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Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Introduction to the Transaction Edition -- Introduction -- 1. The Theory of Population Homeostasis -- Food -- Anticipatory Mechanisms -- Individual Fitness -- Nonhuman Primate Examples -- Homeostatic Regulation of Human Populations -- Perceived Scarcity -- 2. Measures of Scarcity -- Problems in Evaluating Scarcity -- Direct Indicators -- Inferential Indicators -- Crowding -- 3. Sociocultural Mechanisms which Limit Population -- Premarital Sex and Marriage Rules -- Abstinence -- Sexual Outlets with Low Fertility Consequences -- Birth Control -- Abortion -- Mortality -- Conclusion -- 4. The Evidence: Its Quality, Order of Presentation, and Material from Nonwestern Societies -- The Theory of Scientific Proof -- Evidence From Nonwestem Societies -- The New Guinea Highlands -- Population Pressure Differentials -- The Enga Response: Restrictions on Sex -- Enga Theory -- Fore Sexuality -- Fore Response to Death -- Culture Contrasts -- The Netsilik Eskimo -- Environmental Pressure -- Infanticide -- Male-Female Relationships -- Testing the Hypothesis -- Conclusion -- 5. The Sensitivity of Self-Contained Societies, and Other Sources of Evidence -- Islands -- Three Longitudinal Studies -- Norway -- Environmental Pressure -- Marriage Age -- The Irish Potato Famine and the Ascendancy of the Roman Catholic Church -- Population Growth -- The Catholic Church -- Marriage Age -- Yap: A Pacific Island -- Environmental Pressure -- Sexual Mores -- Sterility -- Infanticide -- Other Research Possibilities -- The Late Roman Empire -- Population Fluctuations -- Culture Change -- The Christian Church -- Conclusion -- 6. Delayed Response to Population Pressure -- Alternate Hypotheses -- Scarcity -- The Locus of Responsibility

Demographic factors that threaten a given society's stability are examined along with the effects of population growth on a certain society's carrying capacity. It is contended that conflicts between neighboring ethnic groups are exasperated by the absence or inequitable distribution of available resources. After discussing the notion of carrying capacity, it is stated that population growth in the US is threatening current supplies of necessary resources & the national ecosystem. Additional effects of excessive population growth on American society include the increased stratification of social classes & the flight of certain racial groups from states with large immigrant populations. Additional effects of population growth on US democratic processes are considered. Multiple strategies for reducing the deleterious impact of continued population growth are offered, eg, allowing only 100,000 individuals to immigrate to the US per year. J. W. Parker

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Introduction to the Transaction Edition -- Foreword to the 1993 Edition -- Preface to the 1993 Edition -- I. FRAMING THE ISSUES -- 1. Growth: Why We Love It -- 2. A Global Dilemma -- II. WHY GROWTH FLIES OUT OF CONTROL -- 3. Belief as Part of the Problem -- 4. Cultural Brakes -- 5. Where to Look for Balance -- 6. Which Incentives? -- 7. Development Alone May Spur Population Growth -- 8. Culture: Make or Break -- III. THE BIG PICTURE: POLITICS, INCENTIVES, AND STRATEGIES -- 9. One-World: A Global Folly -- 10. Potlatching Twentieth-Century Style -- 11. Helping While Not Harming -- 12. Conservation, Incentives, and Ethics -- 13. Limiting Factors -- IV. AMERICA: PAST AND FUTURE -- 14. Kissing the Blarney Stone and Other Tales -- 15. History Does Not Stop -- 16. The Path to Poverty -- 17. All Our People -- 18. The Carrying Capacity of the United States -- 19. And Away We Go -- 20. Let Freedom Ring -- 21. Taking Hold -- Bibliography -- Index