Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Politics and Paradigms: The Origins of Malthusian Theory 2. Ireland: The "Promised Land" of Malthusian Theory? 3. Malthusian Transformations: From Eugenics to Environmentalism 4. Malthusianism, Demography and the Cold War 5. The Life and Death of Land Reform 6. False Premises, False Promises: Malthusianism and the Green Revolution 7. The Technology of Non-Revolutionary Change and the Demise of Peasant Agriculture Conclusion - Malthusianism after the Cold War: The Struggle Continues References Index

Promotional Information

A critique of the way Malthusian thinking has influenced capitalist development policy in the modern period, as well as in the past. It highlights the strategic role of Malthusian ideas in the defence of capitalist political economy when confronted by struggles for equality and human progress.

About the Author

Eric B. Ross is an anthropologist who was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently Columbia University. For many years he taught at various North American universities, including Mount Holyoke College, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Florida. In 1986 he was appointed a Senior Lecturer at the University of Huddersfield in the UK, before moving to the institute of Social Studies in the Hague in 1992.

Reviews

Embraced by liberals and conservatives alike, no other contemporary ideology has proved as resilient as Mathusianism in obscuring the real roots of poverty, inequality and environmental degradation. Eric Ross's powerful critique sets the record straight. It comes not a moment too soon as a Malthusian resurgence threatens the rights of immigrants and women of color, and provides a window through which right-wing forces are penetrating Northern environmental movements
*Betsy Hartmann, Director of the Population and Development Program, Hampshire College and author of 'Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control'*