8 - The Age of Mass Migration
1) General theories on mass migration
2) Mass migration in the 19th century
3) Understanding 19th century mass migration
1. General theories on mass migration: origin and destination factors and, intervening
obstacles in migration
→ many slides w/ tables and maps (put the most important ones)
- Migrants
- Refugees
- Expats
- Foreigners
- Allochtonen
- What is the name?
- People on the move
- “It is commonly thought that international migration has accelerated over the past decades
- that migrants travel over increasingly long distances
- that origins and destinations have become much more diverse
- BUT, Between 1950 and 2017, the relative number of international migrants has remained
relatively stable,
- → Between 2.7 and 3.3 percent of the world population
- increased at a pace roughly equal to that of the world population.
- ALTHOUGH, registration of international migrants and, particularly, refugees has improved over
recent decades
- Questionable whether it has increased in reality.
- → Between 1846 and 1924: 48 million Europeans emigrated (about 12 percent of the European
population in 1900)
→ Global migration has thus not accelerated
1.1. Macro explanations of mass migration:
Assumption: socio-economic and political inequalities between countries = crucial for explaining
migration
- Affect both the inception of migration and its perpetuation
,Based on a “Push and Pull” model of migration
- Focuses on the disparity in conditions between the place of origin and the place of destination)
- Push: induce people to leave their location (poverty, political instability, religious
intolerance, … )
- Pull: prompt people to move to a new location (democratic climate, religious tolerance,
booming economy, job opportunities, … )
- Intervening obstacles: distance, knowledge, prior migration patterns, migration policies,
…
- “International migrants accounted for a relatively small share of the world’s total population, 3.5
per cent in 2019.”
- “In high-income countries, international migrants constituted 14.0 per cent of the total
population.”
*Registered foreigner in Belgium come fro various nationality (largest: Italians) → distributed unequally
between Belgian municipalities (eg: majority of Moroccans in Antwerpen)
1.2. Meso explanations to mass migration:
Meso factors:
- Chain migration, social and/or professional networks, information flows (framing of the US
migration policy), transport facilities (development of shipping routes), go-betweens and fixers,
…
- Legal restrictions, government policies, employment schemes, …
- Remittances (migrants abroad sending money home): facilitating migration of poorer
family/community members.
*In some countries the remittances are the major % of their GDP.
Migration = a web of social and spatial interactions
- Chain migration helps explain why migration % oftentimes increase after a first wave of
moderate migration
1.3. Micro explanations to mass migration:
Micro-level: household & individual characteristics (subjective and individual reasons that push or
explain mass migration)
- Age, gender, skills, … [primary aspects]
, - Social, economic and cultural capital
- “mobility” culture, and affective relations with migrant communities abroad
Micro factors help explain:
- → It is typically not the “poorest of the poor” who migrate
- There is a strong relationship between migration, poverty and its alleviation (it is usually
those who get a slightly better economic or educational situation who get the means to
migrate, and not the “poorest of the poor”)
- … but poverty in itself may not be the main driver of migration (nuancing of
macro-patterns)
- The importance of individual and social characteristics
- Individual characteristics: age, gender, skills/education
- Social determinants: social milieu and networks
So, migration is a complex phenomenon; can only be explained by integrating different levels of
analysis (macro/meso/micro) and by accounting for their interaction.
Migration is a social and spatial process
- Via interpersonal contacts
- Embedded in broader spatial interactions
- Path dependent & self-reinforcing
- Selective process
- Creates migration circuits and patterns
2. Mass migration in the 19th century
Six forms of migration (Lucassen and Lucassen, 2009):
- Emigration = migration from Europe to non-European destinations, including colonial, overseas
migration
- Immigration = migration from other continents to Europe
- Colonization = Settlement in ‘empty’ or sparsely populated spaces within Europe
- Predominantly rural settlement of the Russian forest and steppe zones
- Migration to cities = movements to cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants, predominantly from
the countryside
- Seasonal migration = seasonal work migration
- Soldiers and Sailors = migration of sailors and soldiers
** Emigration from Europe to other continents has increased significantly in the last two centuries (from
1850)
1) General theories on mass migration
2) Mass migration in the 19th century
3) Understanding 19th century mass migration
1. General theories on mass migration: origin and destination factors and, intervening
obstacles in migration
→ many slides w/ tables and maps (put the most important ones)
- Migrants
- Refugees
- Expats
- Foreigners
- Allochtonen
- What is the name?
- People on the move
- “It is commonly thought that international migration has accelerated over the past decades
- that migrants travel over increasingly long distances
- that origins and destinations have become much more diverse
- BUT, Between 1950 and 2017, the relative number of international migrants has remained
relatively stable,
- → Between 2.7 and 3.3 percent of the world population
- increased at a pace roughly equal to that of the world population.
- ALTHOUGH, registration of international migrants and, particularly, refugees has improved over
recent decades
- Questionable whether it has increased in reality.
- → Between 1846 and 1924: 48 million Europeans emigrated (about 12 percent of the European
population in 1900)
→ Global migration has thus not accelerated
1.1. Macro explanations of mass migration:
Assumption: socio-economic and political inequalities between countries = crucial for explaining
migration
- Affect both the inception of migration and its perpetuation
,Based on a “Push and Pull” model of migration
- Focuses on the disparity in conditions between the place of origin and the place of destination)
- Push: induce people to leave their location (poverty, political instability, religious
intolerance, … )
- Pull: prompt people to move to a new location (democratic climate, religious tolerance,
booming economy, job opportunities, … )
- Intervening obstacles: distance, knowledge, prior migration patterns, migration policies,
…
- “International migrants accounted for a relatively small share of the world’s total population, 3.5
per cent in 2019.”
- “In high-income countries, international migrants constituted 14.0 per cent of the total
population.”
*Registered foreigner in Belgium come fro various nationality (largest: Italians) → distributed unequally
between Belgian municipalities (eg: majority of Moroccans in Antwerpen)
1.2. Meso explanations to mass migration:
Meso factors:
- Chain migration, social and/or professional networks, information flows (framing of the US
migration policy), transport facilities (development of shipping routes), go-betweens and fixers,
…
- Legal restrictions, government policies, employment schemes, …
- Remittances (migrants abroad sending money home): facilitating migration of poorer
family/community members.
*In some countries the remittances are the major % of their GDP.
Migration = a web of social and spatial interactions
- Chain migration helps explain why migration % oftentimes increase after a first wave of
moderate migration
1.3. Micro explanations to mass migration:
Micro-level: household & individual characteristics (subjective and individual reasons that push or
explain mass migration)
- Age, gender, skills, … [primary aspects]
, - Social, economic and cultural capital
- “mobility” culture, and affective relations with migrant communities abroad
Micro factors help explain:
- → It is typically not the “poorest of the poor” who migrate
- There is a strong relationship between migration, poverty and its alleviation (it is usually
those who get a slightly better economic or educational situation who get the means to
migrate, and not the “poorest of the poor”)
- … but poverty in itself may not be the main driver of migration (nuancing of
macro-patterns)
- The importance of individual and social characteristics
- Individual characteristics: age, gender, skills/education
- Social determinants: social milieu and networks
So, migration is a complex phenomenon; can only be explained by integrating different levels of
analysis (macro/meso/micro) and by accounting for their interaction.
Migration is a social and spatial process
- Via interpersonal contacts
- Embedded in broader spatial interactions
- Path dependent & self-reinforcing
- Selective process
- Creates migration circuits and patterns
2. Mass migration in the 19th century
Six forms of migration (Lucassen and Lucassen, 2009):
- Emigration = migration from Europe to non-European destinations, including colonial, overseas
migration
- Immigration = migration from other continents to Europe
- Colonization = Settlement in ‘empty’ or sparsely populated spaces within Europe
- Predominantly rural settlement of the Russian forest and steppe zones
- Migration to cities = movements to cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants, predominantly from
the countryside
- Seasonal migration = seasonal work migration
- Soldiers and Sailors = migration of sailors and soldiers
** Emigration from Europe to other continents has increased significantly in the last two centuries (from
1850)
