Migration Theories

Summary

This video explores migration theories, focusing on both international and internal migration patterns. It explains the economic and cultural reasons driving migration, particularly from developing to developed countries, and distinguishes between guest workers and unauthorized migrants. The video delves into internal migration, comparing rural-to-urban movement in developing countries with suburbanization in developed nations. Ravenstein's migration theory and Zelinsky's migration transition model are also introduced, emphasizing how migration patterns align with different stages of economic and societal development. Key migration factors, theories, and patterns are foundational for understanding global movement trends.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Migration can be international or internal, with different patterns and reasons behind each type.
• 💼 International migration often involves movement from developing countries to developed ones, primarily for economic opportunities.
• 🏙️ Internal migration in developing countries tends to follow a rural-to-urban pattern, as people move to cities for job prospects.
• 🏘️ In developed countries, internal migration usually involves people moving from cities to suburban areas for lifestyle improvements.
• 🌱 Rural-to-urban migration in developing countries creates challenges like overcrowding and insufficient infrastructure in cities.
• 🚗 Suburban migration in developed countries is driven by preferences for quieter environments, more space, and better living conditions.
• 🚶 Ravenstein's theory of migration suggests that most people prefer to migrate short distances within their own country if possible.
• 🧳 When people do migrate long distances, they tend to move toward cities or regions with more economic opportunities.
• 👨 Zelinsky's migration transition model links migration patterns to stages of economic development, with economic opportunity driving migration in Stage 2.
• 📊 Understanding migration patterns, push-pull factors, and the theories behind migration is crucial for analyzing global movement trends.

Q & A

What are the main reasons people migrate?

People migrate due to economic, cultural, and sometimes forced or voluntary reasons. Push factors drive them away from their original location, while pull factors attract them to a new one.

What is international migration and what drives it?

International migration involves moving from one country to another, usually for economic reasons. Most migration occurs from developing countries to developed countries in search of better opportunities.

What are guest workers and unauthorized migrants?

Guest workers are migrants who are allowed to work in a foreign country for a specific period, while unauthorized migrants enter or stay in a country without legal permission. Both groups are part of international migration.

What is internal migration, and how is it different from international migration?

Internal migration occurs within a country's borders, whereas international migration involves crossing into another country. Internal migration can be inter-regional (moving from one region to another) or intra-regional (moving within the same region).

What is the main pattern of internal migration in less developed countries (LDCs)?

In LDCs, the primary internal migration pattern is from rural to urban areas. People move to cities for economic opportunities, often leading to overcrowded mega-cities with inadequate infrastructure.

How does internal migration differ in more developed countries (MDCs)?

In MDCs, internal migration often involves people moving from cities to suburbs for lifestyle reasons, such as better living conditions, more space, and safety. This is known as counter-urbanization.

What role do transportation and telecommunications play in migration in developed countries?

In developed countries, advancements in transportation (like highways) and telecommunications (like remote work capabilities) have enabled people to live farther from cities and still access jobs, leading to urban sprawl.

What is Ravenstein's theory of migration?

Ravenstein's theory suggests that most migrants relocate short distances within the same country. Those who travel long distances usually move to areas with significant economic activity, such as large cities.

What is Zelinsky's migration transition theory?

Zelinsky's theory connects migration patterns to the demographic transition model. In Stage 1, people migrate in search of food. In Stage 2, they migrate for economic opportunities, and in Stages 3 and 4, they migrate for better living conditions.

What are the key differences between migration patterns in LDCs and MDCs?

In LDCs, migration is driven by economic survival, with people moving to cities for jobs. In MDCs, migration is more lifestyle-based, with people moving to suburbs for better living conditions, space, and safety.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Migration Theories

The video begins with a welcome message, highlighting the importance of viewing the content on specific platforms based on the viewer's experience level. The primary focus is on migration theories, building on previous discussions about the reasons behind migration, including economic, cultural, and other factors. The essential question explored is why people migrate, emphasizing the push and pull factors from both the origin and destination locations. The speaker then introduces the concept of international migration, often driven by economic motives, particularly from developing to developed countries, creating categories such as guest workers and unauthorized migrants. The video then shifts to internal migration within countries, differentiating between inter-regional (movement between regions) and intra-regional (movement within a region) migrations.

