Neo-malthusian theory can be used to explain which of the following situations?
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In the late 18th century, Thomas Malthus, an English political economist, advanced a theory of crisis in his Essay on the Principle of Population,1 based on a posited relation of disproportion between the rate of demographic growth and the rate of growth of food supply. According to this thesis, population naturally increases in geometric ratio but the means of subsistence, or agricultural production increases only in an arithmetic ratio making it impossible for agricultural production to sustain growing populations indefinitely. These two opposing natural tendencies generate periodic crises of food supply corrected by reduction of population size. Malthus describes two distinct forms of checks on population size: ‘positive’ checks such as war, epidemics, famine, and ‘preventive’ checks such as various forms of birth control, including abortion, and infanticide. Since food scarcity, however, is the condition for the operation of these checks, it is the ultimate check on population increase. Show Keywords
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Learn about institutional subscriptions PreviewUnable to display preview. Download preview PDF. Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF. Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population as it Affects the Future Improvement of Societies, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorat, and other writers, 1798 edition (reprints of Economic Classics, N.Y., 1965). Google Scholar Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population or a View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness with an Inquiry into our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evil which it Occasions, 1801 edition (Richard D. Irwing, Homewood, Illinois, 1963). Google Scholar Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (Ballantine, N.Y., 1968); Google Scholar Anne H. Ehrlich, Population, Resources, Environment: Issues in Human Ecology, 2nd Edition (W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1972); Google Scholar Dennis Pirages, ARK II: Social Response to Environmental Imperatives (W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1974). Google Scholar Garrett Hardin, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’, in Science, Vol. 162, Dec. 1968, pp. 1243–8; CrossRef Google Scholar Georg Borgstrom, The Hungry Planet (Collier-Macmillan Ltd., London, 1965); Google Scholar Antony J. Dolman (ed.), RIO, Reshaping the International Order (The New American Library, Inc., N.Y., 1977); Google Scholar Ervin Laszlo et al., Goals for Mankind (E.P. Dutton, N.Y., 1977); Google Scholar James W. Botkin et al., No Limits to Learning (Pergamon Press, N.Y., 1979); Google Scholar Thierry de Montbrial, Energy: The Countdown (Pergamon Press, N.Y., 1979); Google Scholar Orio Giarini, Dialogue on Wealth and Welfare (Pergamon Press, N.Y., 1980). Google Scholar Jürgen Habermas, ‘Between Philosophy and Science: Marxism as Critique’, in Theory and Practice (Heinemann, London, 1974), pp. 195–252; Google Scholar Albrecht Wellmer, Critical Theory of Society (The Seabury Press, N.Y., 1974); Google Scholar Roberto Miguelez, Science, Valeurs et Rationalité (Editions de l’Université d’Ottawa, Ottawa, 1984). Google Scholar Donella Meadows et al., The Limits to Growth (The New American Library Inc., N.Y., 1972). Google Scholar The model is that of J.W. Forrester posed in Industrial Dynamics (MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1961). Google Scholar This study is based on World demographic estimates for the last 3 centuries, for example, drawn from A.M. Curr-Saunders, World Population: Past Growth and Present Trends (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1936); Google Scholar Donald Bogue, Principles of Demography (John Wiley and Sons, N.Y., 1969); Google Scholar William Ophuls, Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity: Prologue to a Political Theory of the Steady State (W.H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1977). Google Scholar See, in particular, C.B. Macpherson, The Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1962). Google Scholar Garrett Hardin, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’, in Science, Vol. 162, Dec. 1968, pp. 1243–8. CrossRef Google Scholar J. Fletcher, Situation Ethics (Westminster, Philadelphia, 1966). Google Scholar See, for example, Paul Q. Hirst, ‘Economic Classes and Politics’ in A. Hunt (ed.), Class and Class Structure (Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1977); Google Scholar Nicos Poulantzas, Political Power and Social Classes (New Left Books, London, 1973). Google Scholar Kenneth Boulding, ‘The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth’ in Toward a Steady-State Economy, Herman Daly (ed.), (W.H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, 1973), pp. 121–32. Google Scholar Ratko Milisavljevic, Environment, idéologie et science (Editions anthropos, Paris, 1978). Google Scholar Lester Brown, World without Borders (Random House, 1972), p. 351. Google Scholar Harold and Margaret Sprout, Towards a Politics of the Planet Earth (Nostrand Rinehold Co., N.Y., 1971), p. 476. Google Scholar Aurelio Peccei, One Hundred Pages for the Future, Reflections of the President of the Club of Rome (Pergamon Press, N.Y., 1981), pp. 110–11. Google Scholar Download references Author informationAuthors and Affiliations
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Copyright information© 1988 Koula Mellos About this chapterCite this chapterMellos, K. (1988). Neo-Malthusian Theory. In: Perspectives on Ecology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19598-5_2 What is NeoNeo‐Malthusianism, defined as fear that a large population size could lead to a humanitarian and ecological disaster and that combating so‐called overpopulation is thus an urgent problem—has real‐world consequences. The belief has often resulted in support for coercive policies.
What is an example of a Neo Malthusian?Prominent neo-Malthusians such as Paul Ehrlich maintain that ultimately, population growth on Earth is still too high, and will eventually lead to a serious crisis. The 2007–2008 world food price crisis inspired further Malthusian arguments regarding the prospects for global food supply.
What is Neo Malthusian quizlet?Neo Malthusian Theory. believe that the world's population has been growing to fast implying that the world would be better off if it had fewer people. like the predecessor the Neo Malthusians believe poverty and rapid population growth on the world's poorest population.
Which of the following most accurately describes a Neo Malthusian attitude?Neo-Malthusianism refers to the belief that population control through the use of contraception is essential for the survival of the earth's human population.
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