Modern and Contemporary Economic and Social History

Code:

SOCI012

Acronym:

HESEC2

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	History

Instance: 2024/2025 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Sociology
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Sociology

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
SOCI	62	SOCI - Study Plan	1	-	6	41	162

Teaching language

Portuguese
Obs.: Português

Objectives

1. Apply the specific concepts of historical analysis to the study of the Contemporary period.


2. Know the main aspects of economic and social thought.


3. Discuss the main lines of permanence and rupture in contemporary societies.

Learning outcomes and competences

1. Deepen critical thinking on the main contemporary economic and social events and processes.


2. Use the historiographic practices of the historiographic field and understand their complementarity with Sociology


3. Discuss the processes of modernization, innovation, disruption, tradition, and structural continuities that mark the Contemporary Era.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Part I. The formation of the contemporary capitalist economy

1. Introduction to the study of Contemporary Economic and Social History. New problems and new social dynamics. The pace and scope of change. Transformations and tradition.
2. The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.
3. Liberal revolutions and the social-legal and political transformations in the western world, between late 18th century and mid-19th century.
4. Political confrontation in the 19th century: liberalism and democracy; nationalism and internationalism.
5. The great social transformations in the 18th and 19th centuries: rural exodus, European emigration, urbanization, cultural massification, bourgeois identity and working-class identity
6. The «social question» and the labor movement.

Part II. Total wars, the crisis of liberalism and the ideological confrontation in the first half of the 20th century.

1. The two world wars and the great crisis of capitalist civilization
2. The Soviet Revolution: From Sovietism to Stalinism.
3. The Great Depression: causes and general characterization of the economic crisis of 1929.
4. The crisis of the liberal model in the economy and political conceptions
5. Rise of fascism, political polarization and «totalitarianism»
6. World War II: A New International Order

Part III. The bipolar world, the «cold war» and the emergence of other «worlds»

1. The transformations of capitalism: Welfare State and mass consumption
2. Decolonization, social revolutions and regional conflicts.
3. «Revolution!»: cultural revolutions and the emergence of youth culture.
4. Globalization: implosion of the Soviet model, destruction of the Welfare State, the widening of the North-South gap, neoliberal ideological hegemony.

Mandatory literature

HOBSBAWM, Eric J.; A Era das Revoluções, 1789-1848, Presença, 1978
HOBSBAWM, Eric J.; A Era dos Extremos. História breve do século XX, Presença, 1996
LANDES, David S.; A riqueza e a pobreza das nações. Por que algumas são tão ricas e outras tão pobres , Gradiva, 2005
LÉON, Pierre (dir.); História Económica e Social do Mundo, Sá da Costa, 1983
RÉMOND, René; Introdução à História do Nosso Tempo. Do Antigo Regime aos nossos dias, Gradiva, 1994
ROBERTS, J. M.; História do Século XX, Presença, 2007

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theory-practical classes will consist of expository method/analysis/discussion of course contents, using texts, graphs, statistics and other material, fostering, whenever possible, the participation of students in the critical discussion of topics. Tutorials will focus essentially on the supervision of students’ individual and colective work and on the participation of the students in debates guided and developed from previous reading of docimnetary sources and/or bibliographical excerpts.

 

keywords

Humanities > History > Economic history
Humanities > History > Contemporary History
Humanities > History > Social history

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	70,00
Participação presencial	0,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	15,00
Trabalho escrito	15,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	70,00
Frequência das aulas	41,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	51,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

With the exception of cases foreseen by the Evaluation Rules, frequency obtaining implies the presence in at least 75% of TP lessons and 75% of TO lessons.  Attendance is a requirement of frequency obtaining.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final grade = Final exam (65%) + Presentation/discussion of a scientific paper (35%)

The group oral presentation of a case study accounts for 35% of the final grade. The remaining part (65%) corresponds to the mark obtained in the exam. The minimum mark for both components is 8 marks. All assessment components must be completed.

Examinations or Special Assignments

N. a.

Internship work/project

N. a.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students with special regimes are not dismissed from complying with all the evaluation rules, but they might do it according to the legislation applicable to their specific cases and they may also request the support of SAED, if necessary.

Classification improvement

There is a possibility of classification improvement, in a final exam, according to FLUP’s Evaluation Rules.

Observations

Assessment components for foreign students may, if necessary, be submitted in Spanish, English or French.