Showing papers on "Human migration published in 1989"

Family and personal networks in international migration: recent developments and new agendas.

Abstract: Family, friendship and community networks underlie much of the recent migration to industrial nations Current interest in these networks accompany the development of a migration system perspective

Where do the new U.S. immigrants live

Abstract: Analyzing the location choices of the post-1964 U.S. immigrants results in three main findings: (1) these immigrants are more geographically concentrated than natives of the same age and ethnicity ...

Migration Networks and Immigrant Entrepreneurship

Abstract: Migration network theory addresses the cumulative causation of migration as a result of reduced social, economic, and emotional costs of migration pursuant to the formation of migration networks. Because it introduces a sociological dimension, network theory improves the mechanical and economistic “push and pull” conceptions that prevailed earlier, including world systems versions thereof. Nonetheless, existing treatments of migration networks overlook the role of those networks in expanding the immigrant economy at locations of destination. The migration network performs this role when it supports migrant entrepreneurship, a phenomenon of variable but often great importance. Existing literature also ignores cultural differences that affect the efficiency of migration networks in both relocating population and generating new firms. In the last decade, immigration research has refocused on the issue of migrant networks in both contemporary and historical migrations (Bozorgmehr, 1990; Fawcett, 1989; Boyd, 1989; Morawska, 1989: 260; Wilpert and Gitmez, 1987). A long-standing concern (Tilly, 1978; Choldin, 1973: Light, 1972), migrant networks became of renewed interest when researchers sought to connect macro and micro determinants of immigration. Micro determinants begin with solitary decision-makers who operate independent of group memberships (Lee, 1966; Lewis, 1982: ch. 8; Sell, 1983). Often placed in a world systems context, macro influences impact masses of people whose responses are not thought to depend upon migration chains (Burawoy, 1976; Portes and Walton, 1981; Clark, 1986: ch. 4; Sassen-Koob, 1989). Spanning continents and decades, social networks connect individuals and macroscopic push and pull influences. True, at any stage of a migration, some people arrange their relocation on their own and without any help from migration networks. These are unassisted migrants. However, more individuals migrate when once networks have formed (Portes and Boron, 1989: 607-608). These networks organize their departure, travel, and settlement abroad. For this reason, the network itself emerges as an actor in the migration process. Although based on already familiar ideas, Massey’s formula of “cumulatively caused” migration drew together and focused current thinking about migration. According to Massey (et al., 1987; 1988, 1989), migrations forge networks which then feed the very migrations that produced them. Therefore, whatever macrosocietal political/economic conditions may initially have caused migration, the originating pushes and pulls, the expanding migratory process becomes “progressively independent” of the original causal conditions. In effect, migrations in process self-levitate above the conditions that caused them to begin, leading thereafter an independent existence. Network formation is the reason. Massey (1988: 396) defines migration networks as “sets of interpersonal ties that link migrants, former migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination areas through the bonds of kinship, friendship, and shared community origin.” Networks promote the independence of migratory flows for two reasons. First, once network connections reach some threshold level, they amount to a autonomous social structure that supports immigration. This support arises from the reduced social, economic, and emotional costs of immigration that networks permit. That is, network-supported migrants have important help in arranging transportation, finding housing and jobs in their place of destination, and in effecting a satisfactory personal and emotional adjustment to what is often a difficult situation of cultural marginality. These benefits make migration easier, thus encouraging people to migrate who would otherwise have stayed at home. Unless migrants are uprooted refugees who lack any choice about departure, only immigration affording them any hope of survival (Bozorgmehr and Sabagh, 1990; Pedraza-Bailey, 1985) potential migrants always have the option of staying home. Given that choice, the reduced cost of migration enhances the number who can and will choose to leave, thus increasing the volume of migration. Second, Massey has made the same case for networks under the assumptions of a risk-diversification model.According to this model, families allocate member labor within the constraint of their own needs and aspirations in a cost-efficient and risk-minimizing way.Many Third World households are economically precarious. Such households face high-risks to their well-being if they select non-migration.Moreover, modernization and development create social and economic dislocations that intensify the unstable and unpredictable economic environment created by the usual risks of drought, crop failure and natural disasters, for rural as well as urban areas.In the absence of other ways to insure against such risks, diversification of family members’ location minimizes overall family income risk. (Massey, 1989: 14-15) Migration is a risk-diversification strategy.International migration is especially effective because international borders create discontinuities that promote independence of earnings at home and abroad. Good times abroad can match bad ones at home, or vice-versa. Even in the absence of earning differentials (ASA, p.15), international migration offers an effective risk-diversification strategy, especially when migrant networks already exist. Migration networks reduce the economic risks of immigration, thus rendering the strategy more attractive from a risk-diversification perspective (Massey, 1989:5-16). Expanding networks “put a destination job within easy reach of most community members” (Commission, p.398) and make migration a virtually risk-less and cost-less alternative labor power investment in the household’s portfolio of labor assets (Massey, 1988).

Labor Migrations of Poles in the Atlantic World Economy, 1880–1914

Abstract: The recent influx to the United States of a new large wave of immigrants from Hispanic America and Asia has reinvigorated immigration and ethnic studies, including those devoted to the analysis of the origins and process of international migrations. The accumulation of research in this field in the last fifteen years has brought about a shift in the theoretical paradigm designed to interpret these movements. The classical approach explains the mass flow into North America of immigrants (from Southern and Eastern Europe, in the period 1880 to 1914), as an international migration interpreted in terms of push and pull forces. Demographic and economic conditions prompted individuals to move from places with a surplus of population, little capital, and underemployment, to areas where labor was scarce and wages were higher (Jerome, 1926; Thomas, 1973; Piore, 1979; Gould, 1979). This interpretation views individual decisions and actions as the outcome of a rational economic calculation of the costs and benefits of migration. Recent studies of international population movements have reconceptualized this problem, recasting the unit(s) of analysis from separate nation-states, linked by one-way transfer of migrants between two unequally developed economies, to a comprehensive economic system composed of a dominant core and a dependent periphery— a world system that forms a complex network of supranational exchanges of technology, capital, and labor (Castells, 1975; Cardoso and Faletto, 1979; Kritz, 1983; Sassen-Koob, 1980; Portes, 1978; Portes and Walton, 1981; Wood, 1982). In this conceptualization, the development of the core and the underdevelopment of the peripheral societies are seen not as two distinct phenomena, but as two aspects of the same process—the expanding capitalist world system, explained in terms of each other. Generated by the economic imbalances and social dislocations resulting from the incorporation of the peripheries into the orbit of the core, international labor migrations between the developing and industrialized regions are viewed as part of a global circulation of resources within a single system of world economy. This interpretation shifts the central emphasis from the individual (and his/her decisions) to the broad structural determinants of human migrations within a global economic system.

Politics and ideology in migration policy formulation: the case of Kuwait.

Abstract: In 1716 3 prominent families of the original Kuwaitis agreed that 1 family would control finance and commerce another seafaring activities and the 3rd the government. This continued allegiance has been instrumental in shaping migration policy in Kuwait. Migration to Kuwait began in the 1930s-1940s to meet labor needs of the oil industry and the social infrastructure. This began a steady increase with several setbacks in the early 1970s of the migrant population. Between (1959-1964) Kuwait had to determine how it would exist and operate as an independent state. The new state established migration policy based on a need for national identity and on weighing the interests of 4 political groups: the ruling family; the wealthy merchants; the Arab Nationalist Movement; and Kuwaiti Nationalists. 3 migration laws emerged which satisfied the 4 groups and in some form continued into the 1980s. These laws basically allowed the continuation of free immigration of labor with the government controlling entry movement rights and employment of the migrants while stressing neutrality and reciprocity with other states especially Arab states. 1 law greatly limited the number of citizenships to nonKuwaitis and guaranteed economic control and major share of profits to Kuwaitis. Between 1965-1984 many changes to migration policy occurred for political demographic and economic reasons. 1 such change was an amendment restricting naturalization to Muslims thereby not allowing naturalization of the growing Asian migration population to preserve their cultural authenticity. By 1984 following 1 rebalance of the distribution of Kuwaitis and nonKuwaitis economic declines and security threats migration policy shifted back to population balance. Kuwaiti history shows however that experimenting with migration policy and population balance cannot establish internal political and social cohesion. This is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the 1987 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (see Population Index Vol. 53 No. 3 Fall 1987 p. 409).

Population migration and economic restructuring in the United States.

Abstract: This article demonstrates that sectoral employment shifts associated with the migration pattern changes of the 1970s are very different than those for the period 1955-60 to 1965-70. Changing competitiveness for jobs in manufacturing and other traditional basic sectors of the economy cannot account for the greatly accelerated levels of core-periphery net outflow that have been the dominant characteristic of interstate movement during the 1970s and 1980s. Instead an interconnected set of activities that includes government services trade and construction is associated with the broadscale shifts in the geographic pattern of the United States population. The causal linkage from migration to employment change assumed heightened importance during the 1970s. (EXCERPT)

Does Migration Reduce Differentials in Regional Unemployment Rates

Abstract: Despite its comparatively small size Great Britain has experienced very substantial and largely stable differences in regional unemployment rates for sixty years. The sharp post-1980 recession has served to heighten popular concern for the grave unemployment circumstances in certain locations, primarily the North of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the inner areas of the connurbations, and has helped to foster the view that these problems are symptomatic of the rigidity of British and perhaps other European labour markets in comparison with those in the US and Japan.

Population and community in rural America

Abstract: The American experience has been one of constant and accelerating change. Against this background, American cities have exerted a magnetic pull attracting streams of migration from rural to urban areas transforming a predominantly rural society into one in which 75 percent of the people live in urban areas. "Population and Community in Rural America" focuses on migration as the primary force for population change in rural America. Within smaller, more dispersed rural populations, any changes in the number of births or deaths, or movement in or out of the area impact community and family structures. In the last half-century, migration studies have been the single largest area of rural population research because the consequences of migration on both community population and socioeconomic structure are usually much greater than shifts in mortality and fertility. Garkovich argues that migration streams exert a cohesive force, binding American communities together and that such in/out migrations have contributed to a national character based on intermingled rural and urban perspectives. She presents a thorough investigation of the nature of migration and its effect on other population processes and characteristics, and explains why particular patterns of migration and population change have occurred at certain points in the historical development of rural America. The first two chapters describe various theoretical and methodological issues; review major social, economic, and political events of the three historical eras of rural population change; and consider the social environment within which the changes occurred. Chapters three through six detail rural population changes including major migration streams and the factors and outcomes associated with, or attributable to, these movements. Chapter seven analyses institutional forces that have effected both the study and interpretation of rural population change and offers provocative suggestions. A final chapter summarizes major changes in rural America, explains how migration continues to shape current rural populations, and identifies critical issues for future migration research. An important tool for students and scholars, this volume will also be of particular interest to those readers studying population migration and rural communities.

Determinants and consequences of internal migration in India ; studies in Bihar, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh /

Abstract: The determinants and consequences of internal migration in India are explored. "A number of factors are considered and their interrelations with migration systematically analysed. These include...education employment technology and productivity remittance flows and expenditure patterns and housing and civic amenities....The authors conclude that rural-urban migration is often a desperate survival strategy and it would not be humane to attempt to stop it. Their analysis also shows that migration to urban areas generates some benefits for rural areas in terms of the inflow of remittances and their investment in raising productivity and incomes. These positive benefits they argue should not be overlooked while attempting to formulate population distribution policies." (EXCERPT)

Out of Fiji...a perspective on migration after the coups.

Abstract: The impact of the military coup detat that occurred in Fiji in May 1987 on emigration particularly of the population of Indian origin is examined. "The review commences with a brief statement about the magnitude of net migration losses of Fijis population since the early 1960s. This is followed by a closer examination of the age sex and occupational composition of flows of Fiji citizens to New Zealand with particular reference to the late 1980s." (EXCERPT)

Settler migration during the 1984/85 resettlement programme in Ethiopia

Abstract: The recent history of resettlement in Ethiopia is briefly reviewed and the caused, flow patterns and some demographic impacts of the 1984/85 government-sponsored resettlement migration are examined with the objective of identifying motivations and constraints in the migration process, analysing changes in population distribution and examining policy implications. Famine was the major push factor in migration, but traditional reactions of peasants to drought and overpopulation caused more drought victims to leave their homes spontaneously for relief and transit centres than as recruits of the government-sponsored resettlement programme. However, motivation to migrate and distances travelled to centres showed strong regional variation, indicating the severity of the famine and traditional adaptive strategies. Changes in rural population density were significant in several awrajas (districts) but were reduced by return migration. Problems associated with this emergency resettlement programme are reflected in difficulties during programme implementation, generally low agricultural production of settlers and high rates of return migration. Further studies are needed on the ecological impact of settler migration in both sending and receiving areas, peasant coping behaviour, as well as the evolution of new settler migration patterns in the new settlement areas in W Ethiopia.

Economic impact of migration to the Middle East on the major Asian labour sending countries - an overview

Abstract: Government policies in the field of migration have been mainly reactive and regulatory. Similarly, research in the area of migration has been focussed primarily on the individual migrant and his individual family and surroundings. The main objective of this study was to develop a wider methodological approach which could analyse the phenomenon of migration within a macro-economic perspective where the impact on the economy and the society as a whole could be identified. The overview builds-up this framework and draws on the main conclusions of the country studies presented in this volume.

International Migration in Africa: Legal and Administrative Aspects

Abstract: A study which aims to provide answers to the key questions on the phenomenon of African migration. The book looks at the inadequacy of data, the nationalization of employment, illegal immigration, mass expulsions, border migration, the "brain drain", return migration and migration to South Africa.

Migration as a source of changing party strength.

Abstract: The author examines the impact of international migration on the U.S. political system. He "discusses partisan change and the role migration may play within it and identifies the conditions under which migration is likely to have its greatest effect. This effect is illustrated by an intensive analysis of a Sun Belt county which has witnessed both a wave of migration-based population growth and a dramatic change in the local partisan balance." (EXCERPT)

Revised estimates and projections of international migration : 1980-2000

Abstract: This report reviews the World Bank's latest international migration statistics for every country in the world for each five year period from 1980 - 2000. The estimates and projections of net international migration during this period will be used as input statistics for the forthcoming edition of the World Population Projections. In the early 1980s, net international migration to all receiving countries totaled more than 1.2 million persons a year. The author assumes this figure to gradually decrease to fewer than 900,000 persons a year in the period 1995 - 2000. The current male dominance of international migration flows is also expected to decrease. He also assumes that the importance of the United States as a prime destination of immigrants will increase substantially in the 1990s. Mexico is by far the largest net exporter of international migrants.

Tides of Migration: A Study of Migration Decision-Making and Social Progress in Sao Miguel Azores

Abstract: The effect of past migration phenomena on migration decision-making in the late 1970's is examined using data from the Azores, Portugal. A model of the migration process emphasizes the importance of understanding the home system and the interplay of factors between home and destination areas over time. Data are presented from participant-observation and interviews in communities of the home system of S. Miguel. S. Miguel is the largest island of the Azores, a region where primarily permanent, family-type, international migration to America has contributed to a twenty percent population decline over the last twenty years. Additional data were collected in destination areas of North America. The study analyzes migration decision-making within an historical context. It is a context distinctly influenced by flows of people and communications associated with migration since the 1950's. Decision-making is affected by multiple levels of constraints and incentives which shape migration behavior; regional and national relationships, dimensions in the home social system, and individual and family relationships. Migration is examined as part of broader processes of social change and development and continuity in the patterns of social change. The findings of this analysis show that emigration from S. Miguel is a culturally sanctioned, historically flexible pattern of adaptation to limited home resources. Migration since the 1950's has served as a means for individuals to increase social and economic status outside the home sytem. Emigrants during this period were primarily agricultural laborers. In the 1970's changes in both home and destination areas led to increased contact between emigrants and better-educated people in the home society. At the same time the standard of living and access to education improved at home partly due to the effects of previous migration, but without a significant increase in opportunities for the educated. A combination of factors including family ties, opportunities, and information flows thus led to a rising proportion of skilled emigrants. The choice of emigration also serves as an adjustment mechanism in family support systems. Migration decision-making is associated with specific transitional points in life stages, the most important of which are setting up a family and family expansion. Transitional points, along with evaluations and perceptions of opportunities vary among differing social levels. The trend toward more skilled emigrants is likely to continue as long as opportunities remain limited at home. Interactions between America and S. Miguel which seek to utilize the resources of each area, for example tourism, and expansion of family connections through emigration reinforce the present trend. The study contributes to the development of an actor-oriented approach to migration which takes into account the effects of previous migration and the flexibility of a home system in which patterns of migration are changing. This approach suggests the utility of particularistic analysis of multiple factors for social planning and development in situations of migration.

