Economic, Social and Cultural History

Subject Group

Research projects

The History Faculty at Cambridge has a long tradition of distinguished research and teaching in economic and social history from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. J. H. Clapham introduced a paper in 'English Economic History' in 1909 and was the first occupant of the chair in economic history created in 1928. He was followed in the chair by M. M. Postan. In the years after World War Two, Cambridge pioneered the study of historical demography and social history, which led to the founding of the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure in 1964 by Peter Laslett and E. A. Wrigley. In more recent times, cultural history has joined economic and social history as a strength of the Faculty.

Research

Economic, social and cultural history at Cambridge is distinguished by more than its impressive breadth and depth of coverage. We are proud of our shared commitment to balanced attention to economic, social and cultural themes and methodologies. Indeed, one important research frontier is now located at the meeting point of the economic, the social and the cultural. We recognize also that the history of the economy, society and culture is often inseparable from the history of power and its uses and institutions, in short, policy and politics. Although much of our work focuses on Britain, we are committed to comparative and transnational perspectives. This is reflected in the fact that many members of this subject group are members of other subject groups as well (Ancient and Medieval, Early Modern, Modern European, Modern British). We reach out, in every direction, to other disciplines: historical demography and geography, social and political sciences, literature, art history and divinity. Members of this subject group edit the History and Policy website and maintain collaborative links with the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, the Centre for History and Economics, the Centre for Quantitative Economic History, and the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Details about individual research programmes can be found by using the links under Academic Staff below. However, some of the research themes that link us in formal or informal collaboration are these;

Long term developments in the economy, population and social structure (Allen, Daunton, Kitson, Marfany, Mora-Sitja, Muldrew, Shaw-Taylor, Szreter, Thompson, van den Heuvel)
The role of labour (Mora-Sitja, Reid, Shaw-Taylor, van den Heuvel, Williams)
The economy as a cultural phenomenon (Daunton, Muldrew)
Social organization and social disorder in the medieval (Carpenter) and early modern periods (Clark, Shaw-Taylor, van den Heuvel)
Popular religious and political cultures (Lawrence, Reid, Watkins)

The history of sex, gender and the family (Delap, Foyster, Kitson, Klein, Marfany, Mora-Sitja, Pooley, Shaw-Taylor, Szreter, Thom, van den Heuvel)

Forms of knowledge and identity and their impact on economic and social practice: piety (Carpenter, Watkins), credit and worth (Muldrew), aristocratic mores, honour and politeness (Carpenter, Foyster, Klein), national identity (Carpenter, Mandler), economic and social thought (Mandler, Reid, Szreter, Pooley, Thom, Thompson)

Relationships between the State, policy, politics and civil society (Clark, Carpenter, Daunton, Klein, Lawrence, Mandler, Pooley, Reid, Szreter, Thom)

Comparative and transnational studies and globalization (Daunton, Mandler, Marfany, Mora-Sitja, O'Reilly, Shaw-Taylor, Szreter, van den Heuvel)

Postgraduate Teaching and Related Activities

Graduate training in economic, social and cultural history proceeds in several MPhil courses that vary in subject matter and combine, in different patterns, taught, supervised and written components. A principal vehicle of graduate training is the ESRC-recognized MPhil in Economic and Social History. However, many students receive training in economic, social and cultural history in the MPhil in Historical Studies or in one of the other specialized MPhil programmes, in Medieval History, Early Modern History, and Modern European History. Many students proceed from successful work in an MPhil at Cambridge or at another institution to the PhD programme.

An important element of graduate training is the research seminar, attended by graduate students, Faculty and members of the wider academic community. For economic, social and cultural history, the most relevant seminars are:

Medieval Economic and Social History
Early Modern Economic and Social History
Restoration to Reform 1660-1832
Modern Economic and Social History
Modern Cultural History
Quantitative History
History and Economics

Graduate students also run their own workshops in specific fields: Economic and Social History Workshop, Cultural History Workshop, World History Workshop and Gender History Workshop.

Undergraduate Teaching

In Part I of the Tripos, the economic, social and cultural history of Britain is taught in five chronologically distinguished papers:

Paper 7, British Economic and Social History 380-1100
Paper 8, British Economic and Social History 1050-c.1500
Paper 9, British Economic and Social History 1450-1750
Paper 10, British Economic and Social History 1700-1914
Paper 11, British Economic and Social History since c.1870

In addition, several Themes and Sources options cover topics in economic, social and cultural history. These are:

Option i: Money and Society from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period
Option ix: The History of Collecting
Option x: Migrants: emigration and immigration within and without Europe, the New World and the Antipodes from the fourth to the twentieth century

Part II of the Tripos offers opportunities for deeper investigation of economic, social and cultural history. Three specified subjects (supervised papers) are currently offered:

Paper 13: Death in the Middle Ages, c.1050-c.1550
Paper 21: The politics of gender in Britain, 1790-1990
Paper 22: The Long Road to Modernization: Spain, 1800-2000

Three special subjects are offered:

Option I: Class, Party and the Politics of Social Identity in England, 1914-1945
Option N: Margaret Mead and the Public Face of Social Science, c.1928-c.1978
Option O: The Political Economy of Globalization, 1939-1974

Web Officer : Dr Natalia Mora-Sitja