The Characteristics of Migration

Which social science disciplines conduct research on migration?

Economics, geography, and sociology

Who undertook an early attempt to summarize characteristics of migration?

German-English geographer and cartographer Ernst Georg Ravenstein

Where was Ernst Georg Ravenstein born?

Frankfurt am Main Germany

What occupation did Ravensteins family hold?

Cartography

When did Ravenstein move to England?

At the age of 18

How did Ravenstein become a British subject?

Through naturalization

Where did Ravenstein work?

At the Topographical Department of the British War Office

How long did Ravenstein work at the Topographical Department of the British War Office?

20 years from 1855 to 1875

Where did Ravenstein work as a professor?

Bedford College in England

What was Ravenstein a professor of at the Bedford College in England?

Geography

Who awarded Ravenstein with a medal?

The Royal Geographical Society

Why did the Royal Geographical Society award Ravenstein with a medal?

For his contributions to the cartography of the United Kingdom

What medal did the Royal Geographical Society award Ravenstein with?

The inaugural Victoria Medal

Who was the inaugural Victoria Medal created in honor of?

Queen Victoria

When was the Victoria Medal created?

1902

What is Ravenstein best known for?

His work in human migration

How many papers did Ravenstein publish over human geography?

3

Between what years did Ravenstein publish his paper on human geography?

1876, 1855, and 1889

What did Ravenstein develop his series of laws based on?

Detailed analyses of European and North American census data

What specific European nation did Ravenstein collect census data from?

Britain

How many major laws did Ravenstein come up with?

11

What is the 1st law?

Most Migrants only move a short distance

What is the 2nd law?

Migration proceeds geographically in a step by step fashion

What is an example of Ravensteins 2nd law of migration?

Residents near a growing town may move to it, the gaps they leave behind are filled with migrants from more remote locations

What is Ravensteins 3rd law of migration?

Long-distance migrants generally move to one of the great centers of commerce and industry

What is the 4th law?

Each main stream of migration produces a compensating counterstream

What is the 5th law?

Urban dwellers are less migratory than rural people

What is the 6th law?

Women are more migratory than men within the country of their birth, but men more frequently venture beyond their country of birth

What is the 7th law?

Most migrants are adults, and families seldom move out of their country of birth

What is the 8th law?

Large town grow more by migration than by natural increase

What is the 9th law?

The volume of migration increases as industries and commerce develop and as transportation improves

What is the 10th law?

The major direction of migration is from agricultural areas to centers of industry and commerce

What is the 11th law?

Economic factors are the major cause of migration

When did Ravenstein formulate his laws?

The 19th century

What made the time that Ravenstein formulated his laws different from today?

Europe and the United States were still industrializing, rural residents were moving to urban areas, and travel within a country was mostly done by foot or horse drawn carts

All of Ravensteins laws except for which is true today?

The 5th law

Was the 5th law likely true in the 19th century?

No

What age range are the most mobile?

Young adults

Young adults propensity to migrate peaks at around what age?

25

As age increses what decreases?

Migration proensity

When does migration propensity rise slightly again?

Around the age of retirement

Why do young children have relatively high migration intensity?

Due to their parents high mobility

The relationship between migration intensity and age is commonly known as what?

Migration age profile or schedule

What is the underlying reason for the migration age profile?

A series of life course transitions most individuals experience in their lifetimes

What life course transitions do most people experience?

College, finishing college, full-time jobs, getting married, having children, separation or divorce, and retirement

Demography data from the U.S. and other countries have shown what about migrants socioeconomic and demographic characteristics?

They are different than stayers

How do migrants tend to differ from stayers?

They tend to be younger, more educated, more skilled, more adventurous, and more risk taking

What type of people often leave rural areas for cities to work?

Young, single, more educated people

What makes someone likely to move?

Those without children, those who have recent migration history, or have lived only a short period of time at their residence, and lack strong social networks of friends and relatives

What is brain drain?

The loss of younger, more educated, more skilled residents, who are usually the most productive and creative members of a society

What is the opposite of a brain drain?

A brain gain

Labor migration from the Philippines to South and East Asia includes what deomgraphic?

Women

Why does labor migration from the Philippines to South and East Asia include many women?

To work as domestic helpers at destination countries

Who dominates labor migration from South Asian countries such as Bagladesh and Nepal?

Young and middle aged men

The young and middle aged men migrating from South Asian countries such as Bagladesh and Nepal usually go where?

To the Persian Gulf states such as Bahrain, Quatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates

The young and middle aged men dominating migration labor from South Asian countries usually work what jobs?

Construction, factories, and shipyards, as well as hospitality

What demographic forms a significant portion of migration from norther an notheastern parts of the U.S. to the Sun Belt?

Retirees

What states make up the Sun Belt?

Florida, Texas, and Arizona

As a country industrializes and urbanizes what happens to its birth rate and death rate?

It will shift from a stage where both rates are high to a stage where both rates are low

The change from high birth and death rate to low birth and death rate is called what?

The demographic transition

What did the development of the demographic transition model inspire scholars to look for?

Patterns and regularities in other demographic and health indicators

Who examined changes in the types and patterns of migration over time in the United States and other countries?

Wilbur Zelinsky

What school did Wilbur Zelinsky research at?

The Pennsylvania State Univeristy

What did Wilbur Zelinsky propose?

The idea of mobility transition?

When did Zelinsky propose the idea of mobility transition?

1971

What were the 5 types of migration that Wilbur Zelinsky examined?

1. Movement toward agricultural frontier

2. Rural-urban migration

3. Urban-urban or intra urban migration

4. Circulation, or short term cyclical movement that occurs repeatedly

5. International migration

What did Zelinsky conclude?

As a country develops, transportation and communication technologies will advance, and the importance of the 5 types of migration will change as well

How many stages of mobility transition did Zelinsky identify?

5 stages

What is the first stage and its meaning?

Premodern traditional societies, there is little migration and if people do move they move from village to village

What is the second stage and its meaining?

Early transitional societies, the migration pattern is characterized by increased circulation and large-scale rural urban migration, migration to agricultural frontiers, and emigration

What is the third stage and its meaining?

Late transitional societies, emigration, migration to agricultural frontiers, and rural-urban migration decreases but circulation increases

What is the fourth stage and its meaning

Advanced Societies, considerable inter- and intra-urban mobility with continued high circulation and lower rural urban and frontier migration

What is stage 5 and its meaning?

Superadvanced society, A future, hypothesized stage, residential mobility dimished as advances in communication and delivery systems make movement unnecessary, urban and intra urban migration become more common and low skilled and semi skilled workers continue to immigrate to other countries

In proposing the mobility transition model what did Zelinsky attempt to link a countries development process with?

Demographic changes

Critics of the mobility transition model question what?

Its depiction of migration and developments as linear processes that affect different countries in more or less the same fashion

Scholar claim that what is a myth?

Low mobility in premodern traditional societies

What do protonents of Zelinskys transition model claim?

The idea is prescient, pliable, and adaptable and can inform migration research in the future