. Issues you will likely explore  include: questions on the distinctiveness and newness of genocide, whether the Holocaust is a unique event, 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, genocide 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 in particular and genocide more generally.
• 2. Reflect on the significance and import of the Holocaust and genocide for wider conceptions of the social organisation and ethical life of modern societies.
• 3. To examine 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 genocide 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, genocide 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, genocide 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:

• What was the Holocaust and what can be learned from studying it?
•  The concept and practice of genocide
• Is the Holocaust a unique historical event?  Theoretical, and conceptual and political questions   
•  The Dialectic of Enlightenment, civilisation and progress
• The Modernity thesis: is the Holocaust an essentially modern phenomenon?
• The nature of evil: Radical or Banal?
• Social psychology: situationist explanation and the fundamental attributional error
• Explaining direct perpetrators' actions: Browning's situationist explanation,  Goldhagen's cognitive explanation and non-rational modes of explanation
• Structure and agency in the Holocaust: ‘Intentionalist’ versus ‘functionalist’ conceptions
• Rescue and resistance: supererogation, ordinary goodness and the social conditions of altruism
• The Bystander effect and its significance in modern society
• Normalisation of the Holocaust? Comparison & analogy with other genocides and examples of institutionalised wrong- and evil-doing
• Holocaust  denial
• Knowledge, ignorance and moral responsibility
• Collective responsibility/guilt, and problems of redress
• Judgement and understanding: compatible or incompatible? 

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)

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

L. May (2010) Genocide : a normative account

B. Schlink (1998) The Reader

A. Vetlesen (2005) Evil and Human Agency: Understanding Collective Evildoing

Key words search

Holocaust, genocide, society, philosophical reflection, social scientific inquiry