CHAPTER 4 - The Functions and Dynamics of the Migration Process

Abstract

This chapter discusses the functions and dynamics of migration process. Migration has served, and appears to continue to serve, as an important vehicle of social mobility in a society that is stratified predominantly along lines of achievement rather than of ascription. Immigrants and, more recently, migrants from rural areas have congregated in cities, where access to the training needed for high-wage jobs in commerce and industry afforded to them opportunities to improve their material well-being. In this way, social status came to rest more on personal achievement and less on a legacy of disadvantage imposed by racial or cultural prejudice. The combination of high fertility and shrinking labor demand in rural areas led to increasing unemployment and underemployment. Therefore, many people were drawn to urban centers, attracted by both jobs and the amenities of urban life heard about through relatives, friends, and, increasingly, the mass media. Migration promotes economic efficiency by rearranging workers so as to increase national output. In economically expanding localities, migration responds vigorously to the demand for labor and has a multiplicative effect on this growth. In declining localities, it reduces imbalance between labor supply and demand in the near term, although, its effectiveness diminishes with prolonged heavy outflow.