Week 1
Reading 1: Why Does Immigration Occur? A Theoretical Synthesis (Massey et al., 1998)
International migration knows four periods
1. Mercantile period (1500-1800)
a. Migration due to colonization and economic growth under capitalism.
b. Three types of migrants:
i. Agrarian settlers
ii. Administrators and artisans
iii. Entrepreneurs
c. Forced migration of African slaves
2. Industrial period (1800-1920)
a. Economic development of Europe & spread of industrialisation from former colonies
to the New World (north and south America).
b. Migration towards the New World
3. Period of limited migration (1920-1960)
a. World War I followed by the Great Depression
b. During World War II there were movements of refugees
4. Postindustrial migration (1960)
a. Not just an outflow from Europe
b. Migration as a global phenomenon
c. People from densely settled countries at the earliest stages of industrialization into
densely settled, economically mature, postindustrial societies.
Theories of international migration
Neoclassical economics
International migration is caused by geographic differences in the supply of and demand for
labor. People from labor-surplus capital low countries move to labor-scarce/capital high
countries. People with high labor skills going to capital low countries to reap benefits from
their skills.
International migration as a form of investment in human capital. People choose to move to
where they can reap the highest benefits (expected destination earnings).
The New Economics of Migration
Migration decisions are not made by isolated individuals but within larger units of interrelated
people in which people act to collectively maximize not only expected income but also
minimize risks to income and maximize status within an embedded hierarchy and to
overcome a variety of local market failures.
Households may control risks through geographical diversification (some work in the
country, others in different countries)
Neoclassical economics: income is a homogeneous good
New economics: income is spread out over households
Neoclassical: income has a constant effect on utility across socioeconomic settings (a 100
dollar increase means the same for everyone).
New economics: this differs per context
Households do not only send relatives abroad to increase their income, but also to increase
their income relative to other households.
, Segmented Labor Market Theory
Both neoclassical & new economics are microlevel theories. Labour Market Theory discounts
decisions made by individuals and argues that international migration stems from the intrinsic
labor demands of modern industrial societies.
Poire: international migration is caused by a permanent labor demand that is inherent to the
economic structure of developed nations -> pull-factor of developed countries in their need
for low-wage workers.
Four fundamental characteristics of advanced industrial societies and their economics
o Structural inflation: wages reflect social status, and therefore a wage raise will be
increased proportionally through the hierarchy -> undesirable -> therefore migrant
workers who will accept low wages.
o Social constraints on motivation embedded in occupational hierarchies -> people
work for income and for social status -> low motivation in low work status ->
migrant workers see jobs as a means-to-end, therefore no motivational problems.
o Duality of labor and capital. Capital intensive methods are used to meet basic
demands (stable, skilled jobs), and labor intensive methods are reserved for seasonal,
fluctuating components (unstable, unskilled jobs). -> employers turn to migrants for
labor intensive jobs.
o Ethnic enclaves contain low-status jobs, however, they provide immigrants with
significant economic returns to education and experience, as well as a prospect of
upward mobility (large concentrated population of co-ethnics creates a demand for
specialised cultural products and services that immigrant entrepreneurs are qualified
to fill). In order to maintain enclaves, there need to be a steady stream of immigrants
willing to do low-wage labour with the expectation of upward mobility.
Women, rural workers, and teenagers are known to accept low-wage work more often.
In industrial societies, these sources of entry level workers have shrunk because of four
fundamental sociodemographic trends:
o Rise in female labor-force participation
o Rise in divorce rates
o Decline of birth rates and extension of formal education
o Urbanization of society
Labour Market Theory looks at the macrolevel economics and demographics of a country,
rather than micro decisions.
World Systems Theory
Social theory approach in response to functionalist theories of social change and development
which hold that countries develop economically by progressing through an orderly series of
evolutionary stages culminating in modernization and industrialization.
Historical-structural theorists: because political power is unequally distributed across nations,
the expansion of global capitalism acts to perpetuate inequalities and reinforce a stratified
economic order.
World Systems Theory: based on a theory by Wallerstein who classified countries according
to their degree of dependency on the dominant capitalist powers (core nations). Countries on
the periphery were most independent, and the semiperiphery had some independence, and the
external area remained isolated and outside the capitalist system.
Petras, Sassen and Morawska studied migration in the context of world systems theory and
argued that the penetration of capitalist economic relations into noncapitalist societies creates
a mobile population that is prone to migrate, driven by a desire for higher profits and greater
, wealth. At the same time, core capitalist countries enter developing countries to establish
assembly plants that take advantage of low wage rates.
Core nations build transportation methods between them and periphery nations, to promote
movement of goods, products, information, capital and people.
