Malthusian Theory -Population Growth.pptx

Malthus theory, main points about his theory including critiques

1. Malthusian theory Population growth by THOmas R. Malthus (1766-1834)

2. Hurricane Dorian Bahamas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6ShYNAAyAQ

3. Haiti’s Earthquake 2010 https://youtu.be/MMx_jEoTLaE?t=182 https://youtu.be/cdaGIUU7_j0 https://youtu.be/bQ_ZF3w7wgU

4. Questions/discussion time ??? Describe Life in Haiti based on the video and any prior knowledge you may have Describe Haiti’s: Population characteristics Population trends Population growth based on videos How has the population growth trend in Haiti affected life there? How does this make you feel as a member of Caribbean society? Does this tell you anything about populations in poor/underdeveloped societies?

5. Natural Law There is a tendency for Population Growth to outstrip food supply

6. Natural law… So for Malthus like Thanos in Avengers he believed that if this trend (Natural law) is allowed to continue, it would lead to widespread MISERY for many people. Misery includes poverty, famine, malnutrition, natural disasters and diseases Did we not see this occurring in Haiti society???

7. Malthus’ Solutions: However; He argued that man is rational and will put in place the necessary measures to control population growth. And He identified TWO measures/solutions (1) POSITIVE /NATURAL CHECKS (II) PREVENTATIVE / NEGATIVE CHECKS

8. DIAGRAMATICAL VIEW

9. Positive/natural checks This refer to phenomena that would increase mortality and reduce life expectancy hence reduce population. Because of the imbalance which can cause starvation, there would be a rise in adverse social practices by humans that may kill them before starvation itself. Such as wars, epidemics, overindulgences (smoking, drinking). Also, natural disasters, diseases, are natural ways of increasing mortality to keep populations in check.

10. Preventative/Negative checks He also proposed other ideas to help avoid/prevent population growth These ideas included deliberate/planned population control such as moral restraint (he was a religious man). Preventative checks are designed to lower birth rates. They include all possible means of birth control such as abstinence (moral restraint), contraceptive use, abortion. However, objected the use of birth control measures within marriage. Contraceptives and abortion as immoral. Malthus focused fully on moral restraint (ABSTINENCE, DELAY MARRIAGE and FAMILY PLANNING).

11. Malthus theory continued… Finally Malthus objected to “poor laws” which had granted welfare benefits to the poor. He believed this would only encourage poor people to reproduce at a more rapid rate. He therefore proposed: create jobs instead of welfare reduce family size increase food production increase education opportunities delay marriage until you can afford it abstinence

12. Critiques of Malthus’ Theory Refer to evaluation of theory in text and find Caribbean/world evidence to support. He failed to realize the positive effects of technology to increase food supply considerably- mass production. He refused to accept other forms of birth control apart from moral restraint. He confused moral and scientific issues with regards to preventative checks.

13. Empirical evidence Handout

14. Recall… Malthus’s theory was based on the assumption that the population would grow exponentially (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32) whereas food production would grow linearly (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), much more slowly. At the time when he was writing the Industrial Revolution had not yet arrived, and without developments such as pesticides and fertilisers the amount of food that could be produced per acre of land was much smaller than it is today. Over the 250 years since Malthus published his essay, advances in technology and innovations in farming methods have allowed food production to grow quickly enough that we can now, in theory at least, provide sufficient food for the world’s 7 billion inhabitants. Malthus did not account for these advances in his population theory, but another economist, Ester Boserup , did.

15. Ester Boserup Ester Boserup (1910–1999) was a Danish economist who specialised in the economics and development of agriculture. She worked for the United Nations and her experience working in low- and middle-income countries such as India helped to shape her theory of the relationship between human population growth and food production.

16. Ester Boserup (1910-1999) Boserup challenged Malthus’s conclusion that the size of the human population is limited by the amount of food it can produce. She suggested that food production can, and will, increase to match the needs of the population. Drawing on her knowledge of farming in the developing world, where populations were growing quickly, Boserup argued that the threat of starvation and the challenge of feeding more mouths motivates people to improve their farming methods and invent new technologies in order to produce more food. Boserup described this change as ‘agricultural intensification’.  

17. Emipirical Evidence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It1vnL1GU (Advancement in technology in agriculture) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BX-C385dxc

18. Cont’d… Her theory on population growth was optimistic, unlike Malthus and can be summarized in the statement “necessity is the mother of invention” – people have the knowledge to develop means (technology) to increase food supply and not suffer. Population growth is a good thing as it stimulates technology that will increase food production. So, as populations increase; agriculture intensifies through innovation and new farming techniques to produce more food for the surplus population; examples are:- Genetically modified foods New strains of crops Advancement in technology to increase food production Green revolution

19. Critiques… Boserup’s theory seems to provide a model for continuous population growth, but there are those who argue that Malthus was right and that there is a limit to the amount of humans the planet can support. Fails to take into consideration the level of international trade that takes place in todays society. Nations are dependent on other nations to get food to feed its people. Her theory is based on a closed society where there is no immigration or emigration taking place. It is therefore difficult to test her theory in reality, as migration usually occurs in overpopulated societies and assists in relieving the population pressures; that she says, leads to innovation and invention.