Tutorial 2 + Lecture 2: International migration and social networks

Question 1

What is social capital?

Answer 1

• Social capital = sum of resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or group possessing a durable network (Bordieu) -> resources provided by social ties/connections that stimulate or undermine migration
• Meso-level theory
• Results?
  o Give access to support and resources
  o Lead to migration networks: relation between migrants, former migrants, and potential migrants
  o Migration industry: institutional actors: employers, universities, smugglers, NGOs, … -> in business due to migration

Question 2

To what extent and how do informal social networks facilitate international migration?

Answer 2

How?
- Networks => give info, infrastructure, support to newcomers => reduce costs (transaction costs, lower barriers, lower risk)
o Eg. funding, housing, employment, information provision in destination country
- Effects of social remittances + relative deprivation
- Massey’s theory of cumulative causation: migrations affect the context in which the process takes place => migration = more likely -> self-perpetuating feedback loop
- Mediate (amplify or weaken) contextual factors ??

Question 3

Who supports migrants and what kind of support do they provide?

Answer 3

Who?
o family members w eco resources and housing, former migrants w info, human traffickers, employers looking for cheap labor, government if legal status, NGO’s: eg. family reunification

who supports less?
o high-educated, women and people w no contacts
o migrants who believe NL migration policies = strict
o short stay migrants

What kind of support?
o Psychological support from families
o Costs and paperwork support from current migrants living abroad
….

Question 4

To what extent, how and under what conditions can informal social networks also undermine international migratory movements?

Answer 4

• gate closers -> info demotivation, take away resources (housing, employment, …), governments: policies (direct vs Indirect), racism (public opinion)
• tightness of network => exclusivity
• Settled migrants -> can decline support to newcomers

Question 5

Why do people migrate? (forced vs voluntary)

Answer 5

• forced: conflict, violence, war, persecution, environment, access to services, …
• voluntary: family, education, retirement, job, lifestyle (Eg. young people want to experience other cultures) , better opportunities

! often mix: no strict dichotomy !

Question 6

On what levels is migration motivated/On what levels can migration be analyzed?

Answer 6

1. macro-level: migration = intrinsic part of broader processes of development and social transformation
   Eg. labour market dynamics, interstate relationships, …
   - theories: push and pull factors & dependency/world systems theory
2. micro-level: migration = function of capabilities and aspirations to migrate within a given set of constraints
   - theories: neo-classical theory & NELM
3. meso-level: between macro and micro
   - 3 theories: social network theory, cumulative causation & migration undermining effects of social networks

Question 7

What is the migratory process?

Answer 7

= the complex sets of factors and interactions which shape migration -> affects every dimension of social existence

Question 8

What do functionalist theories say?

Answer 8

Society = system, collection of interdependent parts, in which an inherent tendency toward equilibrium exists -> every social process => balance!
=> migration = “optimization mechanism” => contributes to greater equality

3 theories:
1. Push-pull model
2. Neoclassical migration theory
3. Human capital theory

Question 9

What do historical-structural theories say?

Answer 9

• migration = manifestation of capitalism, imperialism and unequal terms of trade => = way of mobilizing cheap labour for capital => keep wages down + boost profits of businesses and eco growth in destination countries => migration = exploitation mechanism
• migration = strongly patterned process -> reason? Structural factors eg. social stratification, market access, power inequalities, cultural repertoire, … constrain people’s indv choices, affecting their preferences and ‘channeling’ the decisions in very particular directions

2 theories:
- dependency theory/world-systems theory
- globalization theory

Question 10

Explain the push-pull model?

Answer 10

• Ravenstein: “laws of migration”
• push: population growth, political repression, …
• pull: demand for labour, availability of land, …
• critique
• Purely descriptive models enumerating factors -> without specifying their role and interactions
• Difficulty explaining why many countries = simultaneous immigration and why migrants return, …
• Factors = not always deterministic/cause Eg. population pressure might stimulate innovation, increase productivity, …

Question 11

Explain the neoclassical migration theory?

