Charbit Economic, Social and Demographic Thought in the XIXth Century

The Population Debate from Malthus to Marx
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4020-9960-1
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 190 Seiten

According to current understanding, Malthus was hostile to an excess of population because it caused social sufferings, while Marx was favourable to demographic growth in so far as a large proletariat was a factor aggravating the contradictions of capitalism. This is unfortunately an oversimplification. Both raised the same crucial question: when considered as an economic variable, how does population fit into the analysis of economic growth? Even though they started from the same analytical standpoint, Marx established a very different diagnosis from that of Malthus and built a social doctrine no less divergent. The book also discusses the theoretical and doctrinal contribution of the liberal economists, writing at the onset of the industrial revolution in France (1840-1870), and those of their contemporary, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who shared with Marx the denunciation of the capitalist system. By paying careful attention to the social, economic, and political context, this book goes beyond the shortcomings of the classification between pro- and anti-populationism. It sheds new light over nineteenth century controversies over population in France, a case study for Europe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Charbit, Yves

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Contents;6
2;The Population Controversy and Beyond;9
2.1;Theoretical Progress and Affiliations;10
2.2;Demographic Theory and Economic Theory;12
2.3;Demographic Doctrines and Ideology;13
2.4;Interpreting Theories and Doctrines;14
3;Population, Economic Growth and Religion: Malthus as a Populationist;17
3.1;The Central Concepts;21
3.2;The First Model: Regulation by Mortality;23
3.3;The Second Model: The Demo-Economics of Fertility and Nuptiality;28
3.4;The Third Model: Effective Demand;31
3.5;A Comprehensive Model for Maximising Demo- Economic Growth;39
3.6;Contradictions and Unity in Malthus’s Writings;54
4;From Malthusianism to Populationism: The French Liberal Economists ( 1840– 1870);58
4.1;The Economists as a Sect;58
4.2;A Double Paradox;60
4.3;Poverty of theWorking Class and the Dangers of the Revolution;64
4.4;The Second Empire: Social Peace;69
4.5;Towards Populationism;82
4.6;Malthusianism and the Bourgeois Ideology;90
4.7;Annex: The Causes of the Rural Exodus;94
5;The Malthusian Trap: The Failure of Proudhon;100
5.1;A Thinker Who Cannot Be Classified;100
5.2;The Two Progressions;102
5.3;Economics and Population;108
5.4;Moral Philosophy and Social Criticism;115
5.5;The Proudhonian Model;118
5.6;The Misuse of Metaphysics;123
6;Capitalism and Population: Marx and Engels Against Malthus;127
6.1;An Ambivalent Hostility;127
6.2;The Poverty of the Working Classes and the Poor Laws;131
6.3;The Epistemological Break of 1845 and Population;134
6.4;The Accumulation of Capital and Its Organic Composition;140
6.5;Marx’s Primitive Accumulation Versus Malthus’s Effective Demand;142
6.6;Capitalism’s Population Law: The Industrial Reserve Army;147
6.7;The Actual Working of the Population Law;152
6.8;Demography and the Evolution of Capitalism;160
6.9;Annex: The Althusserian School and Population;163
7;Beneath Demographic Issues;169
7.1;Wealth and Power;170
7.2;Demographic Behaviour and Bourgeois Universalism;171
7.3;The State and the Family;172
7.4;Theorising Versus Historicising;173
8;Bibliography;176
9;Index;187