Unit information: Greed is Good: Contemporary Enterprise Culture in Britain and America in 2020/21

Unit name	Greed is Good: Contemporary Enterprise Culture in Britain and America
Unit code	HISTM0070
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Edwards
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None.
Co-requisites	None.
School/department	Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Stuart Hall described contemporary society as having witnessed the ‘long march of the Neoliberal Revolution’. For historians, sociologists, political scientists and economists alike, tracing the rise of neoliberalism as an economic ideology and as a series of policies has been of the utmost importance. But what of the social and cultural manifestations of neoliberalism? This unit aims to provide students with an understanding of the emergence and development of a widespread ‘enterprise culture’ in Britain and America in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first century. It asks, how the meaning of enterprise has changed; how prevalent it has become in contemporary culture; and how it has affected society and the individual? In doing so, students will explore what it means to be an entrepreneur, not just at work but in our relationships, our private lives and our understanding of ourselves? Are we all neoliberal entrepreneurs now?

The political, cultural, and social, facets of contemporary enterprise culture are be investigated through various sources, including political rhetoric, the popular press, television, film, literature, fashion, education, and business and industry. Students will explore enterprise culture in its diverse manifestations, and consider how widespread the logic of free market competition has become in the world around us.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit students will:

1. Summarize and explain the rise of neoliberalism and its relationship enterprise culture in contemporary society;
2. have improved their ability to argue effectively and at length (including an ability to cope with complexities and to describe and deploy these effectively).
3. display high level skills in selecting, applying, interpreting and organising information, including evidence of a high level of bibliographical control.
4. have the ability to evaluate and/or challenge current scholarly thinking.
5. have the capacity to take a critical stance towards scholarly processes involved in arriving at historical knowledge and/or relevant secondary literature.
6. be able to demonstrate an understanding of concepts and an ability to conceptualise.
7. have developed their capacity for independent research.

Teaching Information

1 X 2-hour interactive lecture per week

Assessment Information

One 5,000 word essay (100%) – ILO’s 1-7

Reading and References

U. Bröckling, The Entrepreneurial Self: Fabricating a New Type of Subject (London, 2016).

T. Frank, One Market Under God: Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism , and the End of Economic Democracy (New York, 2000).

R. Keat and N. Abercrombie (eds), Enterprise Culture (London, 1991).

R. Martin, Financialization of Daily Life (Philadelphia, 2002).

J. McGuigan, Neoliberalism and Culture (London, 2016).

F. M. L. Thompson, Gentrification and the Enterprise Culture: Britain 1780 – 1980 (Oxford, 2001).