Program
Contact Information
Prof.
Avner Offer
All
Souls College
Oxford
OX1 1NF
United
Kingdom
Tel.
44-1865-279348
Fax
44-1865-279299
Email:
avner.offer@all-souls.ox.ac.uk
http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/ecohist/
University
Location and Description
The
University of Oxford is located in the heart of the lively, thriving and
beautiful city of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Oxford is one hour by train or
car from London.
Type
of Degree Offered
·
M.Sc.
in Economic and Social History a one-year taught course with
specialisation in
either economic history, social history, history of medicine, or history of
science and technology
·
M.
Phil. In Economic and Social History a two-year taught graduate course with
the same specialisations
·
D.Phil.
a doctoral degree by research. Admission after successful
completion of one of
the two masters courses, or of a comparable course at another
University.
Short
History and/or Description of the Program
Doctoral
degrees in the subject have been awarded for decades. The graduate taught
programme started in 1992. Over this period, about 180 students
have completed
the masters courses. The doctoral student population is about 15-20 at any
given time. The course is located administratively in the faculty of modern
history, but is social-scientific in orientation, and is taught by faculty
from economics, history, and social studies. There is an associated stream
in the history of medicine, which is based in the Wellcome Unit
for the History
of Medicine, as well as a History of Science and Technology specialisation.
About one-quarter of the students belong to the medicine/science/technology
stream.
|
Course
manifesto: The social sciences focus
upon the present, but contemporary issues are often rooted deeply in the
past. Quite apart from its contemporary relevance, the past also provides
a large array of settings in which the perennial issues of individual,
society, economy and culture were played out in circumstances very
different from our own. At Oxford, the study of these themes is not
restricted to the traditional approaches of archival and
textual research,
but draws also upon the methods and values of the social and behavioural
sciences, on economics, sociology, psychology, and anthropology.
Every year, the University
admits around twenty-four graduate students to study for the M.Sc. and
M.Phil. in economic, social, medical, technological, and scientific
history. The students come from all over the world, with backgrounds in a
large variety of subjects, ranging from science, engineering and
economics, through the social sciences, history, and the humanities. The
disciplinary background is less important than a high level of
achievement
and motivation. Students are often able to bring their prior
specialisations to bear on their chosen research topics. They also share
the experience of an intense introduction to the range of current
approaches in the social sciences, and of their application to history.
This core course provides
an opportunity to evaluate a range of different approaches, and also for
the students to influence and respond to each other. It imparts a common
language, and creates a close and friendly community, in which ideas are
shared, and strong personal ties are forged. The course community
provides a base from which to venture out and experience the other
rewards of Oxford, intellectual, social, and cultural. From the taught
graduate courses, it is possible to proceed to doctoral research and the
degree of D.Phil. |
|
Students
The
total number of graduate students in economic and social history
(all levels)
is about 55.
Graduates
of the masters courses have continued to doctoral programmes at
Oxford, London,
Cambridge, and leading American Universities (including Harvard,
Yale, Princeton,
Columbia, University of Pennsylvania). Recent doctoral graduates
of the course
hold post-doctoral and staff positions in several British and
European Universities,
including Oxford, Cambridge, London, London School of Economics,
Exeter, Manchester
Metropolitan, Plymouth, Pompeu Fabra, and the University of Chicago in the
United States. Others have gone into the Bank of England, the
Civil Service,
and the financial industry.
Graduates
of the masters programmes typically continue into graduate
schools and professional programmes at Oxford, in
Britain, North America and other countries. Those going into
employment typically
enter the financial industry, consulting, the civil service,
non-governmental
think tanks and advocacy organizations.
Faculty
Core
faculty:
A considerable number of
historians are able to supervise postgraduate studies in economic and social
history topics. A partial list may be found on the economic and
social history website.
