Theodicity

It is probably because I have almost entirely ignored Malthus's theodicity — the theological aspects and implications of his political economy — that I find his case so much harder to express.

Implicitly, this theodicity of progress, coming as reward to the hardworking, entrepreneurial West, presupposed a harmonious vision of the world, again in the fashion of traditional cosmogonies, always organized and hierarchized.

This theodicity analogy also explains why politicians have drawn from these metaphoric models to formulate policy to control populations.

In short, according to Max Weber, there is a nearly universal tendency for religions of the upper strata to develop a theodicity that legitimates the good fortune of the rich and privileged and the ill fortune of the poor, arguing that rich and poor alike merit their status in life.