Thomas R. Malthus was a representative of the classical economic school of the 18-19th centuries. His main works were published in 1798 and 1820. Malthus and his "population theory" made a huge contribution to the development of science.
Biography
Malthus was born in 1766, February 14th. His father was a very outstanding person. He was fond of science, maintained friendly relations with Hume and Rousseau. In 1788, Malthus graduated from Jesus College of the University of Cambridge. According to the existing custom, as the youngest son, he had to begin a spiritual career. After college, Malthus took office. In 1793, he received a theological degree. From 1797 to 1803, Malthus was vicar in one of the parishes of Surrey. However, from youth he was fascinated by science. Therefore, at the same time, Malthus began to teach. All his free time was occupied with the study of the problems of the relationship of economic phenomena with natural processes. In 1805, he accepted the offer to become a professor at the Department of Contemporary History and Political Economy of the College of the East India Company. Here he also served as a priest.
Theory of Malthus (briefly)
She became the main work of his life. The first edition came out in 1798 anonymously. Malthus and his population theory then provoked numerous attacks. This is precisely the main reason that from 1799 to 1802 he began to travel to some countries of Europe. During trips, he collected information, statistics. All this information was used by him to adjust his work. After this tour in 1803, under his own name, he publishes a new revised edition of the book. Subsequent works were also significantly expanded and updated. The theory of Malthus, in short, has become an extensive treatise, including historical excursions, a critical analysis of the work of other authors.
Specificity of compilation
In the very first edition of the theory of population of Malthus summarized his theses regarding the demographic status of several countries. However, when compiling an essay, the author was not even aware of simple statistical data not only from other states, but also from England itself. For example, he believed that the population of Britain - 7 million people. According to the census conducted in 1801, this amount amounted to almost 11 million. In preparing the second edition, he took into account not only the statistical information received, but also church records. In addition, the theory of Malthus was supplemented by information on other countries. During his lifetime, 6 editions were issued. Each time, Malthus's theory came out in a large circulation.
The nature and increase of land rent
This is another extensive work that Malthus created. It was published in 1815. In this work, the author, based on the natural nature of land income, tried to reveal the mechanisms of its formation and increase, to substantiate the value of rent in the implementation of the aggregate product issued by society. But his final judgments were made somewhat later. In 1820, his second main work was published, which reflected the economic theory of Malthus.
The essence of the concept of 1798
Thomas Malthus and his theory aim at improving human life. In his work, the author uses various categories and concepts. In his work there are not only economic, but also natural philosophical, sociological, aesthetic, as well as religious concepts. In his work, he considered the demographic problem without regard to any social development as a whole. The population theory of T. Malthus was expressed as an eternal, unshakable, natural and inevitable law of nature. The author argued that the number of people is increasing exponentially, and the means of subsistence in arithmetic progression. According to the theory of population of T. Malthus, two centuries later, the ratio between the number of people and means would be 256: 9, and after three - 4096: 13. After 2,000 years, the gap between the categories would be innumerable and limitless. This theory of T. Malthus will subsequently be called the law of declining fertility of the earth. Doubling the number of inhabitants of the planet, according to the author, will be equivalent to the fact that the size of the Earth will decrease by half. The more people there are, the less left will be the cultivated land per person. In this regard, there is a tendency for the expansion of food resources to lag behind the increase in the population of the planet. Malthus's theory was not based on any real facts. The author proceeded only from assumptions that were not supported by reliable evidence, materials that had at least some significant practical value.
Contradiction
Malthus's theory, however, contains one fact. But he not only does not justify his assumptions, but, on the contrary, speaks of his dishonesty as a scientist. The author mentions in his thoughts about doubling the population of North America in a quarter of a century. He believes that this fact confirms his assumption that the number of people will increase exponentially. But in reality, as the thinker himself notes, the increase in the number of inhabitants does not occur unhindered. The author notes that the thesis regarding doubling does not hold. It is easy to calculate that otherwise in a thousand years the number of people would have increased by 240 times. This means that if in 1001 g. e. if 2 people lived, then in 2001 there would be 2 x 1012 (or 2 trillion people). This amount is approximately 300 times less than the actual value today.