The following
constitute the core
staff of the taught graduate courses in economic and social history:
| Dr
Robert Allen (from
April 2001) Nuffield College |
Agriculture and economic development, property rights and agrarian transformation, economics of socialism, environmental history, divergence in the world economy since the middle ages |
|
Dr Mary Dobson |
History of disease and mortality in early modern England; the history of malaria in twentieth-century East Africa |
|
Professor Robert Fox |
History of the physical sciences since 1700; technology, science, and industry in modern Europe; French intellectual and cultural history, 1790-1914 |
|
Dr Jane Humphries |
Economic history: Growth and development, labour markets. Gender, the family and the history of women's work, from the eighteenth century to the present. |
|
Dr John M. Landers |
Epidemiological patterns in early modern European cities and their hinterlands |
|
Professor Avner Offer |
British and imperial economic and social history, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. American social history, twentieth century. Economic growth and well-being. |
Full list of staff on the
core and optional courses, and providing graduate
supervision:
- DR IAN W. ARCHER, Lecturer in History, Keble College
- PROFESSOR WILLIAM. BEINART, Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, St Antony's College
- MR ROBIN. BRIGGS, Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College
- DR LAURENCE. BROCKLISS, Reader in Modern History, Magdalen College
- PROFESSOR JOHN BROOK, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, Harris Manchester College
- PROFESSOR PAUL. A. DAVID, Professor of Economics and Economic History, and Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College
- DR CHRISTOPHER. DAVIS, Lecturer in Russian and East European Political Economy, Wolfson College
- MR NICHOLAS. H. DIMSDALE, Lecturer in Economics, Queen's College
- DR MARY. J. DOBSON, Director, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine and Reader in the History of Medicine, Green College
- PROFESSOR NIALL FERGUSON, Professor in Financial and Political History, Jesus College
- PROFESSOR ROBERT FOX, Professor of the History of Science, Modern History Faculty
- DR ANDREW GODLEY, Lecturer in Management, University of Reading
- DR DAVID HARDIMAN, Senior Teaching Fellow, University of Warwick
- DR SARAH HARPER, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Sociology
- DR MARK HARRISON, Senior Research Fellow, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine
- DR FELICITY M. HEAL, Lecturer in History, Jesus College
- DR CLIVE HOLMES, Lecturer in History, Lady Margaret Hall
- DR. JANE HUMPRHIES, Reader in Economic History, All Souls College
- MS JOANNA M. INNES, Lecturer in History, Somerville College
- DR JOHN M. LANDERS, Lecturer in Historical Demography, All Souls College
- DR CAROL LEONARD, Lecturer in Regional Studies in Post-Communist States, St Antony's College
- PROFESSOR JANE LEWIS, Professor of Social Policy, St Cross College
- DR MAUREEN MALOWANY, Postdoctoral Research Officer, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine
- PROFESSOR AVNER OFFER, Chichele Professor of Economic History, All Souls College
- DR MARGARET PELLING, University Research Reader, Faculty of Modern History
- DR IAN PHIMISTER, University Lecturer in Commonwealth History, St Cross College
- PROFESSOR HARTMUT J. O. POGGE VON STRANDMANN, Professor of Modern History, University College
- DR VIVIANE QUIRKE, The Queen's College
- PROFESSOR STEIN RINGEN, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, Green College
- DR JOHN SENIOR, Adjunct Fellow, Linacre College
- DR JOHN STEVENSON, Reader in Modern History, Worcester College
- PROFESSOR MEGAN A. VAUGHAN, Professor of Commonwealth Studies, Nuffield College
- DR DAVID A. WASHBROOK, Reader in Modern South Asian History, St Antony's College
- PROFESSOR PAUL J. WEINDLING, Professor of the History of Medicine, Oxford Brookes University
- DR JENNY M. WORMALD, Lecturer in History, St Hilda's College
Required
Courses in Economic History
The
M.Sc. requires:
1.
A
methodological core course, Methods and Themes in Economic and Social History
[core course]
2.
Quantitative
Methods (at introductory, intermediate or advanced levels, according to prior
training) [core course]
3.
2
optional advanced papers. These can be chosen from about 30 options offered
within the course, as well as from specialised courses offered by the
Department
of Economics, the Department of Sociology, and with special permission, other
departments.
4.
A
dissertation of 15,000 words on a research topic of the students
choice.
The
M.Phil. covers the same ground, but requires four advanced papers, and a 30,000
word dissertation. Full details of the course requirements are provided on the
course website,
http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/ecohist/
Offered
Courses in Economic History
For
full list of courses available (about thirty), see the course website.
Seminar
Series
There
are two weekly seminars in economic and social history.
1.
A
staff-graduate seminar for senior visiting and local speakers, open
to all staff
and graduates.
2.
A
weekly graduate workshop, organised by graduate students, with
presentations
restricted to graduate students.
There
is also usually a weekly seminar in medieval economic history during
the Trinity
(summer) term, and several special lectures and one or two special lecture
series every year.
The
URL for this programme is
http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/ecohist/seminars.htm
The
contact person is avner.offer@all-souls.ox.ac.uk
General
Department Information
Each
student is allocated a specialists supervisor, whom he or she
normally meets two
or three times a term (occasionally more), i.e. six to twelve times a
year. This supervisor guides the students
research. There are large numbers of specialist staff available in the
University, to cover a broad variety of interests.
The
course is accredited by the British Economic and Social Research Council for
graduate training, and many of its students have received grants from this
source. Also available (for students specialising in the History of Medicine)
are Wellcome Foundation grants It is second only to the London School of
Economics in the number of graduate students that it trains in the
discipline in
Great Britain.
Links
Course:
www.history.ox.ac.uk/ecohist/
Department:
http://www.%20history.ox.ac.uk/
University:
www.ox.ac.uk/