Resource dilemmas have been the source for struggle between mankind that has occurred throughout history, but now, instead of resource shortages being confined to a particular geographic area these dilemmas are now related to a global scale. As populations continue to increase and resource shortages continue to grow, human behavior will react to these shortages to the extent that previous core belief systems will change in order to accommodate the need for survival.
“Not only the common man practiced infanticide; it was intellectually justified by some of the greatest minds of antiquity. Aristotle, one of the most influential thinkers in Western intellectual history, wrote: There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up. And to avoid excess in population, some children must be exposed. For a limit must be fixed to the population of the state (Aristotle-Politics: Book VII: Ch.16).”
China implemented a one child program in order to answer the problem of overpopulation. “China has the highest population in the world, encompassing 1.2 billion or twenty one percent of the world’s population (P.R.B. 7)(Cook, 1999).” This program has decreased population growth but has not been successful in reaching goals necessary and is not without serious consequences.
Infanticide has been one of the consequences of the one child program instigated in China. Infanticide has been practiced throughout history. Societies whose cultural belief systems, that include infanticide, placed little value on an infant’s life if the infant served no future value for society and infanticide was a widely accepted practice within these cultures.
“Here is a 2,000 year old letter from a Roman named Hilarion to his pregnant wife, Alis:
Know that I am still in Alexandria…. I ask and beg of you to take good care of our baby son, and as soon as I receive payment I will send it up to you. If you deliver of a child (before I get home), if it is a boy, keep it, if it is a girl discard it….(The Jewish Impact on Society, 1999).”
While overpopulation does present a variety of problems for the world’s sustainable resources, the solutions to overpopulation must be studied responsibly and scientifically by applied social psychologists as to how these solutions might affect human behavior and cultural perceptions, social facilitation, and in turn how human behavior might react to these solutions producing negative or positive outcomes.
References
Cook, J. (1999, December 5). Population Control and Consequences in China. Retrieved September 18, 2015, from http://maps.unomaha.edu)/peterson/funda/sidebar/chinapop.html
The Jewish Impact on Civilization. (1999). Retrieved September 18, 2015, from http://international.aish.com/seminars/worldperfect/wp03n11.htm