Download population controls - AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

POPULATION CONTROLS:
The Neo-Malthusian vs. Cornucopian Perspective
“There's no difference
between having a girl
or a boy — girls can
also continue the
family line.”
I. Factors Affecting Fertility
A. Economic Factors
1. Agrarian societies: children are assets
2. Industrial societies: children are liabilities
3. Level of development: smaller family size=
higher standard of living
B. Social Factors
1. “traditional” role of woman (child-bearer)
2. children to care for elderly
3. male preference
4. high infant mortality rate
5. low literacy rates
6. lack of birth control
7. Religion: Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism
C. Political factors
1. Anti-natal policies:
-China (“One-Child Policy”) & India
2. Pro-natal policies:
- China 1950-60’s
- pop. implosion fears (Italy, Russia)
II. Types of Pop. Controls:
A. Involuntary:
– Natural Controls:
• Hunger
• Starvation
• Disease
– Government Programs:
• One-Child Policies (Singapore and China)
• Sterilization Campaigns (P.R., Peru, Mexico, India, Nazis)
B. Voluntary:
– Birth Control
– Cultural Norms
– ZPG Movement
C. China’s One-Child Policy:
1. Huge pop. explosion under Mao
Zedong (“Every mouth comes with
two hands”)
2. started in 1978
3. rural areas: 2 kids, urban: 1
penalty: “child excess fee”
4. Preference for male children
5. The most “successful” pop. control
in human history…
Propaganda Posters
“Carry Out Family Planning Implement the Basic National Policy”
“Do a Good Job in
Family Planning to
Promote Economic
Development”
“Why only a boy? Are
these not girls?” (1993)
“For a healthy family, wait three years before
your
second child. You can get these familyplanning
methods from government health workers,
“Tying the tubes of women is now extremely simple.
Laparoscopy is the newest method. The hospital
releases you quickly. The scar is very light. This
service is available at hospitals and health centers.”
III. THE DEBATE:
The whole world could fit into an area the size of Delaware.
The whole world could live in single family, one story houses in Texas.
The debate is over carrying capacity…how
many people are too many???
Population Doubling:
1804 – first billion
1927 – second billion
1974 – third billion
2000 – 6 billion
Sir Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
In An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), Malthus
stated:
*populations grow faster than food production
1.
Population increases with subsistence
2.
Checks are either private or destructive:
•
•
•
•
War
Poverty
Pestilence
Famine
“Cornucopian” Viewpoint
- technology raises carrying capacity (s-curve)
- resources are viewed as infinite
Are you a Cornucopian or NeoMalthusian???
Is the human population the cause of environmental problems?
Can we some day colonize the moon or outer space?
Are humans parasites on the face of the Earth?
Are the possibilities of human ingenuity and creativity infinite?
When is too many too many?