New Perspectives on MalthusRobert J. Mayhew Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a pioneer in demography, economics and social science more generally whose ideas prompted a new 'Malthusian' way of thinking about population and the poor. On the occasion of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his birth, New Perspectives on Malthus offers an up-to-date collection of interdisciplinary essays from leading Malthus experts who reassess his work. Part one looks at Malthus's achievements in historical context, addressing not only perennial questions such as his attitude to the Poor Laws, but also new topics including his response to environmental themes and his use of information about the New World. Part two then looks at the complex reception of his ideas by writers, scientists, politicians and philanthropists from the period of his own lifetime to the present day, from Charles Darwin and H. G. Wells to David Attenborough, Al Gore and Amartya Sen. |
Contents
Who were the preMalthusians? | 25 |
rights utility and productivity | 52 |
Malthus and the end of poverty | 74 |
Malthus and the new world | 105 |
Malthus in the Enlightenment | 128 |
Malthus women and fiction | 155 |
Finding a place for the antiMalthusian tradition | 182 |
Rockefeller philanthropy | 208 |
the birth of modern | 240 |
Malthus today | 267 |
| 301 | |
| 327 | |
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Adam Smith agricultural Alfred Russel Wallace American anti-Malthusian argued argument birth control birth-rates Blaug Britain Cambridge University Press century chapter Charles Darwin Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna claim contraception critique Darwin debate demographic early earth ecological economic economist Ehrlich England English Enlightenment environmental evolution Flew Flew’s Fogarty Franklin global population Godwin Harriet Martineau Himmelfarb human Huxley Ibid improvement increase James John Kropotkin labour land limits London Malthus’s Essay Malthus’s ideas Malthusian marriage Martineau modern moral natural nature’s neo-Malthusianism original Oxford University Press Paul Ehrlich Penguin political arithmetic political economy Political Justice Poor Laws popu Population Bomb Population Council population growth poverty preventive check Principle of Population problem production programmes radical Rockefeller Foundation Second Essay social society struggle for existence subsistence T.R. Malthus theory Thomas Robert Malthus thought tion Tonna wealth William William Godwin women York