Final answer:
Karl Marx believed Thomas Malthus's theory was wrong as it ignored the impact of technological advancement and improved agricultural methods on food production, as well as potential changes in social conditions like better living standards and education that could lower birth rates. Marx saw Malthus's theory as a defense of the exploitative capitalist system and not a true reflection of the dynamic socio-economic changes potential.
Step-by-step explanation:
Karl Marx believed that Thomas Malthus's theory of population change was incorrect because he saw it as a superficial rationale for societal woes, blaming them on natural population growth rather than the exploitative economic systems of capitalism. Moreover, Marx argued that Malthus did not account for the potential of technological advancements and improved agricultural techniques to expand the food supply. Additionally, Marx criticized Malthus's theory for ignoring the possibility of changing social conditions that could influence population growth, such as improvements in living conditions and education that can lead to lower birth rates.
Malthus's central claim was that the population grows geometrically while food supply increases arithmetically, inevitably leading to famine, war, and disease, which he termed "positive checks" on population growth. Marx felt that Malthus failed to envisage that production means could evolve in a way to outpace the growth of the population. Indeed, as history progressed, especially with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, it became clear that the expansion of productive capacity could very well outstrip population growth.
Thus, Marx considered Malthus's perspective flawed, rooted in a static view of society and economy, incapable of grasping the dynamics of socio-economic change that could avert the doom-laden scenarios of the Malthusian catastrophe.