Problems in concept
Reproduction in geometric progression is possible, as the author believed, only under certain specific conditions. In reality, a person constantly encounters all sorts of obstacles. Malthus attributed the following problems to them:
- The moral restraint. The author believed that each person’s duty is that before deciding to marry, he needs to achieve a state in which he will be able to provide his offspring with livelihoods. At the same time, the propensity for family life must retain its strength in order to maintain energy and awakening in the celibate individual, the desire to achieve the desired level of well-being by labor.
- Vices. To them, Malthus attributed unnatural ties, licentiousness, desecration of the family bed, various tricks that are undertaken to hide vicious ties.
- Misfortune. The author considered them hunger, war, plague, epidemics, various excesses, poor nutrition of children, excessive, hard work, harmful occupations, and so on.
However, it should be said that the doubling of the number of people actually took place at a certain stage in the development of society. But it happened as a result of migration, and not due to natural growth.
Poverty of people
According to Malthus theory, the main causes of poverty are not problems of social organization in society. The poor have no right to demand anything from the rich. According to the author, the latter are not guilty of the insolvency of the former. Malthus's theory of poverty is based on the fact that poverty does not, to a small extent or at all, depend on the form of government or the uneven distribution of goods. The rich are not able to provide the poor with food and work. In this regard, the poor, in fact, have no right to demand food or activities. Thus, according to the Malthus population theory, inevitable natural laws are the main causes of poverty.
Purpose of the concept
It is revealed directly in the very reasoning of the author. Malthus's theory is oriented toward paralyzing the class struggle of the workers, proving the futility and baselessness of the demands that the proletariat makes to the bourgeoisie. The author especially emphasized that the introduction and dissemination of his idea among the poor will have a beneficial effect on the working masses, which, of course, was beneficial to the ruling class. Malthus did his best to deprive the soil of the struggle of the proletariat. At the same time, he himself cynically and openly opposed the fulfillment of the elementary requirements of justice and the life rights of workers. The author suggested that the proletariat itself is guilty of its failure. The proletariat can reduce its poverty only by reducing the birth rate. He considered moral restraint, misery, abstinence from beggarly marriages, exhausting work, illness, war, epidemics, hunger as measures to combat the increase in the number of people. In this, he saw the only effective and natural means by which you can destroy the "extra people".
Malthus' Third Party Theory
The author acted as a categorical opponent of Ricardo's concept of value. Malthus suggested that the subsequent development of labor theory could lead to the exposure of the problems of capitalism. In addition, based on the ideas of Ricardo, he discovered the parasitic nature of income from the earth. He argued that for the prosperity of the nation it is necessary that in a country with progressive productive forces there should be a certain number of "third parties" - non-working consumers. Among them, in his opinion, will be sold part of the products that make up the profits of the capitalists. This will solve the problem of income distribution.
Effect
Almost immediately after the publication, Malthus's theory of reproduction became the subject of discussions among public figures, researchers, and among lay people. In addition to the followers of the concept, opponents of the provisions appeared. Some of the critics have put forward fairly constructive arguments. The work of Malthus was subsequently referred to by experts from various scientific fields. His work had a key influence on the development of Darwin's concept.
Criticism of Marxists
Representatives of the classical school revealed the reactionary role of population theory. Marx proved that the essence of the concept is based on the replacement of the specific socio-economic laws of capitalism with "immutable and eternal" natural postulates. Marx proved that the theory of population is absent altogether. Each social formation has its own specific law. There is no absolute overpopulation and cannot be. Growth is a relative phenomenon. It acts as a specific feature of the capitalist system arising under the influence of the law of accumulation. It is this, and not natural laws, that determines the poverty of the proletariat. As the main "argument", Malthus used the unscientific law on diminishing fertility. Marxists sharply criticized this concept. They argued that the author and his supporters did not take into account the increase in productive forces, the progress of technology. Lenin, criticizing the theory, said that there was no general difficulty in obtaining food, but the problem of food only for a specific class of society - the proletariat. This difficulty is determined by specific capitalist, not natural laws.
