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• College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3046A: The Holocaust, Genocide and Society

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

This is an interdisciplinary course, and not as such a history of the Holocaust or detailed comparative study of genocide. The overarching questions to be pursued are: What kind of events are the Holocaust and genocide, how do they fit into and relate to the modern societies in which they occur, and what are their ramifications and significance for the normal civilised lives that we currently enjoy? The module combines historical and social scientific inquiry with philosophical reflection on the nature and significance of the Holocaust and possibly kindred events, processes and institutions. Reflecting its interdisciplinary ethos, the module is delivered simultaneously to social science students under SOC3046a and philosophy students under PHL3046a - because historical and social scientific explanation and understanding of the Holocaust and kindred phenomena inherently raises questions of a philosophical nature. The module therefore draws on theories, methodologies and concepts from sociology, social psychology, historical explanation and moral philosophy. Issues to be explored include: questions on the distinctiveness and newness of genocide, whether the Holocaust is a unique event, what kind of knowledge and understanding it affords, and its relationship to other events and practices of a putatively similar kind; different approaches to explaining the causes, conditions and essential features of the Holocaust; the nature of evil and the moral character of perpetrators and other participants; the relationship between the Holocaust, genocide and modernity; reflection on human nature, civilisation, social organisation and social progress; questions on perpetrator motivation and action, moral responsibility and blame.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction & orientation: What was the Holocaust and what can be learned from studying it? 
• The concept and practice of genocide 
• Is the Holocaust a unique? Theoretical and conceptual questions 
• Is the Holocaust a unique? Epistemic and political questions 
• The Dialectic of Enlightenment, civilisation and progress 
• The Modernity thesis: is the Holocaust an essentially modern phenomenon? 
• The nature of evil: Radical or Banal? 
• Social psychology: situationist explanation and the fundamental attributional error 
• The ‘evil of banality’: critical reflection on the modernity and banality theses 
• Explaining direct perpetrators' actions: Browning's situationist explanation 
• Explaining direct perpetrators' actions: Goldhagen's cognitive explanation 
• Assessment of Browning's and Goldhagen's theories: a radical alternative? 
• Structure and agency in the Holocaust: ‘Intentionalist’ versus ‘functionalist’ conceptions 
• Rescue and resistance: supererogation, ordinary goodness and the social conditions of altruism 
• The Bystander effect and its significance in modern society 
• Normalisation of the Holocaust? Comparison & analogy with other genocides and examples of institutionalised wrong- and evil-doing 
• Holocaust denial 
• Knowledge, ignorance and moral responsibility 
• Collective responsibility/guilt, and problems of redress 
• Judgement and understanding: compatible or incompatible? 

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Indicative Reading List

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