3.3.1 Divergent thinking
Content
- Geographic inquiry and concept(s)
- Possibilities for managing resources sustainably and power over the decision-making process
- Geographic knowledge and understanding
- Divergent thinking about population and resource consumption trends: pessimistic views, including neo-Malthusian views
- Divergent thinking about population and resource consumption trends: optimistic views, including Boserup
- Divergent thinking about population and resource consumption trends: balanced views, including resource stewardship
- Case study or detailed examples
- Neither required by the syllabus
- Aims of this lesson
- To have knowledge and the understanding of the divergent views about population and resource consumption trends.
Base knowledge and understanding
News article
Why we shouldn’t cheer Earth’s growing population | Letters
Letters: Readers respond to a piece by Jonathan Kennedy, in which he cautioned against ‘alarmist’ views on overpopulation
The Guardian · 4 June 2025
Key terms
- Boserup's theory
- Boserup is known for her theory of agricultural intensification, also known as Boserup's theory, which posits that population change drives the intensity of agricultural production. Her position countered the Malthusian theory that agricultural methods determine population via limits on food supply. A major point of her book is that "necessity is the mother of invention".
- Divergent thinking
- The process of creating multiple, unique ideas or solutions to a problem that you are trying to solve.
- Malthusianism
- Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off.
- Neo-Malthusianism
- The advocacy of human population planning to ensure resources and environmental integrities for current and future human populations as well as for other species.
- Optimistic
- Hopeful and confident about the future.
- Pessimistic
- Tending to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.
- Stewardship
- The conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.
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Review
- Suggest one reason why neo-Malthusian predictions have not yet been fully realised. [2]
- Outline the neo-Malthusian view of the relationship between population growth and resource consumption. [2]
- Population growth poses a greater threat to global resource security than rising consumption per person. To what extent do you agree with this statement? [10]
- Boserup's optimism about population and resources is more convincing than the views of neo-Malthusian thinkers. To what extent do you agree with this statement? [10]
- Technological innovation will always prevent a global resource crisis. To what extent do you agree with this statement? [10]
