Malthusianism

Cultural  

1. A pessimistic viewpoint on population and world resources, based on the doctrines of Thomas Malthus. Malthusianism holds that population tends to increase faster than the supply of food, thus preventing the steady progress of mankind. Malthus advocated premarital chastity, late marriage, and sexual abstinence as partial solutions.

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Example Sentences

Pop culture has even spun Malthusianism into a meme, if you know what Soylent Green is made of.

From Salon • Nov. 15, 2022

Economists consider Malthusianism, at least as understood in modern times, to be a discredited doctrine.

From New York Times • Jun. 6, 2011

French industry seems to operate on an inverted system of Malthusianism, holding down production to keep pace with the population.

From Time Magazine Archive

To the German population also we find people recommending Malthusianism, without stopping to think what the sequels will be.

From Woman under socialism by De Leon, Daniel

But though, after all, his argument was merely a restatement of the time-worn Malthusianism, coming out of the mouth of one who had strenuously applied it during forty years of internecine war, it carried force.

From The Mystery of The Barranca by Whitaker, Herman