Migration – Causes & EffectsMigration – Causes & Effects

Lecture 6

• Since the dawn of human evolution, humans have migrated across continents in search of food, shelter, safety, and hospitable weather.

• People still move for these reasons, but new reasons for human migration are arising, such as job relocation and overpopulation.

• Define migration

• 1.The periodic movement of animals from one location to another.

• 2. The movement of large groups of ethnically similar peoples from one area to another.

• Rural-urban migration is the moving of people from rural areas into cities. When cities grow rapidly, as in Chicago in the late 19th century or Shanghai a century later, the movement of people from rural communities into cities is considered to be the main cause. This kind of growth is especially commonplace in developing countries. Rural migrants are attracted by the possibilities that cities can offer, but often settle in slums and experience extreme poverty.

In the 1980s, migration was explained with the In the 1980s, migration was explained with the urban bias theory which was promoted by urban bias theory which was promoted by Michael Litpon who wrote: Michael Litpon who wrote: "...the most important class conflict in the poor "...the most important class conflict in the poor countries of the world today is not between labor countries of the world today is not between labor and capital. Nor is it between foreign and national and capital. Nor is it between foreign and national interests. It is between rural classes and urban interests. It is between rural classes and urban classes. The rural sector contains most of the classes. The rural sector contains most of the poverty and most of the low-cost sources of poverty and most of the low-cost sources of potential advance; but the urban sector contains potential advance; but the urban sector contains most of the opportunities, organization and most of the opportunities, organization and power. So the urban classes have been able to power. So the urban classes have been able to win most of the rounds of the struggle with the win most of the rounds of the struggle with the countryside..." countryside..."

• In cities of the developed world in-migration is another important factor causing city growth. In-migration refers to migration from former colonies and similar places. Many immigrants settle in impoverished city centres forming ghettoes or ethnic pockets.

Rural DepopulationRural Depopulation

• This is the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas

• Urban population growth is generally far more rapid than total population growth, with about half the urban growth accounted for by migrants from the rural areas

This phenomenon has become more common in the 20th This phenomenon has become more common in the 20th Century as urban settlements have become more and more Century as urban settlements have become more and more

prolific.prolific. • Various reasons have been cited for this movement.• No jobs in the rural areas • Mechanisation - as more machines take over the work

on the farms, less work is available for the people living on the farms and for the others in rural areas.

• Better farming methods also led to less employment in rural areas as better yields are obtained from smaller areas as new fertilization methods and better hybrids are introduced.

• Rates of payment in rural areas are lower than those in the city.

• A lack of infrastructure in the forms of health care and education in rural areas.

• 'Bright lights' syndrome - young people feel that there is no entertainment or possibility of different career opportunities, so they move to the cities.

• Less and less money is available in rural areas as highways bypass villages and small towns, reducing the amount of work found there.

• Drought or floods - as either of these natural disasters strike rural areas, money is lost and bank loans are called in - farmers are forced to move to cities to get work to repay the loans.

• The growth of secondary and tertiary activities. More jobs are available in cities in these sectors of the economy, however the perception of more money is not always a reality.

• As owners die, land is subdivided among the heirs who find that units are too small to be economically viable, one family member will buy up the land and the rest of the family move to the city.

Who moves away from the rural Who moves away from the rural areas?areas?

• The young people, especially males are the first to move, as they are about to enter the job market. They are also responsible for providing for those left on the farms and other rural areas. Older males are often migrant workers working in the mines, so are absent from the rural areas.

• Young females then move out, hoping for a better lifestyle. Many youngsters leave to go to universities and colleges as tertiary educational institutions are only found in the bigger centres. In some instances pupils have already gone off to boarding school for the secondary level, as the smaller farming regions do not offer any tuition above the primary level.

Consequences of rural depopulationConsequences of rural depopulation

• The production of sufficient food for the country is not affected by rural depopulation as more food is being produced as a result of the improved technology, better yields and overall improvement in farming methods. This has led to more commercial farms that are market oriented, being established.

• However:• As young people have left the land, only the elderly and

the children are left. This leads to a deterioration in the farms as they cannot do the heavier work.

• Abandoned farmsteads are left resulting in under-utilized resources and a security problem.

• The overall result is an aging population with rural centers exhibiting a pattern of decline and decay, throwing the rural areas of the developed world into a state of chaos.

