Social Welfare As a Variable in Population Dynamics

My first inclination when invited to participate on this Symposium's panel on the community was to present some of my own studies of animals. On later reflection I decided that it might prove more profitable to search for some insight into an often neglected aspect of population dynamics— that of welfare. Individuals or assemblies of individuals have the genetically endowed or culturally acquired potentiality to profit from certain conditions which might exist in their environment. Welfare is increased in proportion to the extent that the environment permits realization of these potentialities. Welfare may be measured in terms of (1) number of individuals, (2) reproductive rate, (3) their nutritional status and rate of bodily growth, (4) longevity as it reflects ability to ameliorate the impact of mortality producing factors, (5) physiological adjustment to material artifacts buffering the individual from the vicissitudes of his physical environment, (6) intellectual capacity and the...