Prohibition America (UG 20 credits)
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| AMCS3024 | American and Canadian Studies | 3 | 20 | Spring UK |
- Code
- AMCS3024
- School
- American and Canadian Studies
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
This module explores the United States' bold but disastrous experiment with Prohibition during the period 1918 to 1933, with particular focus on crime, disorder and policing, as well as race, class, gender, and religion. We examine pre-1920 temperance, women's reform movements, and state-wide restrictions; changing patterns of alcohol consumption and the rise of the Anti-Saloon League; and the reasons for the shift to national prohibition, along with passage of the Eighteenth Amendment and Volstead Act. We consider the impact of the outlawed liquor trade on US society, politics, and culture during the 1920s; the rise of bootlegging and smuggling; changes to the vice trades and rise of crime syndicates, and the inglorious end of Prohibition.
Target Students
Available to Final Year SH and JH American and Canadian Studies students, History students and Liberal Arts students. Available to international exchange students hosted by CLAS.
Classes
- One 2-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 11 weeks
The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies operates an attendance policy. The details of this policy can be found in the student handbook on Workspace and in module handbooks.
Assessment
- 30% Coursework 1: 1,200 word learning log
- 60% Coursework 2: 2,800 word essay
- 10% Participation: Seminar engagement and participation
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
This module aims to: 1) introduce students to the history of the United States between 1918 and 1933; 2) develop students' understanding of society, politics, and culture in the United States in the 1920s and early 1930s; 3) introduce students to the main debates among historians on the reasons for Prohibition and its impact; 4) broaden the base of students' historical knowledge; 5) encourage students to develop an understanding of the broader political context for expansion of state and federal crime control efforts in the early C20th.Learning Outcomes
A: Knowledge and Understanding of:
- 1) approaches to crime, disorder and policing in the United States;
- 2) major underlying forces which shaped the history of the United States in the first third of the twentieth century;
- 3) the major events of the period;
- 4) the nature of History as a discipline.
B: Intellectual Skills:
- 1) thinking critically and imaginatively about the subject matter;
- 2) interpreting primary and secondary sources about the subject matter;
- 3) engaging with key problems relevant to the study of crime, disorder and policing;
- 4) evaluating different historical interpretations.
C: Professional Practical Skills:
- 1) sifting and synthesising information from a range of sources;
- 2) identifying, comparing and evaluating key arguments in these materials;
- 3) presenting coherent and reasoned arguments using appropriate conventions.
D: Transferable Skills:
- 1) managing a large body of information;
- 2) the ability to communicate effectively in writing;
- 3) increased confidence in oral communication;
- 4) managing and taking responsibility for one's own time and learning;
- 5) presenting written work in an appropriate manner.