1. SOCIOLOGY
A Lecture Series
At Wolmer’s Trust High School for
Boys
2011 Upper 6 Social Science
Marxism - A view of the Theory of
Population
Lecture 2 September 19, 2011
Delivered by Christopher Humber

2. IMPORTANT POINTS FROM
MARXISM
• In a capitalist system the 'reserve army' of workers created
by the machines is a constant drag on wages and
condemns the proletariat to poverty and unemployment.
• The rulers position -The wealthy have to reconcile
themselves to investing in a way that changes their life or
does not result in a capitalist income. As for limiting the
growth of the population that may threaten their rule they
usually do not think of this.
• Rulers and subjects -There are rulers and subjects, or at
least large scale inequalities of conditions amongst the
countries of the world. Direct domination existed in the
shape of colonialism. While this was absolute or almost so,
the rulers did not worry about population growth. However
as soon as some countries gained their independence from
colonial masters as in the case of the Haitians it was feared
that the number of partial subjects, the costly ones might
rise excessively.

3. IMPORTANT POINTS FROM
MARXISM
• Domination occurred in many ways.
• At a time when world consciousness began to appear, the
rich countries fear the proliferation of people who were
acquiring rights.
• According to Marxism one day it might be necessary to
organise not only regular deliveries of goods to them (as
was the case of the West Indian Islands and the vibrant
trade that developed with North American colonies during
slavery), which would bring about such dramatic changes.
• "By launching a programme of modernisation in the now
dominant powers would in effect be creating a future world
in which their peoples would become progressively smaller
minorities, and possess a progressively smaller proportion
of the world's wealth and power." (Demographic Studies of
Selected Areas of Rapid growth; Milbank Memorial Fund
1944 New York).

4. Marxist Theory
• Some areas like the Soviet Union
refused to look at the problem of
overpopulation. Like Marx they
emphasised that there is no
overpopulation problem.
• Through better distribution you can
suppress the overpopulation problem
• Poverty is only the result of private
property and colonialism (meaning! let
poverty spread avoiding any reforms;
and it will destroy capitalism)

5. Comparing and contrasting the demographic perspectives of
Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx with respect to the causes and
consequences of population growth.
• A demographic perspective
is an understanding of how
the causes of population
are related to the
consequences.
• Thomas Malthus was one
of the earliest scholars who
studied the causes and
consequences of
population increase.
• For Malthus population
growth is generated by
human beings who like
other species are driven by
a special urge to
reproduce.
• According to Malthus
mathematical ratio (ie
arithmetic progression to
geometric progression),
population would grow so
rapid that it would outstrip
food supply causing misery
and poverty.
• A major similarity:
Although Marx did not
address directly Malthus'
thesis of how and why
population grew, did agree
with Malthus that rapid
population growth can
cause poverty.

6. Differences of M&M
• Marx was in opposition to the principles stated
by Malthus that population tends to surpass
resources. Marx was of the view that this
problem is only possible in a capitalist society.
• Marx did not accept Malthus' assumption, that
growing world population was the cause of
social ills. In contrast, he saw that the problem
was the evils of capitalism and not rising world
population.
• For Marx the issue was not overpopulation, but
under production. He believed the system of
capitalism has capacity to produce food and
other necessities, but it was the unequal
distribution of social and economic wealth that
undetermined production.

7. Malthus and Marx Debate
• Whereas Malthus focussed on individual
actions and endeavoured to find
solution to the population growth in
moral restraint,
• Marx focussed on the economic
structure of society and sought the
solution in a socialist
ideology.
• Marx might have tended to be too
optimistic about the ability of members
of society to provide for large
population, but in contrast Malthus
tended to be too optimistic.

8. Conclusion
• Despite this we have seen that some of
their insights regarding population issues
have been merged together in what is
called the Neo-Malthusian school of
thought. On one hand these Neo-Malthusian
agree with Malthus that world population is
outstripping natural resources and on the
other hand they tend to have strong Marxist
approach in their resentment of developed
nations who they claim consume almost
four-fifths of the share of the world
resources.