This volume explores the processes of economic migration, the social conditions that follow it and the discourses that underlie research into it. Reflecting critically on economic migration and on the process of studying and creating knowledge about it, the contributors address the question of whether recent enquiries into modernity bring a newer and better comprehension of the nature of dislocation and movement, or whether these serve simply to replicate familiar modes of placing people and individuals. The book is organized into perspectives in and on specific continents - Europe, Asia and Africa - in order to explore notions regarding economic migration within and across regions as well as towards displacing the Eurocentrism of many studies of migration.
Around the globe, people leave their homes to better themselves, to satisfy needs, and to care for their families. They also migrate to escape undesirable conditions, ranging from a lack of economic opportunities to violent conflicts at home or in the community. Most studies of migration have analyzed the topic at either the macro level of national and global economic and political forces, or the micro level of the psychology of individual migrants. Few studies have examined the "culture of migration"—that is, the cultural beliefs and social patterns that influence people to move. Cultures of Migration combines anthropological and geographical sensibilities, as well as sociological and economic models, to explore the household-level decision-making process that prompts migration. The authors draw their examples not only from their previous studies of Mexican Oaxacans and Turkish Kurds but also from migrants from Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific, and many parts of Asia. They examine social, economic, and political factors that can induce a household to decide to send members abroad, along with the cultural beliefs and traditions that can limit migration. The authors look at both transnational and internal migrations, and at shorter- and longer-term stays in the receiving location. They also consider the effect that migration has on those who remain behind. The authors' "culture of migration" model adds an important new dimension to our understanding of the cultural beliefs and social patterns associated with migration and will help specialists better respond to increasing human mobility.
Capturing the important place and power role that culture plays in the decision-making process of migration, this Handbook looks at human movement outside of a vacuum; taking into account the impact of family relationships, access to resources, and security and insecurity at both the points of origin and destination.
This book seeks to address three issues: How do European countries differ in their cultural integration process and what are the different models of integration at work? How does cultural integration relate to economic integration? What are the implications for civic participation and public policies?
This book examines the emergence of a culture of migration through outward migration as a country-specific phenomenon and analyzes it from different perspectives, covering various aspects such as the history of a country, its migration flows, migration push factors, social, economic, and political issues, as well as individual values. In the first part, the authors present a theoretical background on migration culture formation. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of migration culture in Lithuania in the second part. The presented case study is based on a quantitative survey study of almost 5.400 respondents. Further, the results of this case study are compared and adapted to other classical migration countries in the European Union, such as Spain or Portugal. The book, therefore, is a must-read for everybody interested in a better understanding of migration and the emergence of a culture of migration in different countries.
This volume explores the processes of economic migration, the social conditions that follow it and the discourses that underlie research into it. Reflecting critically on economic migration and on the process of studying and creating knowledge about it, the contributors address the question of whether recent enquiries into modernity bring a newer and better comprehension of the nature of dislocation and movement, or whether these serve simply to replicate familiar modes of placing people and individuals. The book is organized into perspectives in and on specific continents - Europe, Asia and Africa - in order to explore notions regarding economic migration within and across regions as well as towards displacing the Eurocentrism of many studies of migration.
A provocative new analysis of immigration's long-term effects on a nation's economy and culture. Over the last two decades, as economists began using big datasets and modern computing power to reveal the sources of national prosperity, their statistical results kept pointing toward the power of culture to drive the wealth of nations. In The Culture Transplant, Garett Jones documents the cultural foundations of cross-country income differences, showing that immigrants import cultural attitudes from their homelands—toward saving, toward trust, and toward the role of government—that persist for decades, and likely for centuries, in their new national homes. Full assimilation in a generation or two, Jones reports, is a myth. And the cultural traits migrants bring to their new homes have enduring effects upon a nation's economic potential. Built upon mainstream, well-reviewed academic research that hasn't pierced the public consciousness, this book offers a compelling refutation of an unspoken consensus that a nation's economic and political institutions won't be changed by immigration. Jones refutes the common view that we can discuss migration policy without considering whether migration can, over a few generations, substantially transform the economic and political institutions of a nation. And since most of the world's technological innovations come from just a handful of nations, Jones concludes, the entire world has a stake in whether migration policy will help or hurt the quality of government and thus the quality of scientific breakthroughs in those rare innovation powerhouses.
China's rise over the past several decades has lifted more than half of its population out of poverty and reshaped the global economy. What has caused this dramatic transformation? In China's Great Migration: How the Poor Built a Prosperous Nation, author Bradley Gardner looks at one of the most important but least discussed forces pushing China's economic development: the migration of more than 260 million people from their birthplaces to China's most economically vibrant cities. By combining an analysis of China's political economy with current scholarship on the role of migration in economic development, China's Great Migration shows how the largest economic migration in the history of the world has led to a bottom-up transformation of China. Gardner draws from his experience as a researcher and journalist working in China to investigate why people chose to migrate and the social and political consequences of their decisions. In the aftermath of China's Cultural Revolution, the collapse of totalitarian government control allowed millions of people to skirt migration restrictions and move to China's growing cities, where they offered a massive pool of labor that propelled industrial development, foreign investment, and urbanization. Struggling to respond to the demands of these migrants, the Chinese government loosened its grip on the economy, strengthening property rights and allowing migrants to employ themselves and each other, spurring the Chinese economic miracle. More than simply a narrative of economic progress, China's Great Migration tells the human story of China's transformation, featuring interviews with the men and women whose way of life has been remade. In its pages, readers will learn about the rebirth of a country and millions of lives changed, hear what migration can tell us about the future of China, and discover what China's development can teach the rest of the world about the role of market liberalization and economic migration in fighting poverty and creating prosperity.
Culture plays a central role in our understanding of migration as an economic phenomenon. This title emphasises on the distinctions in culture between migrants, the families they left behind, and the local population in the migration destination.
ŠThis is an extremely impressive volume which guides readers into thinking about migration in new ways. In its various chapters, international experts examine contemporary migration issues through a multitude of lenses ranging from child labor, human t
