Social History of the United States in 20th and 21st Century 4219-AW229
Lecture 1. Introduction: “Periodising” the 20th Century
Lecture 2. The Age of Reform. Labor, Capital, and Industrial Efficiency
Progressive Reform: Social and Political. Varieties of Progressivism
Feminism, Maternalism, Progressivism. Progressivism in the World: Empire and War
Lecture 3. The Politics of Conformity in the 1920s. The Great Migration and “The Problem of the Color Line”. Anticommunism, Prohibition, Nativism
Lecture 4. The Crash. The Great Depression: Causes and Dynamics. The Policy “Big Bang” of the New Deal. Making a New Deal: Movements, Politics, and Policies. Challenges to the New Deal: Left, Right, and Center
Lecture Five: Global Catastrophe. America and the International Crisis
World War II Homefront
Lecture Six
PAPER 1 DUE
The Cold War and Domestic Anticommunism. Causes and Consequences of the Long Boom. Suburbanization and Postwar Culture.
Lecture Seven. The Black Freedom Struggle. Contexts: Regional, National, International. The “Classical” Phase of the Civil Rights Movement
Lecture Eight. Liberal Hour and Radical Changes
JFK, LBJ, and the Great Society. The Vietnam Quagmire. The New Left, Black Power, and the Global 1960s. Second Wave Feminism
Lecture Nine. The 1970s as a Pivotal Decade
The End of the Boom. The Rise of the Right. The Age of Reagan. Cold War Endgames and the Politics of Globalization. What were the “Culture Wars” and Why Did They Happen?
Lecture 10. After the Cold War
Turn of a Century. The New Gilded Age. The Clinton Years
Lecture Eleven. After September 11
War on Terror Nationally and Internationally. National Security.
PAPER TWO DUE
Lecture Twelve. The Unipolar Moment and Its consequences domestically and internationally.
Lecture Thirteen
Domestic Policies after 2004. Immigration, race and DEI/
Lecture Fourteen
Donald Trump and Trumpism
Lecture Fifteen
Final Exam.
Type of course
elective courses
Mode
Self-reading
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
identify the broad phases of change in American culture, economics, and politics over the course of the 20th/21st century;
distinguish between major historical periods within the century;
contextualise each major period through comparative and causal assessments of what came before and after in culture, economics, and politics;
n the field of knowledge:
1. will have knowledge about the period discussed
2. will be able to explain the relationships between the socio-economic and political phenomena of the period discussed
3. will notice the international conditions of the phenomena and changes taking place in the USA
4. will know the directions of development and evolution of the United States in the national and international dimension.
in the area of skills:
1. will be able to explain the causes and dynamics of phenomena occurring in the United States
2. analyze cultural processes and phenomena occurring in the United States correctly using normative systems
3. identify, describe social phenomena and manifestations of social culture in the United States using basic theoretical and methodological tools from the field of sociological sciences, as well as formulate and solve research problems in this area
4. communicate on American studies topics related to the United States using specialized terminology in English and using advanced information and communication techniques in the area of competences:
1. use acquired, interdisciplinary knowledge in the field of American studies on the United States to formulate their own opinions, and recognize its importance in solving cognitive and practical problems
2. critically receive content about the United States transmitted by the media and other environments
3. will be aware of the role of events from the period discussed for the contemporary United States.
connect national developments to changes in America’s role in the world;
appraise contemporary debates about American politics and culture in a historically informed manner;
analyse and interpret historical documents and scholarship in the service of making arguments about change over time
Assessment criteria
Students will be expected to do the assigned weekly reading and to attend lectures and weekly discussion sections. In addition to the papers and participation in section, students’ grasp of the
material will be assessed through a presentation and final exam. Course grades are broken down as follows:
20% participation
15% presentation
20% paper 1
20% paper 2
25% final exam
Bibliography
Colin Gordon, ed., Major Problems in American History, 1920-1945 (New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 1999)
Eric Rauchway, The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008)
James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996)
Robert Griffith and Paula Baker, eds., Major Problems in American History Since 1945, (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2007)
Nancy MacLean, The American Women’s Movement, 1945-2000: A Brief History with Documents (New York: Bedford St. Martins, 2009)
Bruce Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (New York: Da Capo Press, 2001).
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: