Theory of Migration

• Migration is a very complex phenomenon and is also an interdisciplinary phenomenon
• Migration is determined through the perception and behavior of individuals
• There is no single comprehensive theory of migration, we have to study more than one theory to understand the complex phenomenon of migration
• Major pillars in the concept of migration

  • Economic theory
  • Social theory
  • Spatial analysis (geographical theories)
  • Behavioral theories
• Analytical models of migration

  • Macro model
  • Micro analytical models
• Macro models of migration

  • Ravenstein model
  • Gravity model
  • Zipf's model (model of least effort)
  • Stouffer model (intervening opportunity model)
• Micro analytical models of migration

  • Lee's model
• Classification of migration theories

  • Sociological theories
  • Economic theories
  • Geographical theories
  • Unifying theories
• Intervening opportunities theory


  The number of migratory events is proportional to the number of attracting opportunities at the destination, and inversely proportional to the number of such opportunities existing closer to the place of origin
• Push and pull factors

  Lee's theory of 1966
• Migrant networks


  Taylor's theory of 1986, which talks about the role of interpersonal migrant networks in diminishing various costs of migration
• Transnational social spaces


  Combinations of social and symbolic ties that migrants create when moving from one nation to another, providing a meso-level analytical framework
• Institutional theory of migration


  Concerns both regular and irregular aspects of population attributes, such as active job recruitment, counselling, human smuggling, and trafficking
• Cumulative causation


  Sociological approach that popularised topics like migrant culture, brain drain, and brain gain
• Gravity model


  The number of people moving between places A and B is equal to the population of A multiplied by the population of B, divided by the square of the distance between them
• Entropy theory


  Proposed by Wilson to understand the disorderliness of regions and the determination of migration
• Catastrophe and bifurcation theory


  Frameworks set in the 1980s to understand migration patterns in response to disasters and geopolitical changes
• Mobility transition model


  Zelinski's model in 1971, based on the concept of demographic transition
• Migration systems theory


  A unifying perspective that sees migration as the continuous interplay of historical, economic, cultural, and political factors at various levels
• Ravenstein's laws of migration


  Nine propositions on the patterns and determinants of migration, proposed in the 1880s
• Micro level


  One of the scales at which we understand the unifying perspectives
• Macro level


  One of the scales at which we understand the unifying perspectives
• Systems theory comes into the picture when we talk about the unifying perspectives and the interplay and interaction of various components
• Ravenstein's theory


  Also known as Ravenstein's laws of migration, one of the earliest works on migration in the 1880s by German-English geographer and cartographer Ernst George Ravenstein
• Ravenstein's 9 propositions on laws of migration


  • Every migration flow generates a return or counter migration
  • Majority of migrants move at a shorter distance
  • Migrants who move longer distances tend to choose major sources of economic activity
  • Urban residents are often less migratory than rural
  • Families are less likely to make international moves than young adults
  • Most migrants are adults
  • Large towns grew by migration rather than natural population growth
  • More long-distance migrants were male
  • More long-distance migrants were adult individuals rather than families with children
• Step migration


  Migration happens in a stepwise manner, from small farm to nearest village, then to small town, and finally to the biggest city or primate city
• Lee's theory


  Conceptualized the factors associated with the decision to migrate, including factors at origin, destination, intervening obstacles, and personal factors
• Volume of migration


  Proportional to the diversity of the area, with higher spatial, racial, and ethnic diversity resulting in higher migration
• Stream of migration


  The wave of migration in a particular direction, higher if push factors dominate
• Stouffer's theory advocated the competing migrant model based on social skills and the directly proportional relationship between opportunities at destination and number of migrants
• Todaro's model


  Focused on economic factors as the most influential among push and pull factors, with migrants weighing economic costs and benefits
• Zipf's model


  Defined the obstacle between origin and destination as an inverse function of distance, with volume of migration decreasing with distance
• Zelinski's mobility transition model

  Attempted to integrate migration and demographic transition, with four variable scales (international, regional, rural-urban, urban-rural) and five stages of development from pre-modern to future super-advanced society
• Zelinski's model helps understand the entire range of migratory movements at global and international levels, dependent on levels of economic development, demographic transition, and economic diversification