Course Handbook - Faculty of History - University of Cambridge

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons
(Routledge, 2001).
2) British industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Dr. S. Horrell and Dr. L. Shaw-Taylor
The course considers the processes by which Britain became the first nation to overcome
growth constraints and embark on a path of sustained expansion of per capita income. It
looks at the roles played by increased investment and labour supply to industrial activities
and changed incentives, which improved the efficiency of agriculture and promoted the
development of industry. But it also emphasises the roles of country-specific institutions,
such as property rights, and national cultures, such as inheritance patterns and work roles for
men and women, in understanding Britain's `exceptionalism'. The course covers key debates
both on the causes of industrialisation and the consequences for the people who lived
through it. It looks at the following main topics:
1. Industrialisation - overview and outline of main debates
2. Agrarian change - enclosure, service in husbandry and rural class structure
3. Agrarian change - new techniques and rising land productivity
4. Revolution or evolution - trade, industry and growth
5. Work and industrialisation - child labour and the emergence of the male
breadwinner family
6. The Poor Law and changes in the welfare system
7. Industrialisation and the standard of living - qualitative assessments and
quantification
8. Industrialisation and women - implications for the measurement of welfare
The aims of this course are to introduce students to the main debates, conceptual tools and
empirical findings that are central to understanding British economic history during the
Industrial Revolution.
By the end of this course students should have acquired a good understanding of the key
debates surrounding Britain's industrialisation and the welfare implications of the changes
that occurred. They should be familiar with the various methodologies and data sources
employed and have knowledge of recent empirical findings.
3) Institutions and development (A course taught by the MPhil in Development Studies)
Dr. S. Fennell
The course looks at development processes through the lenses of a variety of institutional
perspectives, ranging from the economic to the anthropological in disciplinary terms. The
importance and implications of institutional analyses for development processes are
identified by means of engaging with both traditional and new literatures on the role of
socio-political processes and their inter-relationships with economic activity. In the
Michaelmas term the course will examine theoretical issues in the study of institutions using
a range of disciplinary tools and illustrations of institutional success and failure from the
twentieth century. In the Lent term the various competing models that have emerged in the
new field of institutions are examined in the light of historical evidence on institutional
performance and change. The lectures will be based on case studies and a policy analysis of
the different development experiences across a range of countries. The teaching in the
Michaelmas term consists of one lecture and one class each week. In the Lent term, there is
a schedule for both lectures and seminars. The seminars are designed to be small-group
student presentations, which will allow a more free-ranging discussion of the topics covered
in lectures over the two terms. There will be supervisions on key topics in weeks four and
week eight of both Michaelmas and Lent terms. Supervisions will have the following
format: Students will have a preliminary class with the supervisor after which they will be
given a week to write a 2,000 word essay. The essays must be handed in on the scheduled
date so that the supervisor has sufficient time to mark the work for the subsequent meeting
with students in small groups (of five-six students) for a feedback session.
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