05:01

🏡 Internal Migration Patterns in Developing and Developed Worlds

This section delves into the distinct patterns of internal migration in developing and developed countries. In developing countries, migration is primarily from rural to urban areas due to economic opportunities, leading to rapid urbanization and issues like squatter settlements. Conversely, in developed countries, people tend to move from cities to suburbs for lifestyle reasons, not economic ones. Factors such as better living conditions, safety, and more space drive this 'counter-urbanization' trend, enabled by efficient transportation and telecommunication systems. The section concludes by comparing these migration patterns and discussing the concept of 'intervening opportunities' in the migration process.

Keywords

💡Migration

Migration refers to the movement of people from one place to another, typically for economic, social, or environmental reasons. In the video, migration is explored both in terms of international movement (from one country to another) and internal movement (within a country). The video highlights that economic factors often drive migration, and the reasons for moving can differ between the developed and developing world.

💡Push and Pull Factors

Push factors are the negative conditions that drive people away from their home country or region, while pull factors are the positive conditions that attract them to a new place. In the video, it is explained that people migrate because of both push factors like poverty or lack of jobs, and pull factors like better economic opportunities in cities or developed countries.

💡International Migration

International migration involves moving from one country to another, often for economic reasons. In the video, it is noted that most international migration happens from developing countries (LDCs) to developed countries (MDCs). The video discusses how people are often drawn to economic opportunities in developed countries while being pushed out of their home countries due to poor living conditions.

💡Internal Migration

Internal migration refers to the movement of people within the same country. The video explores two types of internal migration: inter-regional (moving from one region to another) and intra-regional (moving within the same region). In the developed world, internal migration tends to involve moving from cities to suburbs for lifestyle reasons, while in the developing world, people typically move from rural areas to urban centers for economic opportunities.

💡Developed World

The developed world, also referred to as MDCs (More Developed Countries), consists of countries with advanced economies, infrastructure, and higher standards of living. The video discusses how migration in these countries is often driven by lifestyle preferences, such as moving to the suburbs for more space and better living conditions, rather than for economic survival.

💡Developing World

The developing world, also referred to as LDCs (Less Developed Countries), includes nations with lower economic development and less advanced infrastructure. The video explains that in these countries, migration is often driven by the need for economic survival, with large populations moving from rural areas to cities in search of jobs and better opportunities.

💡Urbanization

Urbanization is the process by which rural populations move to urban areas, contributing to the growth of cities. In the developing world, this trend is driven by economic opportunities in cities. The video explains how this influx often leads to overcrowding and the development of squatter settlements due to the limited infrastructure and resources in these rapidly growing urban areas.

💡Suburbanization

Suburbanization is the movement of people from cities to the surrounding suburbs. The video explains how, in developed countries, people move to the suburbs for lifestyle reasons, such as better schools, safety, and space, rather than for economic purposes. This movement is enabled by transportation systems like highways and telecommunications, allowing people to work remotely.

💡Rural-to-Urban Migration

Rural-to-urban migration refers to the movement of people from rural areas, typically involved in agriculture, to urban areas with better economic opportunities. The video highlights this trend in the developing world, where people leave rural areas to seek jobs in cities, contributing to urbanization and, in some cases, overcrowded conditions.

💡Ravenstein's Migration Theory

Ravenstein's migration theory suggests that most migrants move short distances and stay within their own country, while those who travel long distances tend to go to places with major economic activity, such as cities. The video references this theory to explain common migration patterns, particularly in the context of international migration where people from Latin America tend to migrate to U.S. cities near the southern border rather than more distant or less economically active regions.

Highlights

Introduction to migration theories, push and pull factors behind migration.

Main reasons for migration: economic, cultural, forced, and voluntary migration.

