The Sixties - Social and Cultural Analysis of the Decade 4219-SH025
The goal of this course is not only to provide participants with the thorough historical knowledge of the sixties but also to give them a solid basis for critical socio-cultural interpretation of the decade and its outcome. The sixties here refer to the complex interrelated events and changes that occurred in the period. We start with the examination of political events and move on to analysis of civil rights movement, antiwar movement, radicalization of the student youth, women and gay liberalization. We will wind up with investigation of cultural issues (counterculture, drugs, sexual revolution, alternative rock and blues culture, liberalization in media and moral rules).
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
After completing the course students
in the field of knowledge
will gain neccessary knowldge on the the discussed decade
wil be able to explain the relations between the phenomena taking place in the decade
will understand and notice the international context of the decade
will know the directions of development and evolution of the United States in the domestic and international dimention;
in the field of skills
will be able to explain the reasons and dynamics of the events taking place in the USA
will be able to formulate conclusions and evaluations of the discussed social phenomena
will be able to explain the course of the political events in the USA and abroad
will posess advanced skills of interdisciplinary analysis to present and analyse the events in the USA
in the field of competence
will be open for new ideas and phenomena in the United States in the discussed decade
will understand the importance of the transformations for the citizen of a democratic state
will be aware of the role of events for contemporary United States
will be able to discuss on controversial topics of the decade respecting other pints of view.
Assessment criteria
Active participation in the classes and presence at them (50%);
at least one presentation on one of the subjects discussed, chosen by student and approved by teacher (10%);
5-page end of semester essay on a subject accepted by teacher (10 %) and a short discussion of the paper
written in-class essay for the final grade (zaliczenie) - 30%
Grading scale:
0-60 - 2
61-68 - 3
69-76 - 3,5
77-84 - 4
85-92 - 4,5
93-100 - 5
Bibliography
Readings will include a mixture of primary sources and key texts and scholarly work assessing those sources. Such as the following
Harrington, The Other America
Freidan, The Feminine Mystique
Nader, Unsafe at Any Speed
The Port Huron Statement
Carson, Silent Spring
Kennedy, Inaugural Address
King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Malcolm X, “The Bullet or the Ballot”
Bernstein, “The Quest for Security”
Woods, “Dixie’s Dove: J. William Fulbright and the Vietnam War”
Jones, “Before Montgomery and Greensboro”
Torry, “Apocalypse Then”
Harbutt, “American Challenge, Soviet Response”
Eskew, “‘Bombingham’”
Brauer, “Kennedy, Johnson, and the War on Poverty”
Rome, “‘Give Earth a Chance’”
Graham, “Flaunting the Freak Flag”
McAndrews, “The Politics of Principle”
Mathews, “Cultural Fundamentalism the ERA”
Suran, “Coming Out against the War”
O’Neil, Coming Apart
Gitlin, The Sixties
Unger, The Movement
Loss, Pop Dreams
Rorabaugh, Berkeley at War
Caute, The Year of the Barricades
Herring, America’s Longest War
Miller, Hippies and American Values
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: