INTERNATİONAL MIGRATION

 Currently, more than 200 million people

live in countries outside of their country
of birth.
 International migration shows no signs
of slowing down, hence, understanding
the causes, consequences, and effects
of migration remains one of the most
important and pervasive topics of the
21st century in both scholarly and
policymaking communities.
 Social, economic, political and
demographic consequences of
migrations in countries of both origin
and destination.
 Themes in sociological research include
race, ethnicity, gender, transnational
processes, social networks,
development, political institutions and
the state.
 Immigration is not a new phenomenon.
It dates back to the early stages of
written history.
 Though migration is not new, it is
accelerating as part of the process of
global integration.
 This is a reflection of the rapidly
changing economic, political and
cultural ties between countries.
THE AGE OF MİGRATİON
 Currently, more than 200 million
people reside in a country other than
where they were born.

 That is equivalent to 3 per cent of the

world’s population.
 Immigration: The movement of people
into a country to settle.
 Emigration: To leave a country to settle
in another.
 The two waves together produce global
migration patterns that link countries
of origin and countries of destination.
 Immigration is now an important issue
in many countries with significant
social, cultural, economic and political
repercussions.
MIGRATION AND THE UK
 Immigration to the British isles has existed
throughout recorded history
 Industrialization saw migration within the
British Isles from the Celtic fringe and other
rural areas to expanding urban centres
 Migration from the near continent has
occurred as groups have fled political and
religious persecution
 During the 1930s and 40s many fleeing Nazi
expansion in mainland Europe fled to Britain
 Rising immigration rates have
challenged commonly held notions of
national identity;
 Also forced a re-examination of
concepts of citizenship.
 What might be some of the issues
regarding the concept of citizenship?
(definiton of citizenship, granting citizenship rights, dual
citizenship)
MIGRATION AND THE UK
 In Britain, Irish, black and Jewish
communities had existed long before
the Industrial Revolution. But the surge
of new opportunities altered the scale
and scope of international migration.
 New waves of Dutch, Chinese, Irish and
black immigrants transformed British
society.
 Post-Second World War immigration
primarily from Commonwealth nations
to meet a need for unskilled workers
 Immigration and asylum regulations
tightened by successive governments
since the 1960s
 New migration sees free movement of
labour between member states of the
European Union
 The spread of industrialization has also
transformed migration patterns in
industrializing countries.
 The growth of employment
opportunities in urban areas
encouraged a trend towards rural-
urban migration.
MODELS OF MIGRATION
Classic Model (Australia, US, Canada)
 Nations built from immigration; citizenship
extended to migrants
Colonial Model (Britain, France)
 Favours immigrants from former colonies; builds on
pre-established partial citizenship
Guest Worker Model (Germany, Swiss)
 Immigrants admitted on temporary basis; no
citizenship rights
Illegal Forms (Mexico-US border)
(Undocumented or paperless)
 Remaining beyond visa expiry/people smuggling
COLONİAL MODEL
 Following WWII, people from
Commonwealth countries were
encouraged and facilitated to go to the
UK, which had a shortage of labor.
 In addition to rebuilding the country
and economy after the destruction of
the war, industrial expansion provided
British workers with mobility, creating a
need for labor in unskilled and manual
positions.
 The British Nationality Act of 1948 granted
favorable immigration rights to the citizens
of Commonwealth countries.
 With each wave of immigration, the religious
composition of the UK changes. British cities
became multiethnic and religiously diverse.
 Immigration brought new questions about
what it means to be British and how ethnic
and religious minorities can fully integrate
into British society.
ASYLUM-SEEKERS / REFUGEES
 To be granted asylum, individuals must
claim that being forced to leave the
country would break obligations that the
government has under the UN Convention
and Protocol relating to the Status of
Refugees, which obliges signatory nations
to protect refugees who are fleeing
persecution and treat them as well as
other foreign nationals on their territory.
RECENT GLOBAL TRENDS IN MIGRATION

Acceleration
 Migration across borders in greater numbers

Diversification
 Most countries receive immigrants of
different types
Globalization
 More countries involved as both senders and
receivers
Feminization
 Global demand for domestic, care and sex
workers
THEORİES OF INTERNATIONAL
MİGRATİON
 Initiation of  Perpetuation of
migration migration
 Neoclassical macro  Network theory
and micro migration  Institutional theory
theories  Cumulative causation
 New economics of  Migration systems
migration (world systems and
 Dual labor market all of the above)
theory
 World systems
theory

 Lee’s push-pull
PUSH AND PULL FACTORS
Push factors: encouraging migrants to
leave home country

 Political oppression
 War
 Famine
 Poverty
 Population pressure
PUSH AND PULL FACTORS

Pull Factors: factors drawing migrants

to host nation

 Employment opportunities
 Higher standards of living
 Lower population density
 Pew Global Attitudes Project (2005)
 Germany
 34% thought immigration from North Africa
and Middle East was a “good thing”
 57% thought it was a “bad thing”
 66% disapproved of immigration from
Eastern Europe
GLOBAL MIGRATION SYSTEMS
Interaction of micro and macro issues:

 Micro: resources, knowledge and

understandings of migrant population

 Macro: political situation, immigration laws and

regulations, shifts in the international economy

 Can you think of an example?

 Labor migration from Turkey to Western Europe,
particularly Germany.
DİASPORA
 In his book Global Diasporas (1997),
Cohen defines diaspora as “the
dispersal of an ethnic population from
an original homeland into foreign
areas, often in a forced manner or
under traumatic circumstances”.
TYPES OF DİASPORA
 Victim diaspora
 Labor diaspora
 Trading diaspora
 Imperial diaspora
 Cultural diaspora
CHARACTERİSTİCS OF DİASPORA
 Movement from homeland
 Shared collective memory of homeland
and belif in the possibility of return
 Ethnic identity sustained over time and
distance
 Sense of solidarity with other members
of the group