TOPICS AND SUBTOPICS: (first draft) Basic Outlines of Migration Migration comprises a foundational unit of the study of any population. Measured in conjunction with births and deaths, migration into and out of any place determines the ultimate size of the population. Migration is a specialized form of moving that involves distinct components of distance, duration and residence. Conceptually, migration is often differentiated into internal and international flows. Internal migration historically has consisted in large part of continued urbanization of a previously rural population, but it may also show counterstreams moving from cities to suburbs. International vs. internal Distance and activity space, duration, and national versus local boundaries. Change in circulation Partial vs.
total displacement migration International as product of Westphalian system of nation-states Growth of regulation in 20th century Growth in typologies of migrants Diasporas may exist without nation-state identification Kinds of migration Primitive, or nomadic Voluntary, or agent-based, within large groups or clans or small-scale, as individuals or households Authorized, legal, documented Unauthorized, illegal, undocumented; "aliens" Involuntary, or forced, impelled. Displacement, warfare; environmental degradation and disaster Human trafficking, slavery Refugees, asylees Circular, or returning migration, sojourner vs. settler Step migration Non-migration International: students, tourists, business travelers; foreign-born vs. immigrants Internal: Recurrent movement (commuting, daily crossings, seasonal work) II. Measurement of Migration and Statistical Methodology This topic covers the general demographic and statistical concepts underpinning migration research. Initially, migration research followed a standardized set of concepts and measurements derived from demographic research and often dependent upon the geographical units within which data are collected. However, the research has expanded into multiple fields with many methodologies, both qualitative and quantitative. Demographic concepts Flows vs.
stocks Areas of origin and destination Emigration and immigration Differential migration Gross and net migration Components of change (residual) estimation; forward survival. Status and propensity rates, probabilities, in-migration, out-migration rates, net migration Estimates and population projections Distance, distance decay, gravity models Efficiency: ratio of streams to counterstreams Migration histories Economic and sociological models Econometric models and general models of inequality, within and between cities or countries Multivariate regression analysis Ethnographies Spatial analysis Geographic Information Systems, with database of attribute information, boundary files, digital map layers, analysis tools and user interface. Political and data units: e.g. wards, counties, metropolitan areas, states, provinces, nations III. Migration Data Migration data vary widely across countries, both in terms of scope of collection and basic understanding of the definition of migration. This section examines the types of data collection instruments and their components. Censuses Frequency, coverage, de facto vs.
de jure, usual residence, field checking, coverage error and content, net and differential undercounts, continuous measurement, migration questions, dual-system estimation, demographic analysis Types of files and unit coverage: e.g. region, division, state, county, minor civil division/townships, places, census tracts, block groups, blocks. Administrative records Population registers, universal and partial; ports of entry and/or exit, passports and visas issued, immigration yearbooks, tax records, social welfare/security records, city directories, postal stops, school enrollments, construction permits, utility usage. Surveys Sampling issues, sample bias, panel studies, attrition. Other sources Naturalizations and change of migration status Apprehensions and deportations; denaturalizations Asylee petitions, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees IV. Migration Theories No one theoretical perspective dominates the study of migration. Rather, multiple social science perspectives, all relatively new, compete with one another.
This section will cover each theory and the underlying social, cultural and economic concepts. Evolution of migration theories Ravenstein''s laws Intervening opportunities (Stouffer) Intervening obstacles (Lee) Demographic transition Population pressure "Push-pull" Classical and neoclassical economics Macro- and micro-theory Regional labor supply and demand Equilibrium wage markets Opportunity costs Marginal productivity of labor Rational-actor and human capital models Factor mobility Discounted net returns over time Expected earnings gap vs. absolute wage differential New household economics Credit and risk markets, insurance for crops, unemployment and retirement Household-level decision making Relative deprivation Migration and intermediate investment Labor-market segmentation Structural inflation and status (occupational) hierarchies Reference wages Economic dualism and bifurcated labor markets; primary and secondary sectors Ethnic enclaves and enclave economies Demographic shifts in labor supply World systems Historical-structuralist view of uneven development; dependency theory Core-periphery dichotomy Brain drain Land consolidation and agricultural displacement Export-processing zones Cultural linkages Global cities and hourglass economy Structuration; institutional theory "Structure-agency problematic" (Giddens) Intermediary institutions connect potential migrants to jobs Social networks Role of information Chain migration, "auspices" of migration (Tilly and Brown) Forms of fungible capital: social, human, financial, cultural Enforceable trust Strong and weak ties Utility maximization Cumulative causation Social context of migration Culture of migration Social labeling of jobs Migration hump, density function, cumulative density function Political economy and state structure Hegemonic stability in a geopolitical order Adjustment: Housing/tenure, neighborhood effects, physical environment, public services, and accessibility, commuting Induced: employment, job change, retirement Induced: life cycle change Household formation, change in marital status Change in household size Gender, age differentials Place utility Depends on stress threshold function for mobility decision Stream of information Residential preferences Field theory approach to searching Return migration Duration-dependence Socioeconomic mobility Chronic movers Seasonal dependence, snowbirds Health of immigrants Paradox of declining immigrant health in wealthier destination countries Fertility changes Reference group changes