International migration is primarily from the developing world to the developed world, mostly for economic purposes.

Two types of international migrants: guest workers and unauthorized migrants.

Internal migration occurs within a country, classified into inter-regional and intra-regional.

In developing countries, internal migration is mainly rural-to-urban for economic reasons.

Migration to mega cities in developing countries causes issues like squatter settlements and overburdened infrastructure.

Developed countries experience suburbanization, with migration motivated by lifestyle rather than economic factors.

The role of transportation and telecommunications in developed world migration patterns, facilitating suburbanization.

Ravenstein's migration theory: most migrants move short distances within the same country, long-distance migrants move to areas with major economic activity.

Zelinsky's migration transition theory ties migration to the demographic transition model.

Stage 1 migration is for food, Stage 2 for economic opportunities, and Stage 3-4 for better living conditions.

Difference between international and internal migration patterns in developed and developing countries.

Push-pull factors differ for internal migration in more developed countries (MDCs) and less developed countries (LDCs).

Building blocks for understanding migration theories and patterns will be referenced in future discussions.

Transcripts

all right everybody welcome back to

another episode of bears guide to five

now remember the first time you should

be watching this is on canvas through

edpuzzle

but if this is your second third fourth

fifth sixth seventieth time watching my

videos because you just love them

you should be watching it on youtube

okay so today we're going to talk about

migration theories now in the previous

video we talked about why people migrate

the push and pull

the economic cultural reasons for it and

the ideas of forced

and voluntary migration but this time

we're going to look at more of the

theory behind

it and break down some more ways to

describe

migration essentially remember the

essential question is always is

why do people migrate you know and we're

slowly discovering

that it's economic reasons that there

are cultural reasons

that there are reasons in the

destination location that pulled them

there

there's reasons in the starting location

that pushed them out

and we know that there's stuff that gets

in the way

but now what we're going to look at is

uh like the travel distance or the

patterns of migration so the first one

we look at is

international migration so international

migration going from one country

to another generally this is for

economic purposes

and generally it's between the

developing world to the developed world

you don't see people in the developed

world leaving developed countries

for jobs in other developed countries

right it

that's just generally not how it works

it's most the time from the developing

world they see the economic opportunity

so it pulls them to that country right

and whatever push factors are pushing

them out

now this creates two types of immigrants

you have the guest workers

who and we'll talk about guest workers

in the future and then we have

unauthorized migrants which we'll talk

about that in the future

the other type of migration and the one

we're going to spend a little more time

on

is internal migration now this is inside

of a country

so we're done with international

migration we've done that we know

international

is uh the developing world to the

developed

ldc to mdc now we're talking about

inside countries

right now inside countries you can have

inter-regional one region of the country

to another

or intra-regional movement within a

region so for example for using the

united states

say um you know you stay one region to

another you move from the east coast to

the west coast

or from the south to the north but intro

regional inside of a region say

you live on the east coast and you move

to a different part of the east coast

well you're still in that region of the

east coast that's all this means

but now let's look at the two patterns

of internal migration

ldcs so there's a pattern of internal

migration

inside the developing world and inside

the developed world

inside the developing world it is rural

to urban migration

right that rural countryside

lots of farming to urban areas where you

have cities and infrastructure and

factories and so on and so forth

and this is what we see now once again

mostly for

economic reasons people are choosing to

leave the rural areas

of their countries to move to those

cities because there's opportunities

there now because of all the economic

opportunities and because of

the lack of development throughout the

whole country

there's only so many cities that people

can move to for economic opportunity and

what happens is that

all of these people move there in the

developing world which we know the

developing world has huge

population growth so you have a massive

amount of people

migrating from these rural areas into

these mega cities because there's just

so many people

and it ends up creating things like

squatter settlements and they can't

handle it with the infrastructure

and all the stuff we're going to talk

about way in the future but you just

have to understand the migration pattern

first

to eventually get to those topics now

because of this

this is why the developing world is

urbanizing or growing cities

faster than the developing world because

