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- Robert Owen and New Lanark
Robert Owen and New Lanark

Childcare, education, working conditions, healthcare, crime: these issues are hotly debated in today's society. They are also issues that Robert Owen, seen by some as a visionary and by others as a knave and a charlatan, sought to address in the early 1800s. This free course, Robert Owen and New Lanark, uses a series of essays written by Owen to explore the ideas of this important and controversial figure.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- understand the Enlightenment ideas that underpinned Robert Owen's social reform agenda
- understand how Owen's background and experience at New Lanark fed through into his thinking in the essays in A New View of Society
- understand the main proposals in the essays
- understand New Lanark's role as a model for social reform during this period.
First Published: 09/08/2012
Updated: 14/04/2016
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Course content
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 A New View of Society
- 2 Progress and the economy
- 3 Politics: Radicalism and reaction
- 4 The making of a social reformer
- 4 The making of a social reformer
- 4.1 Environment and education: Wales 1771–c.1782
- 4.2 Apprenticeship in retailing c.1782–c.1789
- 4.3 Business and enlightenment: Manchester 1789–99
- 4.4 Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society and Board of Health
- 4.5 Owen at New Lanark 1800–c.1812
- 4.6 New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde
- 5 The background to the essays
- 6 The essays
- 7 New Lanark as showpiece and text
- 8 Impact of the essays
- 9 The factory reform movement
- 10 Working-class distress and planned communities
- 11 Conclusion
- Glossary
- References
- Further reading
- Acknowledgements
- This site has Copy Reuse Tracking enabled - see our FAQs for more information.
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About this free course
12 hours study
Level 2: Intermediate
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