MARXIAN THEORY OF POPULATION

INTRODUCTION:-Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, and also a socialist revolutionary who was born on 5th May 1818 and died on 14th March 1883 at the age of 64. Marx’s main interest was in the fields of philosophy, economics, history, and politics. The influence of G.W.F. Hegel, Charles Darwin, Aristotle, David Ricardo, Adam Smith, William Thompson, and Voltaire can be noticed in his works. Marx did not have a direct contribution in the field of population geography like Malthus. Being a creative thinker he interpreted human history and said that the essence of history is the progressive change in modes of production in any society. Like from the stage of nomads mankind turned to the stage of settled living, hunting, gathering, sheep rearing, domestication of animals, and private agriculture which was followed by urban culture and diversified occupation. It helped in population increase, the emergence of private properties, etc. resulting in the formation of economic class that gave rise to social hierarchy, codes of behavior, rules of punishment for crime, and misconduct. After that, the Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1820/40) in Europe and the United States gave birth to capitalism due to which two classes of people were identified, are -

I. class of having (real owner of the industries) and 

II. class of have-nots (labor class); 

Marx termed these two classes as “exploiters versus exploited”. As the industrial revolution took place due to huge mechanization in industrial activities the employment opportunities had decreased and as there was a huge supply of labor that declined the wage rate. During this period as poorly used to see children as several hands to earn money, so they were interested to have more babies. But on the contrary, rich people used to see children as several mouths to feed, so instead of having more babies, they prefer to have a luxurious lifestyle. So in the rapid growth of population poor took effective role than rich people. 

CAUSES OF POPULATION GROWTH:- Marx believed that the followings are responsible causes of population growth - 

 Marx believed that the nature of economic relations in Europe’s industrial societies was the central problem for the world’s rapidly growing population. 

 According to Marx, the system of capitalism can produce food as well as other necessities but it’s the unequal distribution of social as well as economic wealth that undetermined production. 

 Marx told that poverty and unemployment were not due to increased population but it’s the capitalist system that failed to provide jobs to the masses. 

 From a Marxian point of view in no country of the world, population increases on account of fertility but increases only on account of capitalist policies. 

 Capitalists invest in labor part of their production and by installing labor-saving machines a capitalist always wants to have maximum surplus value out of that. Consequently, this unemployment spreads, wage declines, and poverty inclines. He noticed the wrong politics of the capitalists were the main cause of rapid population growth. 

Marxian theory of population was developed as a reaction to the capitalistic mood of production and governance. From the point of view of Marx, poverty and misery were not natural inevitabilities but the undesired gift of capitalism. This poverty, misery, unemployment, faster-growing population can be controlled by communism replacing the capitalist form of social order as he had a strong belief in the ability of the communist method of production to give full employment and good living to all able-bodied workers beside rate of increase in their number. According to Marx, there could be no universal (natural) law of population growth. The growth and dynamics of the population or more specifically the demographic characteristics change with the change in the mode of production. Mode of production is a specific set of forces of production (labor, capital, material, machinery, etc.) patterned into a specific set of relations of production developed as a result of an agreement between the employer and the workers. 

BASIC POSTULATE:- 

I. The growth of population was that in the capitalistic form of society, the supply of labor increased much faster than the opportunities of employment. 

II. The surplus workforce becomes an industrial reserve army of unemployed and underemployed hands. 

III. The movement of wage levels is determined by the magnitude of the working population among the industrial reserve army. 

IV. Birth rate, death rate, and family size have an inverse correlation with the level of wage. Marx tried to establish a relationship between capital accumulation, labor demand, surplus population (unemployed and underemployed workers), wage levels, the standard of living, poverty, rates of fertility and mortality, and population growth. 

CONSEQUENCES:-Marx stated that this population growth will have the following consequences  As the capitalist system fails to provide jobs so it will create more poverty and unemployment which will help in a continuous increase in population growth 

 The rapid population growth has witnessed the depression of wages, particularly for the poor who depend on wages for their subsistence. 

 From the aim of having more profit capitalists or the owners of the industries were interested more in investing in machinery than in labor force which strengthens unemployment, wage decline, and increasing poverty. 

CRITICISMS:-

1. Marx stated that due to lower wages, unemployment, and underemployment rapid population growth took place but it did not stand true. Population growth took place due to the extension in medical amenities and health care facilities which reduces the death rate without affecting the birth rate. 

2. Increasing population does not automatically lead to the decline in real wages as argued by Marx but there are other socio-political and economic factors also that determine the wage levels and employment opportunities in the society. 

3. While trying to establish a positive correlation between the levels of wages and birth rate he had not considered the faith and religion of the population which always have effects on the birth rate. 

4. He overlooked physical environmental factors like terrain, climate, soil fertility, etc. that also affect population growth. 

5. He also did not take care about social norms, educational level, technological advancements, and attitude towards the family which are vital factors affecting population growth. 

6. His theory can be applied in a capitalistic society but not in feudalistic, socialistic, and primitive hunting and food-gathering societies. 

CONCLUSION:-Despite all these criticisms, it can be said that after Malthus it was Karl Marx who tried to give a scientific explanation of population growth mainly depending on available information from the capitalistic countries like Europe, America, etc.

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