Module: HIS6101-20 Epoch of Chaos A Global History of the 1970s

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Dr Clifford Williamson

Module Tutor Contact Details: C.Williamson@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module critically examines the global history of the 1970s and the 1980s. It will look at major themes such as terrorism, violence, social disorder and social change in an era in which the post-war consensus and postcolonial settlements seemed to be overthrown.

The seventies saw the breakup of the Beatles, the Yom Kippur War and the Iranian Revolution. There was stagflation, the rise of monetarism and the fall of Keynesianism. There was the mass suicide at Jonestown in Guyana, the Killing Fields of Cambodia and panic on the streets of New York and Yorkshire where serial killers stalked. There was a new generation of tyrants in Idi Amin, General Pinochet and General Zia. A new generation of guerrilla’s from the Provisional IRA, Black September, and Simbionese Liberation Army where bombings, airplane hijacking and kidnapping became more commonplace. Even popular culture became more discordant with punk music and films such as Taxi Driver and a Clockwork Orange portrayed a society and culture in seemingly in meltdown.

This module will discuss and analyse these entire phenomenon to determine if this apocalyptic vision is representative of this era.

2.Outline syllabus:

We will consider the following themes and topics in varying levels of detail:

• One day a real rain will come… The Seventies as an epoch.

• 1973; Nervous Breakdown.

• Meet the New Boss: Authoritarian and Totalitarian regimes.

• Stockholm Syndrome: Terrorism, Freedom Fighters and Radical Chic.

• Money makes the World go round: The Fall of Keynes and the rise of Friedman.

• Panic on the Streets; The Serial Killer as motif of a decaying society.

• Oil Sheikhs, Camp David and the Iranian Revolution: the Middle East as fulcrum of the world.

• I wanna be sedated: the popular music of the Seventies.

• A Long time ago in a galaxy far, far away: Popular Culture in the Seventies.

• Watergate, Rinkagate and Kleptocracy: Corruption in high places.

• Moral Majorities: the mobilisation of the right and the counterattack on liberalism.

• Maggie, Ronnie and the Second Cold War.

3.Teaching and learning activities:

Lectures, seminars, workshops, group discussions, set reading.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Essay, 2000 words

• % Weighting: 40

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Project, 3000 word equivalent

• % Weighting: 60