Population Growth Essay

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Dawnrae Fielding September 2013 Grade 12A Humanities Sociology Assignment Compare and contrast the demographic perspective of Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx to the causes and consequences of population growth. Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx are two sociologists associated with the population growth theory. The two shared very different views on the topic however, they both agree that population growth will avert to poverty and something must and can be done about this problem. Malthus based his theory of population on the ideology of poverty and the thought that all animated life will increase beyond the means available for its subsistence. He also believes that there is a need for restriction on the growth of a population’s growth and for this to happen he made mention of two strategies, preventative and positive checks. On the other hand, Karl Marx’s theory on population growth derived from the basis of communism. He asserted that human misery and suffering under capitalism were the results of bourgeois exploitation (Mustapha 2009). He believes that population growth is class related and population growth occurs because the working class is encouraged to reproduce as their labour is the only direct link to them earning a living and surviving. So capitalist maintain their positions in society by suppressing wages and encouraging population growth even at the hands at poverty. Marx also introduced the principle of the Reserve Army and Labour and Capital Accumulation and Expansion. Thomas Malthus in his writings linked population growth to the supply of food therefore he views the situation from the side of those living under poverty. This he said, because a population tends to grow geometrically
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