Answer 11

• rooted in modernization theory
• key assumption:
   Migration = investment in human capital: higher earnings in the future
   Rational choice: people migrate when (expected) benefits > costs of migration
• factors affecting migration decisions:
   Wage differentials in sending and receiving countries
   Costs of migration and first settlement
   Available resources for potential migrants
   Migration policies: restrictive policies => more constraints => higher costs
• pros?
   Realistic view on migration motives: most migrants: want to gain economically or at least survive -> mostly go from poor to rich country
   Attention to costs of migration -> explains why many people do not migrate
• cons?
   People = not rational -> do not calculate -> disregard emotional reasons
   Migrants = do not have full and correct information (irrealistic ideas)
   Migrants = do not have access to markets -> eg. banks that lend money for migration

Question 12

Explain human capital theory

Answer 12

• migration = investment that increases the productivity of human capital knowledge and skills
• people invest in migration = same as investment in education -> migrate if additional lifetime benefits > costs from migration
  => ‘return on investment’
  => explains why young/higher skilled = migrate more (-> more specialization => need to move further)

Question 13

What is some critique of functionalist theories?

Answer 13

1. Unrealistic assumptions
   o 1st As: people = rational actors who maximize income or ‘utility’ based on a systematic comparison of lifetime costs and benefits
   o 2nd As: potential migrants = perfect knowledge of wage levels and employment opportunities in destination countries
   o 3rd As: markets = perfect and accessible to poor
2. no room for human agency -> assume indvs = who react in predictable uniform and passive ways to external factors

Question 14

Explain the dependency theory/world-systems theory

Answer 14

• key argument:?
   Contraction between capitalist “core” countries and less developed countries in the periphery: exploitation
   Capitalism -> destroy traditional economies => migration
   Migration = exploitation of poor countries
   Poor countries = provide cheap low-skilled labour OR high-skilled workers
• pros:
   Different perspective on migration: migration = not a threat for global north + rich countries = benefit
• cons:
   Deterministic explanation: migration is explained because it is in the interest of the “Capital”
   No attention for agency: migrants = seen as victims
   The assumption that capitalism penetrates agricultural regions confirms the myth of immobile peasant

Question 15

Explain the globalization theory

Answer 15

Ambiguous effects?
- globz spurred migration -> consequence of growing inequality + revolutions in transport/communication technology
- However, increased scope for trade and outsourcing -> replaced migration

Critique
- globalization = not natural or inevitable new world order BUT merely the latest phase in the evolution of the capitalist world economy

Question 16

What is some critique of historical-structural theory?

Answer 16

1. stress structural constraints + limited human agency -> depict migrants as victims of global capitalism => deterministic views: no justice to diversity of migration + active choices migrants
2. assume ‘myth of immobile peasants’: assumption that pre-modern societies = isolated stable homogenous peasant communities

Question 17

Explain the dual labour market theory/segmented labour market theory?

Answer 17

• intl migration = caused by demand within advanced economies for lower-skilled workers to carry out production tasks and to staff service enterprises

Question 18

Explain the new economics of labour migration theory

Answer 18

1. migration = risk-sharing behavior of families or households
   -> Eg. diversify income sources in order to spread and minimize income risks => less vulnerable when for eg. floods, …
   -> households send 1 family member abroad to earn additional income -> diversify sources of income
2. migration = family/household investment to provide for investment in eco activities
3. relative deprivation > absolute poverty
   -> the feeling of being less well-off than other community members
4. migrants = countries w lowest employment > highest wages -> why? Goal = minimizing risks and certainty > maximal profit

Question 19

Explain the aspiration capabilities model

Answer 19

• human capability = the ability of human beings to lead lives they have reason to value + enhance substantive choices (or freedoms) they have
• aspirations = function of people’s general life aspirations and perceived geographical opportunity structures

Higher development levels => increase capabilities BUT at certain level: decrease migration aspirations

Question 20

Explain the social network theory

Answer 20

• explains how migrants create and maintain social ties w other migrants and w family/friends back home + how this can lead to emergence of social networks
• factors?
   Normative pressure: ‘stories’ which shape people’s views and aspirations to migrate and may encourage subsequent movements
   Social learning: actual support, relevant information and advice -> reduces risks/costs
   Network externalities: generalized resources = available in migration flows, like access to smuggling networks or recruiting employers in the host society

Question 21

What are migrant networks?

Answer 21

= sets of interpersonal ties that connect migrants, former migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination areas through bonds of kin, friendship and shared community origin
=> decrease eco, soc, and psychological costs of migration

Question 22

What is the migration industry?

Answer 22

= employers, travel agents, recruiters, brokers, smugglers, humanitarian agencies -> interest in continuation of migration

Question 23

Explain the migration systems theory

Answer 23

= looks at how migration = intrinsically linked to other forms of exchange, notably flows of goods, ideas and money
- migration system = set of places linked by flows and counter-flows of people, goods, services and information, which tend to facilitate further exchange, including migration, between places
- Eg. migration from India: linked to British colonial presence

Question 24

Explain cumulative causation

Answer 24

= idea that migration induces changes in social and eco structures that make additional migration likely

‘contextual/pos feedback mechanisms’
 = migration changes environment => more migration
 Social support => migration = cheaper
 Migration culture
 Remittances cause relative deprivation
 ‘brain drain’
 Eg. remittances -> increase income inequality in origin country => feeling of relative deprivation => migration aspirations

Question 25

What is the role of networks and informal support?

Answer 25

• direct: contributing to transport costs, providing access to housing and employment
• indirect: frequent home visits => spread info about benefits of migration + ‘culture of migration’
  -> ‘personal network feedback’: messages from previous migrants to prospective migrants
  -> ‘cumulative causation’: as people gain migratory experience, they become a source of ‘migratory social capital’ for other people from the same community of origin

Question 26

How can we explain declining migration

Answer 26

• 3 institutional developments: stricter immigration policies, reduced labour market opportunities + unfriendly societal reception of immigrants
• Migration policies
  o Until 1980s: policies = tolerant -> migrants = not perceived as a threat -> migrants did not compete w same jobs
  o 1980s: eco crisis + new regulations to protect welfare state =>need BSN for irregular migrants
• Labour market opportunities
  o 1990s: opportunities grew but discontent about multicultural society
  o 2000s: decline job opportunities -> eco recession in 2003 + EU enlargement => labour migrants from Eastern Europe
• Societal perception
  o Public opinion: anti-immigration and anti-multiculturalism sentiments

-> direct effect? Discouragement newcomers + indirect: settled migrants = discouraged to support/assist

Question 27

Explain the results of the study by Massey: what drives US-Mexico migration?

Answer 27

Neo-classical economics:
- differences in wages/benefits = not major factor in migration course
- social services = do not appear to influence migration process in consistent way
- human capital: influence the migration process -> migrants move to places where skills/abilities = most highly rewarded
- migration specific human capital : increases chances of taking another US trip

New Economics of migration
- strong support: Mexicans migrate to gain access to scarce capital -> migration = linked to fluctuations
- as interests increases => mexicans leave for US or back to mexico to invest
- home ownership => decreases chances initial and repeat migration

Segmented labour market theory
- modest support: as rate of us job creation increases => increase undocumented trips
- rate of employment growth = unrelated

Social capital theory
- intitial stage: social capital: ties to parents, siblings and community members
- additional trips: reduced by migration wives, children, …

World Systems theory
- not much support: direct foreign investment = small effect

conclusion: 3 fundamental forces:
(1) Social Capital Formation
o Each act of migration creates additional social capital capable of initiating and sustaining more migration: self-perpetuating
o Social capital is very widely diffused throughout the Mexican population: half of adult Mexicans are related to someone in the US

(2) Human Capital Formation
o For undocumented migrants, the most important element of human capital is migration experience itself. The more US experience, the higher the likelihood of both legal and undocumented migration: self-reinforcing.

(3) Market Consolidation
o Risk diversification and capital accumulation has households migrate internationally: economic development goes hand in hand with international migration.
o Mechanism: Growing economic insecurities coupled with a strong desire to participate in this new political economy