HIST 355
AMERICAN SOCIAL HISTORY
HIST 355. American Social History (A)
Three hours lecture (3).
Prerequisite: Three hours of history at 100 level.
An intensive study of American life, customs, character, and social problems, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
The course is arranged in a topical fashion and includes discussion of the following:
I. The Family
A. The Family Retreat From the City
B. The Family in the Emerging Urban Environment
II. Medicine and Health
A. The Social Transformation of American Medicine
B. Medicine and Society in the Twentieth Century
C. Alternative Medicine
III. Work
A. Making Workers More Efficient
B. The Corporate Person
IV. Housing
A. Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie Home
B. The Future of Housing
V. Raising Children
A. Coping With Adolescence
B. The High School
VI. Communications
A. The Telephone
B. The Age of Television
VII. Comsumption
A. The Department Store
B. The Malling of America
VIII. Gathering Places
A. The Poor Man's Club
B. Social Life in a Working-Class Tavern
IX. Managing the Environment
A. Designing Places for Mechanized Leisure
B. Constructing Make-Believe Cities
X. Old Age
A. The Obsolescence of Old Age
B. When To Retire?
XI. Heroes
A. Horatio Alger, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, and the Cowboy
B. Heroes on the Playing Field
Although the course would generally be classified as lecture, significant portions of class time are devoted to questions designed to stimulate critical thinking skills and the examination of primary documents which introduce students to the basic raw materials of historical study. In addition, regularly scheduled class periods are reserved for discussions on assigned readings and monographs. Students prepare written critical analyses as preparation for thoughtful discussions.
1). Students will be able to analyze the modes of everyday life in modern America.
2). Students will be able to demonstrate through oral and written analyses how present social developments flow from and are intimately connected to the past.
3). Students will develop historical consciousness by comparing and contrasting primary sources.
4). Students will be able to think critically and demonstrate this skill through various modes of writing.
Student assessment may include in-class tests, written analyses of readings, comparisons of social life as revealed in selected fictional writings, term papers, class participation, and the final exam.
None.
Date Action Reviewed by
January 2005 Reviewed and Approved by Charles McClellan