With reference to one country of the region discuss the reasons for its changing social structure over a period of approximately fifty years.

Candidates are required to make an appraisal of the reasons for a country’s changing social structure. Candidates will attempt to cover a c50-year time period as set out in the question, rather than focusing on much longer or shorter periods of time. This is an opportunity for candidates to write about their own national history; so any country in the region is permissible.

Indicative content

• Popular choices may be the United Kingdom, Russia/Soviet Union or Germany. Reasons evaluated will depend on the country chosen.
• In some cases, for example, Russia/Soviet Union, radical political change altered social structure with the Collectivization of agriculture and rapid industrialization in the 1930s.
• In other cases, it was arguably economic change that prompted changes in the social structure. For example in the British case, the gradual rise of the middle classes and the growth of an industrial working class in the 19th and/or 20th centuries can be traced to the nature of the British Industrial Revolution.
• In Germany, one could argue that there was a mix of economic and political factors that led to changes in the social structure; German industrialization after 1871 certainly led to the growth of an industrial working class. However, political changes after 1918 also arguably created significant changes in social structure, with, for example, the decline of the Junker aristocracy in Prussia.

The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. However, the list is not exhaustive and no set answer is required.

Examiners are reminded of the need to apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and to award credit wherever it is possible to do so.

[20 marks]