1766-1834

Malthus’s Essay on Population (1798) begins by pointing out that our ability to produce children will always outstrip our ability to provide energy for their survival. This, Malthus says, is a condition of our biological existence. Therefore, he continues, population must be kept in line with what the society can produce in the way of sustenance. Finally, he states, every way available to keep population in check—both preventative and positive—has negative consequence for individuals and societies (including birth control). Because of this simple fact, he argues, we can never achieve the just and equitable society anticipated by believers in material and spiritual progress—poverty, pain, vice, misery will always be the lot of some. Note that he does not claim that population would soon outstrip its resources and that society would collapse. Malthus's basic insight had a significant impact on Darwin, Wallace, and Spencer in their development of evolutionary theory.

Readings: Chapter 11 "The Sociology of T. Robert Malthus" in Macrosociology: The Study of Sociocultural Systems.

Essays:

Demonstrate to me that you have read and mastered the course material. Answer the following essay questions to be turned in during class before your exam over this unit. For full credit, list the question, address the questions fully and completely in your own words and voice. Length should be about 500 words per question.

1. Why is Malthus's 1798 Essay so maligned?
2. Discuss Malthus's position on the Poor Laws of England.
3. What social practices keep population in line with subsistence.
4. What is the cyclical relationship between production and reproduction?
5. What was Malthus's prediction of future population growth?
6. "For Malthus, overshoot is almost always present in every human society." Explain.
7. What are the positive checks on population growth? How do they differ from preventive checks?
8. What was Malthus's position on contraception?
9. Explain Malthus's use of cost/benefit analysis.
10. What are the Poor Laws?
11. What conflict did Malthus see between the Poor Laws and individual liberties?
12. What reforms did Malthus advocate to address inequality?
13. How does Malthus differ from the later Social Darwinists?
14. How does Malthus explain the Double Standard regarding premarital sexual behavior?
15. How does Spencer see population pressures as improving the species?
16. What is frequency of cropping?
17. What is Boserup's posited relationship between the system of land use and technology?
18. What are Boserup's contributions to Malthusian theory?
19. Discuss Malthus's preventive checks. How do they affect human behavior?

20. How did Malthus influence Darwin and Wallace?

Links:

T. Robert Malthus' Home Page

1798 Essay: Chapter One

Video:

Bibliography:

Malthus, T. R. (1798/2001). An Essay on the Principle of Population. In F. W. Elwell, A Commentary on Malthus' 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population as Social Theory (pp. 127-294). Lewiston: Mellen Press.