What is the Liberal and Marxist critique of Malthus's theory of population growth?

The correct option is: That he disregarded poverty as a social problem.

Explanation:
Thomas Robert Malthus, in his famous work An Essay on the Principle of Population, argued that population increases at a geometric rate (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16...) while food production only increases at an arithmetic rate (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...). According to Malthus, this natural imbalance inevitably leads to overpopulation, resulting in poverty, famine, disease, and war (which he termed "positive checks") unless checked by moral restraint or late marriage ("preventive checks"). He essentially viewed poverty as a natural and inevitable consequence of population growth outstripping food supply, placing the moral responsibility for poverty on the reproductive choices of individuals, particularly the working class.

The Critique:
Both Liberal and Marxist theorists strongly rejected this fatalistic outlook:
1. Marxist Perspective: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that poverty, misery, and unemployment are not laws of nature or results of overpopulation, but are systemic products of the capitalist mode of production. Marx pointed out that capitalism creates a "relative surplus population" (a reserve army of labor) to keep wages low. Thus, for Marxists, poverty is a social and structural problem of resource distribution and capital exploitation, rather than an inevitable natural law of population.
2. Liberal Perspective: Liberal thinkers and social reformers argued that poverty is a social problem that can be addressed and resolved through industrial advancement, technological innovation, education, and institutional reforms. They rejected Malthus's view that helping the poor is futile and would only lead to further population growth and misery.

Therefore, the core critique shared by these perspectives is that Malthus treated poverty as a natural, biological inevitability of population growth rather than recognizing it as a deeply rooted social and economic problem that can be resolved through structural change or social reform.