Different types of migration include:Different types of migration include:

• Daily human commuting. • Seasonal human migration is mainly related to

agriculture. • Permanent migration, for the purposes of permanent or

long-term stays. • Local • Regional • Rural to Urban, more common in developing countries as

industrialization takes effect • Urban to Rural, more common in developed countries

due to a higher cost of urban living • International migration

Population pressures and Population pressures and migrationmigration

• The Urban Poor• The rural areas in many poor countries are incapable of

sustaining a self-sufficient life. Dim as the prospects are for obtaining permanent urban employment, the chances of gaining access to some kind of livelihood and to better services are usually greater than in the countryside.

• The migration that ensues has truly been described as ‘of epic, historic proportions’ (Harrison 1981 : 145). In 1940 the towns and cities of the poorer countries housed 185 million. By 1975, the number had swollen to 770 million, over half of the increase being accounted for not by urban increases, but by migration from the rural areas.

• population growth is one of the most critical problems facing the world. Surplus population is absorbed in the growing cities. It is absorbed at such a rate that in many of the developed countries those who live in the countryside and depend on it for their livelihood are a small minority of the population. In other countries, particularly China and India and to a lesser extent Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico, a considerable proportion of the universal. Most migrants are absorbed in the cities of their own countries, usually with great difficulty. The very much smaller group of international migrants has nonetheless managed to inflame public sentiments in the advanced industrialized countries.

Push and Pull FactorsPush and Pull Factors

• Push and Pull factors are those factors which either forcefully push someone into migration or attract them to migrate.

• A push factor is a forceful factor, and a factor which relates to the country the person is migrating from. It is generally a problem which the results in people wanting to migrate.

• A pull factor is something concerning the country a person migrates to. It is generally a good thing that attracts people to a certain place.

• The push factors like population growth and unemployment etc. and pull factors like opportunities in the urban areas are debated in the studies of India’s urbanization. The National Commission on Urbanisation ( 1988 ) has termed them as factors of demographic and economic momentum respectively.

• Push Factors• Poor Medical Care. • Not enough jobs. • Few opportunities. • Primitive Conditions • Political fear • Fear of torture and mistreatment • Not being able to practice religion • Loss of wealth • Natural Disasters

• Pull Factors• Chances of getting a job • Better living standards • Education • Better Medical Care • Security • Recreation• Family Links

EffectsEffects

• A permanent move to a new location, migration is a complex process that can be produce profound changes for individuals and societies

• changes in population distribution • mixing of different cultures and races, what often leads

to negative social behaviors – tensions in society between majorities and minorities, followed often by local struggles and racism and racial discrimination.

• Also criminality – growth of - can be caused. • But effects in different societies can be different. It is

possible also some positive cultural effects of migration, for example exchange of cultural experience, new knowledge.

• demographic consequences: since migration is selective of particular age groups, migrants are mostly young and in productive age. It can cause a demographic crisis – population ageing, what in turn can be followed by economic problems (shrinking group of economically active population has to finance extending group of inactive population).

• economic results, which are of the greatest importance for the development of the countries.

Ravenstein's 'laws of migration’Ravenstein's 'laws of migration’• Certain laws of social science have been proposed to

describe human migration. The following was a standard list after Ravenstein's proposals during the time frame of 1834 to 1913. The laws are as follows:1) Most migrants travel short distances and with increasing distance the numbers of migrants decrease. This law is based upon the assumptions that the higher travel costs and a lack of knowledge of more distant places acts against large volumes of migration.2) Migration occurs in stages and with a wave-like motion. Based on his observations in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries that migration occurred in steps with people gradually moving up the settlement hierarchy - from rural areas to villages, to towns, to cities and finally the capital city.

• 3) Migration increases in volume as industries and commerce develop and transport improves, and the major direction of movement is from agricultural areas to centres of industry and commerce.4) Most Migrants are adult. Families rarely migrate out of their country of birth.5) Women are more migratory than men within their country of birth but men more frequently venture beyond it.6) Urban dwellers are less likely to move than their rural counterparts.

• Human migration in general may be described as a natural function of social development. It has taken place at all times and in the greatest variety of circumstances. It has been tribal, national, class and individual. Its causes have been political, economic, religious, or mere love of adventure. Its causes and results are fundamental for the study of ethnology, of political and social history, and of political economy. Under the form of conquest it makes the grand epochs in history (e.g. the fall of the Roman Empire); under the form of colonization it has transformed the world (e.g. the settlement of America); under free initiative it is the most powerful factor in social adjustment (e.g. the growth of urban population). It must suffice here to indicate the character of the principal movements in the past, and then describe certain aspects of modern migration

• The movement of population, however, has continued under the form of immigration/emigration