the thing is in the in the developed

world we're not

building our cities as fast anymore and

we'll talk about the reasons why the

migration pattern in the next slide

but i want to stay focused on ldc's

so i want you to consider this like an

intervening opportunity

right when people are moving

internationally

for economic purposes say they move from

the rural countryside

and they stop in a city in the ldc where

from there there's the ways to travel

to new countries there's the

opportunities there to get the paperwork

done and there's opportunities there to

make some money

well what happens is that maybe they

stay in that urban area

they start making money they live

comfortably and they go you know what

i'm just not going to leave here because

everybody speaks the same language

around me they practice the same

religion they have the same views as me

i'm still in my home country

so i'm just gonna stay here and that's

why we see a lot of rule

to urban migration in the developing

world

where on the other hand in the developed

world we are not

moving to the urban area everybody isn't

flocking to cities

they're flocking to the suburbs the sub

urban suburbs right because it's the

neighboring areas around cities where

there's houses and there's less traffic

and there's less people

and it's really nice now

this does not happen for economic

purposes people don't move out to the

suburbs because they're like yeah i want

to get a job in the suburbs right they

move out to the suburbs for lifestyle

reasons or environmental reasons

right they don't want to be in a city

it's this counter urbanization movement

people want to move out of the city

where it's nice and quiet there's more

space

there's better schools there's more

safety you can raise a family you know

you get the house with the picket fence

and you get a dog and you raise the kids

but what also allows this to happen is

how we

do transportation in the developed world

the fact that we have highways

the fact that we have telecommunications

where people can work at home

and you know um zoom into an office or

whatever

right so this also explains why north

america had this urban sprawl problem

where our suburbs just exploded

everywhere

and people can move wherever they want

so understand there's

two patterns there's the pattern of the

developing world and there's the pattern

of migration in the developed world

in the developing world it's all about

money and living and surviving

in the developed world we really just

moved to the suburbs because for

lifestyle reasons

so as always there's another theory this

guy ravenstein came up with

uh the migration theory that or the

theory of the migrant

right that one most migrants will

relocate a short distance and remain

within the same country

yet no one wants to travel long

distances to new countries like no one

wants to

completely abandon their life if they

can they want to stay in the same

country and travel a short distance

but if they are going to travel a long

distance they are going to head to a

place of major economic activity or big

cities

right we experience a lot or we talk a

lot about migration in the us because we

know we have a lot of migration from

latin america

generally those people migrating from

latin america are going to big cities

along the southern border they're not

going all the way up to north dakota

where nothing is there and there's no

economic opportunity or big cities

right that's why um even we have to

discuss it so much living in florida

especially tampa

the other characteristics of a migrant

the theory is that uh

most are inter most international

migrants are adult males

and they're generally traveling by

themselves not with families not with

females

just happens to be the trend

now of course there's more theories we

have zelensky's migration transition

which

follows the demographic transition model

so it's important you know that

demographic transition model in the four

stages

because this guy said in stage one the

reason why people migrate in search of

food

in stage two it's economic opportunity

and we saw this

or we will be seeing this when we talk

about the migration into the united

states because stage two was the reason

we got so many

migrants from around the world and then

stage three and four the developed

nations

people move for better living conditions

so it's basically what i've just said

about everything we're just

applying it now to the demographic

transition model

so what do you need to know today you

need to know the difference between

international

and internal migration remember we

talked about the major pattern of

international which is developing to

develop

but understand the internal migration

patterns in the developed world and in

the developing world

you have to be able to explain what gets

people to move

internationally where they're coming

from and where they're going and why

and then finally understand the reasons

for internal migration

mdc push-pull factors versus ldc

push-pull factors

i cannot stress enough how important it

is to understand the difference with

differences between international and

internal migration and all of these

theories

and the patterns because we're going to

be referencing them many times

this is just another building block to

building on this uh

whole idea this holistic view of the

world

so anyway as always this is bears guide

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we'll see you next time