The Effect of Migration on Family Structures in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Abstract: This paper assesses the effect of migration or family structures in sub-Saharan Africa especially the effect of emigration on the reproduction production and social stability of the family in areas of origin in the predominantly agrarian communities of East and Southern Africa. Migration in precolonial Africa usually occurred for 1 of the following reasons: 1) the search by communities for new habitats and opportunities; 2) as a community response to droughts floods environmental degradation and similar disasters; and 3) as a result of internecine wars civil strife and general hostilities. Thus because of the collective nature of early migrations the family unit maintained a much greater degree of social cohesion. The effects of the rise of the modern state in Africa on migration include 1) spatial limits of collective migration were frozen 2) the colonial boundaries did not always correspond to cultural divisions 3) both migration within colonial boundaries and individual migration became dominant and 4) cyclical migration began. The end of colonialism resulted in 1) difficulties in creating strong and internally coherent nation states because of the uncertainty of national borders and 2) more cyclical migrants. The effects of migration on reproduction in the family during the colonial period include 17 extremely low fertility rates 2) widespread domestic instability and 3) exacerbation of moral decadence. Contemporary patterns of emigration have been far less disruptive due in part to increased personal mobility and migration of the complete reproductive unit. The effects of migration on production include 1) depletion of labor for production; 2) women had to assume production functions together with all their other responsibilities; and 3) very little cash or goods were available for remittance to areas of origin. Production and productivity among rural African families will continue to suffer as long as plantations mines and urban centers entice the younger more productive labor way. Migration can affect the social structure 1) by undermining basic social institutions including the family; or 2) by strengthening social solidarity especially if it occurs in the land frontier of the migrants original society. Africas migration policy should 1) allow for greater mobility within and across boundaries and 2) initiate policies and programs to achieve a more balanced settlement pattern especially in rural Africa.

Return to Aztlan: The Social Process of International Migration from Western Mexico:Return to Aztlan: The Social Process of International Migration from Western Mexico.

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The case of Asian migrants to the Gulf Region.

Abstract: International migration from Asia to the Gulf Region is desirable and has benefited both individuals and the countries. At the individual level migrants benefit economically and socially. They earn more income and are able to improve the quality of life of their family members when they return home. Although there are cases of negative impacts of international migration such as fraud and corruption as well as broken homes and extravagance in general most migrants benefit and the experiences are worthwhile. Available data indicate that there are occupational shifts a change in attitude towards community life the world situation and attainment of goals. At the national level international migration has brought in foreign exchange and helped reduce unemployment. In addition to facilitating and making the pre-migration phase as easy as possible activities of government during migration and post-migration phases are also required if the government is truly to promote international migration. Establishment of the post of Labor Attache in embassies will support migrants while they work abroad by providing services and moral support thus making adjustment in host countries easier. Upon returning home the government can provide consulting services to returnees on investment possibilities and may be able to tap resources form returnees for overall development. Granted that returnees are ordinary people with not much savings remittances in foreign currency sent home have reduced financial difficulties in the home country. International migration is seen by the author as a rite-of-passage. This is an activity or an educational experience which happens once or twice in a lifetime and is not repeated. There must be a revolving system where young people migrate to work gain experience earn extra income and return to settle down bringing with them the benefits gained while working abroad. Data collected from this study show negative social impacts especially when migration covers a long period in ones lifetime. In promoting international migration the government therefore has to help returnees settle down and treat international migration as an educational experience.

