ramblingsofarandomnerd

[ramblingsofarandomnerd]

The Theory of Social Contract

The theory of social contract is one of my absolute FAVORITE things to discuss, as all of my friends will attest. Social contract is a philosophical/ethical theory that discusses human nature and how the government should derive their power. (Also, Hamilton fans, stick around to the end)

So, the Theory of Social Contract really marked a change in how power is gained. Before this, all governments were monarchies that followed the divine right of kings, which meant that your ruler was given their power by a god or other supernatural being, and that is why you must follow them. Social contract, however, argued that power should be given to the rulers by the people in order to rescue us from the state of nature. The state of nature is humans at our purest I guess you could say. Humans with no society, no rules, and no official leaders. The three main men who offered opinions on social contract all had very different views on how this state of nature would look.

Thomas Hobbs

Hobbs hated humanity. His view of humans was that we are intrinsically violent, angry beings who, if left to our own devices, would kill each other and ruin ourselves. He believed that there would be no art, or culture, or music or literature. Hobbs thinks that a government is vital, that a leader should be chosen to create a society in order to protect humans from ourselves.

John Locke

Locke had a lot more favorable of a view on humanity than Hobbs did. He believed humans were born neutral, that we weren’t inherently good or evil, but that an organized society would keep us at our best and avoid corruption. Locke believed in a representative democracy, meaning we would elect leaders who would represent us in government, protecting our rights to life, liberty, and property (yes, this is correct.), and that we could remove our leaders either through rebellion or elections if we were displeased.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

So Hobbs and Locke are basically polar opposites when it comes to their views of humanity, but both do agree that some form of society and leadership is needed to best benefit humans. Rousseau disagrees. He believed that society would be what corrupts humans, and that we’d be best left mostly to our own devices, making decisions based off of the general will of the community via a pure democracy.

In Conclusion, 

I believe that the main difference in these theories is the author’s view on humanity. Rousseau viewed humanity favorably, which I do as well, I believe humans are born good, so I personally agree with Rousseau in that aspect, but I believe an organized society keeps us pure, so I agree with Locke more overall. 

This theory is incredibly evident in the founding of the United States of America. Alexander Hamilton was a strong believer in Hobbs, agreeing with many of his views. Surprise surprise, Thomas Jefferson on the other hand was a die-hard Locke fan, even parroting Locke’s “life, liberty, and a right to property” in the Declaration of Independence, which said, “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Ironic how these men were fans of completely opposite theories

[ramblingsofarandomnerd]

The Theory of Demographic Transition

The Theory of Demographic Transition is a theory about how human population changes based off of a nation’s level of industry. I recently learned about this in my AP Environmental Science class and found it fascinating!

So this theory can be split up into 4 phases that are dependent on if a country has little industry (third world countries) or high industry (developed countries) and the process a country undergoes to increase their industry. The rate of population growth changes as a country moves through the phases.

Phase One: Pre-Industrial

A country in this phase will be largely rural, with small family farms focused on providing for their family and nothing else. The population growth in this phase is slow, because the birth rate (the amount of babies born) and the death rate (the amount of people who die) often offset each other, meaning as many people die as are born. People in this phase tend to have a lot of children to try to get around the high infant mortality rate.

Phase Two: Industrialization

Now here’s where things get interesting. We start to have industry and BOOM the population explodes, we have rapid growth!!! With the start of industry, the country starts to invest in basic healthcare, sanitation, food, clean water, etc., something that was lacking in Phase One. Because of these changes, the death rate and the infant mortality rate drops, meaning less people are dying, but people still have the same amount of kids. This leads to rapid population growth.

Phase Three: Industrialized

Things calm down a little in Phase Three. The country is now fully industrialized, the economy is stable and the standard of living has improved by a lot. This leads to an increase in education, especially the education of women. The more educated a woman is, the less likely she is to have lots of kids, and the longer she will wait to have children. This will lead to a lower birth rate, and combined with the lower death rate we discussed in Phase Two, the population will stabilize.

Phase Four: Post-Industrial

The country now is very successful, with high levels of affluence and a good economy. These factors further discourage women from having children, and those who do often wait even later to establish their career. This often leads to a decline in population, with more people dying of old age than babies being born.

In Conclusion,

(Citation for Image: https://www.sophia.org/tutorials/malthusian-theory-and-demographic-transition-theory)

The Theory of Demographic Transition describes how the human population changes as a country becomes more industrialized, switching from a developing country to a developed one. A main factor in the population shift is the education of women, however, there is also a cultural aspect of this that may not be changed as a country develops. If a society traditionally values more children, there will be more pressure to have more children. Some religions advocate against family planning and birth control, making women have more children as well. This theory, however, is general and doesn’t take that into account.