Underlying this system of global trading is a system of international security. Most core
countries have a military force to protect their global capitalist system. Soldiers also often
bring home spouses from other countries, who also slowly bring their families over. (another
form of immigration).
Lastly, economic globalization creates ideological and cultural links between core capitalist
countries and their peripheries. These are reinforced through mass communication and
advertising campaigns.
Social Capital Theory
Social capital: the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a
group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships
of mutual acquaintance and recognition.
Key characteristic: convertibility. It may be translated into other forms of capital, notably
financial capital.
Migrant networks: a set of interpersonal ties that connect migrants, former migrants and non-
migrants in origin and destination areas through ties of kinship, friendship and shared
community origin. Migrants can use these networks of social capital to gain financial capital,
and it eases international movement.
Aid from for-profit organizations, private entrepreneurs and humanitarian groups also provide
a range of services to migrants to increase their social capital within the country. Over time,
these services become more well known in migrant groups.
Cumulative Causation
Over time international migration tends to sustain itself in ways that make additional
movement progressively more likely.
Eight ways in which migration is affected in this cumulative fashion: the expansion of
networks, the distribution of income, the distribution of land, the organization of agriculture,
culture, the regional distribution of human capital, the social meaning of work, and the
structure of production.
Each migrant reduces the costs and risks of subsequent migration. For some young men or
women, migration becomes a rite of passage.
Migration often draws relatively well educated people away from sending communities,
thereby depleting human capital out of sending regions and accumulation of capital in
receiving areas.
In receiving areas, certain jobs get deemed “immigrant jobs” which change the social status of
the job, and becomes stigmatized.
At some point, if immigration continues for a long time, the sending country will become so
depleted in its resources that immigration stops.
Migration curve: shows a migration hump where upswing of the emigration cycle usually
coincides with industrialization and rising real wages at home as demographic forces,
industrialization, and the mounting stock of previous emigrants abroad all serve to drive up
the emigration rate. As these forces weakened historically, the narrowing gap between home
and foreign wages began to dominate and emigration receded.
A synthetic theoretical approach
The above theories are not contradictory. They are just various ways to look at the same phenomenon.
, International migration does not stem from lack of economic development, but from development
itself.
Neoclassical economics: a permanent move abroad for higher lifetime earnings.
New economics of migration: a temporary move abroad as insurance and to cope with failures of the
local market.
International migration originates in the social, economic, cultural, and political
transformations that accompany the penetration of capitalist markets into nonmarket and
premarket societies (world systems theory)
This brings about a displacement of people from their customary livelihood, creating a
movement of workers who seek for new ways of achieving economic sustenance.
They sell services to emerging national and international labor markets (neo-classical
economics).
o This causes rural-to-urban migration since wages are higher in urban areas
(segmented labour market theory).
o This also causes international migration if wages in foreign countries are higher (neo-
classical economics), and if households struggle to cope with the economic
development, and lack of insurance in their own country. Households then send
members to different labor markets overseas to reduce risks to income (new
economics of migration).
Those staying behind change to an uncertain new capitalist system that leaves
them vulnerable and with no insurance. Therefore, self-insure by sending
members away to reduce these risks (new economics of migration).
Those staying behind look for new ways to earn capital, which creates new
consumer demands for expensive items where banks in developing nations
cannot meet loan demands. Therefore, self-insurance by sending members
away so a household can accumulate savings overseas (new economics of
migration).
A bifurcation of labor markets takes place
o Jobs in the primary sector provide steady work and high pay for natives. The
secondary sector provides low pay, little stability, and few opportunities for
advancement, generating a structural demand for immigrant workers (segmented
labor market theory).
o Over time, the same processes of economic globalization create mobile populations
of developing regions to capitalist regions. (world systems theory)
o Immigration is supported by foreign policies and military actions, which also increase
migration (world systems theory).
o This large increase in immigrants creates a migrant network (social capital theory).
o An enclave economy may form if enough migrants arrive under the right conditions
(segmented labour market theory)
The spread of migratory behaviour within sending community creates a shift in local cultures
that promote additional international movement. This becomes self-perpetuating (cumulative
causation).
Receiving countries implement restrictive policies to counter rising tides of immigrants, while
at the same time, create a lucrative niche for enterprising agents to create migrant-supporting
institutions focussed on profit (social capital theory).
In the initial phases of emigration, migration is caused by the effect of capitalist penetration (new
economics), but as the cost of migration lowers due to the increased outflow of migrants, the
movement is increasingly determined by international wage differentials (neoclassical economics),
and labor demand (segmented labor market theory).
