International Migration Exam
Chapter 2: Theories of Migration
In understanding migration:
Neoclassical approach Historical-structural approach Both
- neglect historical causes of - too much emphasis on - one-sided
movements political & economic - deterministic
- downplay role of the state & structures - human beings as passive
structural constraints - interests of capital all-
determining.
New models/theories, which focused on migrants’ agency → New economics of labour
migration:
● Risk-sharing behaviour:
○ Families and households
○ One (or more) of family should migrate to diversify income sources in order to
spread and minimize income risks
○ Also powerful explanation of migration motives in absence of wage differences
○ Example: households less vulnerable to environmental hazards
● Family/household strategy to provide resources for investment in economic activities
(family farm)
○ In context of developing economies → capital and insurance markets not
accessible to non-elites → remittances can help overcome such market
constraints
● Relative deprivation within migrant sending communities
○ Feeling less well-off than community members can be a powerful incentive to
migrate in order to attain higher socioeconomic status.
Livelihood approaches: poor cannot be reduced to passive victims but exert human agency →
people organize their livelihoods within wider social contexts. Migration is often a deliberate
decision to improve livelihoods and reduce fluctuations in rural family incomes → migration
cannot be explained by income differences alone → household approaches:
● Useful when explaining developing countries and disadvantaged social groups
● Criticized: obscure intra-household inequalities and conflicts of interests along the lines
of gender, generation and age
○ Migration can also be an individual strategy to escape from social control, abuse
and oppression within families.
Network, transnationalism and migration systems theories:
1. Migration network theory
Chapter 2: Theories of Migration
In understanding migration:
Neoclassical approach Historical-structural approach Both
- neglect historical causes of - too much emphasis on - one-sided
movements political & economic - deterministic
- downplay role of the state & structures - human beings as passive
structural constraints - interests of capital all-
determining.
New models/theories, which focused on migrants’ agency → New economics of labour
migration:
● Risk-sharing behaviour:
○ Families and households
○ One (or more) of family should migrate to diversify income sources in order to
spread and minimize income risks
○ Also powerful explanation of migration motives in absence of wage differences
○ Example: households less vulnerable to environmental hazards
● Family/household strategy to provide resources for investment in economic activities
(family farm)
○ In context of developing economies → capital and insurance markets not
accessible to non-elites → remittances can help overcome such market
constraints
● Relative deprivation within migrant sending communities
○ Feeling less well-off than community members can be a powerful incentive to
migrate in order to attain higher socioeconomic status.
Livelihood approaches: poor cannot be reduced to passive victims but exert human agency →
people organize their livelihoods within wider social contexts. Migration is often a deliberate
decision to improve livelihoods and reduce fluctuations in rural family incomes → migration
cannot be explained by income differences alone → household approaches:
● Useful when explaining developing countries and disadvantaged social groups
● Criticized: obscure intra-household inequalities and conflicts of interests along the lines
of gender, generation and age
○ Migration can also be an individual strategy to escape from social control, abuse
and oppression within families.
Network, transnationalism and migration systems theories:
1. Migration network theory
