Program Overview

Popular Culture and Punishment (HIST*3130)

Course Details

The course code for Popular Culture and Punishment is HIST*3130, with section 01, offered in the Fall 2022 term. The course instructor is Linda Mahood.

Course Synopsis

The histories of the great late-nineteenth century transformations in the social control institutions of Western industrial societies include certain key features. These are the increasing state involvement, the identification and differentiation of the accused who were segregated into separate institutions for their punishment or cure, and the emergence of a separate body of experts for investigating and treating them. The purpose of this course is to examine the changing nature of social control and criminal justice in Britain from approximately 1700 to the early twentieth century. The central criminal court for the City of London was the Old Bailey. By focusing on the criminal trial records from the Old Bailey, this course will permit students to observe various modes of prosecution in action. Lectures, written work, and online discussion seminars will examine the rise of criminal justice professions, courtroom and trial processes, the operation of British common law, jurisprudence, the social control of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and social class, and the historical construction of the perpetrators and victims of violent crime, fraud, theft, sex crime, street disorder, and juvenile delinquency.

Learning Outcomes

The University's Undergraduate Learning Outcomes are:

• Critical and Creative Thinking: Students in 3130 will be able to demonstrate comprehension of evidence-based scholarship based on largely written activities and individual research.
• Literacy: Students in 3130 will read academic journal articles and primary historical documents from real crime trials from an online database.
• Global Understanding: Students in 3130 will be able to analyze critical issues in the criminal justice system today by projecting from the historical construction of punishment from a Human Rights perspective and understanding.
• Communicating: Students in 3130 will develop online dialogue discussion skills in their seminar groups.
• Professional and Ethical Behavior: Students in 3130 will develop skills related to the wider principles of academic integrity to which the scholarly community subscribes. They develop respect for the point of view of peers and collaboration and effective interaction with instructors. They will learn that the practice of history is bound by methods and approaches that model best practices in reading, writing, and reasoning.

Required Textbooks

• The Oxford History of the Prison
• The Practice of Punishment in Western Society

Assessment

The assessment for the course includes:

• Mid-term #1: 20%
• Mid-term #2: 20%
• Mid-term #3: 30%
• Online seminar participation: 30% There is no final examination for this course.

Departments and Schools

The course is associated with the following departments and schools:

• School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing
• School of Fine Art and Music
• School of Languages and Literatures
• Department of History
• Department of Philosophy
• Interdisciplinary Programs

Centres, Institutes, and Labs

The university is home to several centres, institutes, and labs, including:

• Centre for Scottish Studies
• Grounded and Engaged Theory Lab (GET)
• Interdisciplinary Design Lab
• The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation
• The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collaboration Lab (THINC)
• The School of Fine Art & Music Print Study Collection