Internal migration in Peru.

Abstract: "E. G. Ravenstein proposed 'laws of migration' to explain the movement of population in the British Isles from data in the 1881 census. Here, migration in Peru is studied using data from the 1981 census to ascertain the extent to which Ravenstein's 'laws' hold for a different country at a different time.... In conclusion, it is a salutory exercise to apply Ravenstein's seven laws and other findings to Peru and to see how, in a different environment a good time ago, someone could produce a model with wide applicability."

The Role of International Migration in the Changing European Labour Market

Abstract: In the first thirty years after the last war, the European economies enjoyed an unparalleled experience of economic growth. Even in the period from 1960 to 1974 after post-war reconstruction was well past, real GDP managed to grow by 90 per cent, and industrial activity by 103 per cent. This experience of rapid growth was shared by virtually all of the countries involved, the only important exception being the UK. In a statistical sense at least, this growth is largely to be accounted for in terms of a sustained improvement in labour productivity, but an essential factor in all the countries involved was a substantial growth in non-agricultural employment (Kindleberger, 1967). Adequate labour supply to meet the growing needs of European companies was secured by tapping four principal sources of labour reserves (Castles, 1984). Two of these were indigenous involving, on the one hand, the transfer into urban employment of rural labour surpluses, and, on the other, the mobilisation for paid employment of substantial numbers of women previously active only in the domestic economy. The third source to be exploited, particularly as domestic sources of male labour neared exhaustion, took the form of international migration of workers, starting with those displaced from Eastern Europe — who added 11 million to the West German population between 1939 and 1954 — but dominated from the early 1960s by flows from the peasant agricultural economies of southern Europe and the sometime colonies of European powers.

Irish on the move.

Abstract: Trends in emigration from Ireland over time are reviewed. "During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries overseas migration to the United States and seasonal harvest migration to Britain were the main types of movement but over the past 100 years the Irish have developed a special affinity for settling in British towns. Although the outflow was halted for a time during the 1970s when return migration took over the 1980s have seen a renewal of the exodus. This time however the character of the flow has changed from predominantly low-skill construction and factory workers to embrace better-educated emigrants including many graduates. This shift reflects Irelands changing position in the international market for labour." (EXCERPT)

Migration in 1988.

Abstract: This...article presents the latest annual statistics for international migration and for internal population movements in the United Kingdom. Data are from official sources and are for 1988. (EXCERPT)

Migratory movements and their effects on family structure: the Latin American case.

Abstract: The main causes of population mobility in Latin America have been 1) dissolution of the traditional rural societies 2) expansion of the agro-industrial economy and 3) consolidation of an urban economic and cultural model. Disparities in wages and exchange rates and inequality in development between different countries have led to emigration to countries at higher levels of economic development and to the industrialized Western countries. More recently political instability and institutionalized violence in Central America have induced population movements to other countries in the region. 6 basic types of migration in Latin America are 1) seasonal migration of small farmers to urban areas or the rural areas in other countries 2) migration by young rural people to cities or urban areas of other countries 3) rural-urban and international migration by the whole family group 4) international urban-urban migration by individuals or by the whole family group 5) migration for family reunification and 6) return migration. The predominant type of mobility has been from the countryside to the cities. Both men and women migrate although the proportion of migrant women is increasing and women occasionally outnumber males. Migrant women generally find less skilled jobs which are less well paid. Migrant workers frequently have access only to less skilled and poorly paid jobs or enter the informal sector of the urban economy. The impact of migration on the structure and functioning of the family unit in the sending society is determined by the number sex and role of the family members who migrate. Other economic and social factors such as assistance received by the migrant the work found the level of income and the specific characteristics of the receiving society determine the success of the venture the capacity to some or all of the remaining family members. Family members who stay in the sending society must adjust their behavior in ways determined by the number sex and age of the family members concerned and the type of economic activities by the family. For the migrating family settlement in the receiving society requires the development of new functions and specialized domestic activities by each of its members. Survival possibilities will be largely determined by assistance networks the reorganization of the structure and functioning of the family group and the adoption of new organizational patterns.

