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A Missing Element in Migration Theories

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  • Douglas S. Massey

    (Office of Population Research, Princeton University, NJ, United States.)

Abstract

From the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s, migration between Mexico and the United States constituted a stable system whose contours were shaped by social and economic conditions well-theorized by prevailing models of migration. It evolved as a mostly circular movement of male workers going to a handful of U.S. states in response to changing conditions of labour supply and demand north and south of the border, relative wages prevailing in each nation, market failures and structural economic changes in Mexico, and the expansion of migrant networks following processes specified by neoclassical economics, segmented labour market theory, the new economics of labour migration, social capital theory, world systems theory, and theoretical models of state behaviour. After 1986, however, the migration system was radically transformed, with the net rate of migration increasing sharply as movement shifted from a circular flow of male workers going a limited set of destinations to a nationwide population of settled families. This transformation stemmed from a dynamic process that occurred in the public arena to bring about an unprecedented militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border, and not because of shifts in social, economic, or political factors specified in prevailing theories. In this paper I draw on earlier work to describe that dynamic process and demonstrate its consequences, underscoring the need for greater theoretical attention to the self-interested actions of politicians, pundits, and bureaucrats who benefit from the social construction and political manufacture of immigration crises when none really exist

Suggested Citation

  • Douglas S. Massey, 2015. "A Missing Element in Migration Theories," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 12(3), pages 279-299, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:mig:journl:v:12:y:2015:i:3:p:279-299
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Elizabeth Fussell & Douglas Massey, 2004. "The limits to cumulative causation: International migration from Mexican Urban Areas," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(1), pages 151-171, February.
    2. Christian Dustmann & Joseph-Simon Görlach, 2016. "The Economics of Temporary Migrations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 98-136, March.
    3. Filiz Garip, 2012. "Discovering Diverse Mechanisms of Migration: The Mexico–US Stream 1970–2000," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 38(3), pages 393-433, September.
    4. Massey, Douglas S. & Taylor, J. Edward (ed.), 2004. "International Migration: Prospects and Policies in a Global Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199269006.
    5. Oded Stark, 1991. "The Migration of Labor," Blackwell Books, Wiley Blackwell, number 1557860300, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hall Katharine & Posel Dorrit, 2019. "Fragmenting the Family? The Complexity of Household Migration Strategies in Post-apartheid South Africa," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Ekaterina VASILIEVA & Elena DANILOVA & Svetlana TOKAREVA, 2017. "Migration Attractiveness Of The Social And Economic Spaces: Volgograd Case Study," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 12(1), pages 5-20, February.
    3. Frans Willekens, 2018. "Towards causal forecasting of international migration," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 16(1), pages 199-218.
    4. Yılmaz Onur ARİ, 2023. "Social and economic aspects of internal circular migration flows," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(4(637), W), pages 137-146, Winter.
    5. Hall Katharine & Posel Dorrit, 2019. "Fragmenting the Family? The Complexity of Household Migration Strategies in Post-apartheid South Africa," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 10(2), pages 22-48, August.
    6. Danzer, Alexander M. & Dietz, Barbara, 2018. "Migrants’ well-being during the global financial crisis: Economic and social predictors," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 770-787.
    7. Jeremiah B. Wills & Margaret M. Commins, 2018. "Consequences of the American States’ Legislative Action on Immigration," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1137-1152, November.
    8. Jorge Mora-Rivera & Isael Fierros-González, 2020. "Determinants of Indigenous Migration: the Case of Guerrero’s Mountain Region in Mexico," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 93-116, March.
    9. Fernandez-Dominguez Amilcar Orlian, 2020. "Effect of Actual and Perceived Violence on Internal Migration: Evidence from Mexico’s Drug War," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-27, January.
    10. Maruszewski Wojciech & Kaczmarczyk Paweł, 2020. "Economic Integration and Migrant Networks: The Case of Ukrainian Migrants in the Warsaw Agglomeration," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 7(54), pages 258-278, January.

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