The historian and concepts

Social sciences

History

Grade 8

Land and power

Module 1

The historian and concepts

The historian and concepts

The concepts land and power are closely related to one another. A person is allocated to the ruling class or the working class on the basis of his or her productive ability. The product then includes capital (money), land, buildings, mines, machinery, etc.

The conflict between the two classes therefore is based on the contrasting relationships that they experience in relation to the product. The ruling class, which can also be called the capitalist class or the middle class or the bourgeoisie (French Revolution), possesses the means of production, while the working class or proletariat or Bolsheviks (Russian Revolution) sell their labour by working in the fields, in the factories or in the mines belonging to the ruling class.

• In order to grasp this conflict, the historian, in other words all the learners in the History class, must ask complicated questions about all conflict situations, such as:

1. What belongs to whom?

2. Who does what work?

3. Who works for whom?

Activity 1: group work (getting to know one another) [lo1.1]

• Divide into discussion groups.

Assignment 1:

Discuss the division of work in a normal family as your group knows it. Ensure that each member of the group gets an opportunity to have a say.

Assignment 2:

Discuss the degree of cooperation between the ruling class (parents/guardians) and the working class (children) to ensure the smooth functioning of the household.

Assignment 3:

Now complete the following:

(a) My own place in our home is my_______

I am proud of it because __________

(b) My parents/guardians are employees/employers of______________

(c) I am not a burden to my family, because I take responsibility for_________

Activity 2: group assessment exercise [lo 1.1]

Assignment 4:

Each learner is now given a turn to read his/her answers to Assignment 3 and each member of the group indicates what mark he/she wants to allocate to it. If necessary, a member of the group can motivate why a lower or a better mark is necessary.

The group must agree on the mark. The following simple scale is used to determine if the learner is an ADVANTAGE to his/her family.

1 = The learner at least lives with his/her family.

2 = The learner is sometimes, or has been of use to his/her family.

3 = The learner is of real use to his/her family.

4 = The learner’s contribution to his/her family is an outstanding performance.

At the end of this module, you must hand in a project on The French Revolution. You will receive the necessary information step for step. Today you only have to

( a ) inform the people at home that you are looking for information on the topic and

( b ) look up/find out the definition of revolution. Complete:

Revolution:___________________________________

Source:_______________________________________

EXAMPLE of the recording of information that is obtained from a specific source.

revolution , uprising, radical change.

Source:

a) information on the author(s) (first the surname, then the names/initials)