In-migration to suburban towns of Shanghai, 1980 - 87

Abstract: The thesis studies the town-oriented migration and the socio-economic development of towns in the suburbs of Shanghai during 1980 - 87. Since the Chinese government started the economic reforms in 1978, an impressive nationwide rural-urban migration has been witnessed in China, along with the rapid economic development both in cities and towns. The thesis presents a correlative link between the town development and the town-oriented migration, especially which of the fast industrialization of towns and the transference of rural labour surplus. Strong localization of rural labour movement is revealed in this study, which shows the effects of regional development as well as the implication of government policies. The demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the town-oriented migrants, as well as their motivation to migrate, are analysed in the thesis. The results show that the townward migration is closely related to the recent social and economic changes in China, and the regional difference in the rate of development causes the variation in the migrants' motivation to move and distinctive features of in-migrants. The suburban towns of Shanghai, which are located in a metropolitan area, also received in-migrants from cities, particularly from the parent city, along with the rural migration inflow, due to the effects of large industrial sprawl and deurbanization of the major city. The thesis also presents the features of rural-urban migration and its relevant constraints in China.

International migration: an assessment for the '90s.

Abstract: A quarter century ago the world of international migration looked much different than it does today. International migration was then favorable regarded in many parts of the world. Today this mood has soured. Guestworkers in Germany in 1989 particularly Turks are the subject of widespread hostility and a growing anti-immigrant political party. France too has developed a significant anti-immigrant political party and now facilitates the repatriation of unemployed Algerian nationals with cash assistance. In the US a chapter thought closed forever in 1964 might well be reopened as the federal government in 1989 will decide whether or not to admit replenishment agricultural workers. In the Arab region the Palestine Liberation Organization was created in 1964 to represent one of the worlds largest refugee population - the 1 million Palestinians who fled during the 1947-1949 fighting and their offspring. Today Africa contains an estimated 4-5 million refugees. In Asia the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in 1964 served as a pretext to escalate the war in Indochina that would create millions of refugees. Little concern was expressed 25 years ago about illegal migration from developing countries. Asia Africa and Latin America seemed to lie outside the usual path of international migration. A conference on international migration was held at Bellagio Italy in July 1988. The contributions comprising this volume were presented at the Bellagio Conference. Each contribution approaches the subject matter of international migration from a distinctive theoretical disciplinary or thematic perspective. This volume therefore reflects a large measure of the scholarly diversity that coexists in international migration studies. One of the themes of the conference is the realization that states vitally affect international migration and are greatly affected by the phenomenon. The Bellagio conferees also agreed on the importance of comparative research to greater scientific understanding of international migration. In a world of increasing interdependency the inevitable effect of a knowledge shortfall is a glaring gap in understanding.

