Malthusianism is a brand of the Manchester School capitalist-type political/economic thought developed during the industrial revolution on the basis of the writings of Thomas Malthus. Manchester Capitalism, Manchester School, Manchester Liberalism or Manchesterism are terms for political, economic and social movements of the 19th century, which originated in the North-West of England, and in Manchester in particular. ... In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... A Watt steam engine in Madrid. ... Rev. ...

It follows Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population which describes how population growth is exponential while the growth of the food supply was expected to be arithmetical, leading to a Malthusian catastrophe. An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published anonymously in 1798. ... The Malthusian growth model, sometimes called the simple exponential growth model, is essentially exponential growth based on a constant rate of compound interest. ... A Malthusian catastrophe, sometimes known as a Malthusian check, Malthusian crisis, Malthusian dilemma, Malthusian disaster or Malthusian trap, is a return to subsistence-level conditions as a result of agricultural (or, in later formulations, economic) production being eventually outstripped by growth in population. ...

It drew from this the inference that ideas of charity to the poor typified by Tory paternalism were futile as it would only result in increased numbers of the poor, and was developed into Whig economic ideas exemplified by the The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, described by opponents as "a Malthusian bill designed to force the poor to emigrate, to work for lower wages, to live on a coarser sort of food", which brought the construction of workhouses despite riots and arson. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Image of traditional cultural paternalism: Father Junipero Serra in a modern portrayal at Mission San Juan Capistrano, California Paternalism refers usually to an attitude or a policy stemming from the hierarchic pattern of a family based on patriarchy, that is, there is a figurehead (the father, pater in Latin) that... While the Whigs (along with the Tories) are often described as one of the two political parties in late 17th to mid 19th century Great Britain, it is more accurate to describe them as loose political groupings or tendencies. ... Former workhouse at Nantwich, dating from 1780 The Poor Law was the system for the provision of social security in operation in England and the rest of the United Kingdom from the 16th century until the establishment of the Welfare State in the 20th century. ... Former workhouse at Nantwich, dating from 1780 A workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work. ...

By that time the ideas were widespread in progressive social circles, one proponent being the novelist Harriet Martineau whose circle of acquaintances included Charles Darwin, and the ideas of Malthus were a significant influence on the inception of Darwin's theory. Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (June 12, 1802 - June 27, 1876) was an English writer and philosopher. ... Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist who achieved lasting fame by producing considerable evidence that species originated through evolutionary change, at the same time proposing the scientific theory that natural selection is the mechanism by which such change occurs. ... The inception of Darwins theory began with a search for explanations of contradictions in current Creationist ideas, and led him to formulate his theory of evolution which was eventually published in his book On the Origin of Species. ...

Source

• Adrian Desmond and James Moore, Darwin (London: Michael Joseph, the Penguin Group, 1991). ISBN 0-7181-3430-3