HST-375 Inequality
Examines the role of inequality in European society since 1750, with a focus on the effects of political, economic, and social change over the course of the nineteenth century. Before 1800, hierarchy was seen largely as a positive and appropriate aspect of European society - natural, and even reassuring. Since then, inequality has been increasingly criticized, even as new (and old) hierarchical structures are reinforced by the new industrial realities. How did attitudes of the ever more powerful middle class, about social class, race, gender, and even sexuality, shape European society, promoting some forms of equality but not others? While this course focuses on Europe before 1914, we will also be reading and thinking about how inequality and hierarchy shapes our lives in the U.S. today, in the 21st century.