Mises opinion
This author attached particular importance to the influence of the Malthusian concept on the theory of liberalism. Mises believed that the assumptions made were the social doctrine of liberalism. He called the theory of the division of labor as the core of this idea. Only with close interconnection with this concept can one correctly interpret the social conditions of Malthusian theory. Society appears as an association of people for the better use of natural factors of existence. In fact, society is a ban on the mutual extermination of people. In society, instead of struggle, mutual assistance is used. This forms the main motivation for the behavior of its members. Within the framework of society, there should not be a struggle, there is only peace. Any confrontation, in essence, slows down social cooperation. Mises gives his explanation of the findings of Malthus. He says that private ownership of productive assets is a regulatory principle. It provides a balance between an increasing number of consumers and a decreasing amount of resources. This principle forms a dependence for each individual on the quota for an economic product, which is reserved on the coefficient of labor and property. He finds his expression in a decrease in the birth rate under the influence of society, the elimination of extra members of society by analogy with the plant or animal world. In the human population, the function of the struggle for existence is realized by the "moral brake that limits offspring."
Protection concept
Mises, among other things, rejects the allegations made by Malthus of cruelty and hatred. The author warns readers against incorrect conclusions. He says that in society there is no and cannot exist a struggle for survival. Mises believes that making such barbaric inferences based on Malthus's theory is a gross mistake. He argued: statements taken out of context and used for misinterpretation are explained by the insufficiency and incompleteness of the first edition of the work. The original publication was compiled before the idea of ​​classical political economy was formed.
Concept use
Despite the general scientific failure of the theory of population, it was a great success in bourgeois circles. This was due to the fact that the class demands of this part of society were highly satisfied with ideas. The most sinister role of the concept is currently being noted. The active dissemination of the ideas of neo-Malthusianism in different interpretations is caused by an accelerated increase in the population (to a greater extent in developing countries). This trend is accompanied by an exacerbation of environmental problems, an increase in the gap in the level of progress between countries.
Club of Rome
It is an international non-governmental organization. It combines public, political, scientific figures from many states of the world. The Club of Rome put forward the thesis that by the middle of the 20th century, humanity had reached the limits of exponential growth within a limited space. This idea was presented at the first report in 1972. In 1974, one of the models for solving global problems was justified, the concept of improving the world system in the plane of limited growth. The latter is understood as the procedure of structural differentiation, which has significant differences from exclusively quantitative undifferentiated increase. The authors use this concept with respect to the growth of the world system similarly to the development of the organism, within the framework of which both the specialization of various elements and their functional mutual dependence are noted. The need to apply just such an approach, according to participants, is due to the interdependence of crisis phenomena. These, in particular, include demographic, raw materials, energy, food, natural and other problems.
Conclusion
If by the beginning of the next century, intrafamily planning will extend to almost all the inhabitants of the planet, and if such a restriction exists at the level of 2.2-2.5 children per marriage, then there are reasons to believe that by the end of the 21st century the number of people on Earth, stabilizes up to 11-12 billion people. The most important prerequisites in solving the problem of regulating the increase in the human population are profound spiritual and social transformations, raising the cultural and material level of the peoples living on the planet. In this case, we are not talking about forced birth control, according to the theory put forward by Malthus. The essence of problem solving is the development and implementation of a number of thoughtful measures. Thanks only to this approach, in some states and regions the population growth should accelerate, while in others it should begin to slow down. The need for an objective, conscious limitation of population growth, dictated by the environmental imperative, necessitates the use of a Neo-Malthusian concept. The relationship of factors in it is two-way. The work of Malthus laid the foundation for the subsequent improvement of the demographic direction in the science of economic development.