Migration Networks and Immigrant Entrepreneurship - eScholarship

Abstract: Migration network theory addresses the cumulative causation of migration as a result of reduced social, economic, and emotional costs of migration pursuant to the formation of migration networks. Because it introduces a sociological dimension, network theory improves the mechanical and economistic “push and pull” conceptions that prevailed earlier, including world systems versions thereof. Nonetheless, existing treatments of migration networks overlook the role of those networks in expanding the immigrant economy at locations of destination. The migration network performs this role when it supports migrant entrepreneurship, a phenomenon of variable but often great importance. Existing literature also ignores cultural differences that affect the efficiency of migration networks in both relocating population and generating new firms. In the last decade, immigration research has refocused on the issue of migrant networks in both contemporary and historical migrations (Bozorgmehr, 1990; Fawcett, 1989; Boyd, 1989; Morawska, 1989: 260; Wilpert and Gitmez, 1987). A long-standing concern (Tilly, 1978; Choldin, 1973: Light, 1972), migrant networks became of renewed interest when researchers sought to connect macro and micro determinants of immigration. Micro determinants begin with solitary decision-makers who operate independent of group memberships (Lee, 1966; Lewis, 1982: ch. 8; Sell, 1983). Often placed in a world systems context, macro influences impact masses of people whose responses are not thought to depend upon migration chains (Burawoy, 1976; Portes and Walton, 1981; Clark, 1986: ch. 4; Sassen-Koob, 1989). Spanning continents and decades, social networks connect individuals and macroscopic push and pull influences. True, at any stage of a migration, some people arrange their relocation on their own and without any help from migration networks. These are unassisted migrants. However, more individuals migrate when once networks have formed (Portes and Boron, 1989: 607-608). These networks organize their departure, travel, and settlement abroad. For this reason, the network itself emerges as an actor in the migration process. Although based on already familiar ideas, Massey’s formula of “cumulatively caused” migration drew together and focused current thinking about migration. According to Massey (et al., 1987; 1988, 1989), migrations forge networks which then feed the very migrations that produced them. Therefore, whatever macrosocietal political/economic conditions may initially have caused migration, the originating pushes and pulls, the expanding migratory process becomes “progressively independent” of the original causal conditions. In effect, migrations in process self-levitate above the conditions that caused them to begin, leading thereafter an independent existence. Network formation is the reason. Massey (1988: 396) defines migration networks as “sets of interpersonal ties that link migrants, former migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination areas through the bonds of kinship, friendship, and shared community origin.” Networks promote the independence of migratory flows for two reasons. First, once network connections reach some threshold level, they amount to a autonomous social structure that supports immigration. This support arises from the reduced social, economic, and emotional costs of immigration that networks permit. That is, network-supported migrants have important help in arranging transportation, finding housing and jobs in their place of destination, and in effecting a satisfactory personal and emotional adjustment to what is often a difficult situation of cultural marginality. These benefits make migration easier, thus encouraging people to migrate who would otherwise have stayed at home. Unless migrants are uprooted refugees who lack any choice about departure, only immigration affording them any hope of survival (Bozorgmehr and Sabagh, 1990; Pedraza-Bailey, 1985) potential migrants always have the option of staying home. Given that choice, the reduced cost of migration enhances the number who can and will choose to leave, thus increasing the volume of migration. Second, Massey has made the same case for networks under the assumptions of a risk-diversification model.According to this model, families allocate member labor within the constraint of their own needs and aspirations in a cost-efficient and risk-minimizing way.Many Third World households are economically precarious. Such households face high-risks to their well-being if they select non-migration.Moreover, modernization and development create social and economic dislocations that intensify the unstable and unpredictable economic environment created by the usual risks of drought, crop failure and natural disasters, for rural as well as urban areas.In the absence of other ways to insure against such risks, diversification of family members’ location minimizes overall family income risk. (Massey, 1989: 14-15) Migration is a risk-diversification strategy.International migration is especially effective because international borders create discontinuities that promote independence of earnings at home and abroad. Good times abroad can match bad ones at home, or vice-versa. Even in the absence of earning differentials (ASA, p.15), international migration offers an effective risk-diversification strategy, especially when migrant networks already exist. Migration networks reduce the economic risks of immigration, thus rendering the strategy more attractive from a risk-diversification perspective (Massey, 1989:5-16). Expanding networks “put a destination job within easy reach of most community members” (Commission, p.398) and make migration a virtually risk-less and cost-less alternative labor power investment in the household’s portfolio of labor assets (Massey, 1988).

Development policy and labor migration in the Sudan.

Abstract: Both temporary and permanent labor migration from the Sudan are examined The author discusses economic political and policy reasons for large-scale out-migration during the 1970s of professionals and agricultural workers Consideration is also given to the impact of remittances on the economy and the importance of development policy in curbing future labor migration flows and improving the Sudans economy (ANNOTATION)