European Societies by
This title looks at the European model in historical perspective, commonalities and intra-European exchange, and characteristics of the European social structure.
Cultural Evolution by
Cultural Evolution argues that people's values and behavior are shaped by the degree to which survival is secure; it was precarious for most of history, which encouraged heavy emphasis on group solidarity, rejection of outsiders, and obedience to strong leaders. For under extreme scarcity, xenophobia is realistic: if there is just enough land to support one tribe and another tribe tries to claim it, survival may literally be a choice between Us and Them. Conversely, high levels of existential security encourage openness to change, diversity, and new ideas. The unprecedented prosperity and security of the postwar era brought cultural change, the environmentalist movement, and the spread of democracy. But in recent decades, diminishing job security and rising inequality have led to an authoritarian reaction. Evidence from more than 100 countries demonstrates that people's motivations and behavior reflect the extent to which they take survival for granted - and that modernization changes them in roughly predictable ways. This book explains the rise of environmentalist parties, gender equality, and same-sex marriage through a new, empirically-tested version of modernization theory.
No specific journals have been recommended for this module.
A Companion to Contemporary Britain by 
Global Economic History: a Very Short Introduction by
Why are some countries rich and others poor? In 1500, global income differences were small, but disparities have grown dramatically since Columbus reached America. In this Very Short Introduction, Robert C. Allen shows how the interplay of geography, globalization, technological change, and economic policy has determined the wealth and poverty of nations. Allen shows how the industrial revolution was Britain's path-breaking response to the challenge of globalization. Western Europe and North America joined Britain to form a club of rich nations, pursuing four polices--creating a national market by abolishing internal tariffs and investing in transportation, erecting an external tariff to protect their fledgling industries from British competition, creating banks to stabilize the currency and mobilize domestic savings for investment, and promoting mass education to prepare people for industrial work. Together these countries pioneered new technologies that have made them ever richer. A few countries--Japan, Soviet Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and perhaps China--have caught up with the West through creative responses to the technological challenge and with Big Push industrialization that has achieved rapid growth through coordinated investment.
Globalisation, Modernity and Social Change by 
Twentieth-Century British Social Trends by
Halsey, A.H. (2000) . " Twentieth -Century Britain"
Modernity: Understanding the Present by 
Britain in Europe by
Harrison, E. (1977). "Industrialisation" in Spybey, T. Britain in Europe.
Prophecy and progress; the sociology of industrial and post-industrial society. by 
Social Theory and Social Change by
Chapter 1
The Age of Migration by
See companion website for list of very useful websites on migration http://www.age-of-migration.com/uk/resources/weblinks.html#six
There are no specific websites recommended for this module.
