Tunnel Vision in Population Research: A Case in Point.

Autor/in	Serron, Luis A.
Titel	Tunnel Vision in Population Research: A Case in Point.
Quelle	(1976), (18 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Analytical Criticism; Capitalism; Communism; Demography; Developing Nations; Economic Factors; Economic Research; Employment Patterns; Environmental Influences; Foreign Countries; Industrialization; Labor Conditions; Labor Economics; Living Standards; Marxism; Overpopulation; Political Influences; Poverty; Productivity; Social Planning; Textual Criticism; Theories; Mexico + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kapitalismus; Kommunismus; Demografie; Developing country; Developing countries; Entwicklungsland; Ökonomischer Faktor; Wirtschaftsforschung; Beschäftigungsstruktur; Environmental influence; Umwelteinfluss; Ausland; Industrialisation; Industrialisierung; Arbeitsbedingungen; Arbeitsökonomie; Lebensstandard; Marxismus; Political influence; Politischer Einfluss; Armut; Produktivität; Sozialplanung; Theory; Theorie; Mexiko
Abstract	This paper takes a critical look at a demographic study of Mexico, namely, Tad Fisher's "Mexico: The Problem of People". Fisher's study relies heavily on population growth as a poverty generating factor. The paper states that Fisher's study exhibited perceptual narrowness by not considering the Marxist interpretation that capitalist development necessarily results in displacement of labor rather than in rising living standards. The author maintains that Fisher's theory relating poverty to overpopulation is actually unwitting evidence against capitalist development in underdeveloped countries. Whereas Fisher viewed the paradox of high productivity and low employment as an enigma, this paper notes that the relationship becomes clear once private forms of investment are questioned. Namely, profit from privately owned farms accrues to the landowners who purchase additional farm machinery rather than hire additional workers. Much population research has been based on the Marxist view that overpopulation is only apparent and relative--that population does not increase too fast, but that it increases faster than the capitalist system can stand. The suggestion is that if Fisher had considered Marxian population research and population theories, his study would have contributed a more realistic interpretation of the relationship between exploitation, capital accumulation, and overpopulation. Other areas of concern with which Fisher failed to deal include consumption levels, economic growth rates, relative increments in per capita production, rates of accumulation of public capital, and public ownership of the means of production. The conclusion is that studies such as Fisher's tend to focus exclusively on the problem of human pauperization, but are insensitive to the growing impoverishment of natural habitats. (Author/DB)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC