IN REFERENCE TO LEWIS COSER'S MASTERS OF SOCIOLOGICAL THOUGHT: IDEAS IN HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT, SOCIOLOGY

In reference to Lewis Coser's Masters of
Sociological Thought: Ideas in Historical
and Social Context Sociology

All throughout the history of humankind, people have moved in and out of places. According to an article, a group of people migrates because of a more favorable place or region or because of some adverse condition or combination of conditions in the home environment (Migration, 2006). The same article asserts that humans have migrated since they evolved in East Africa 6 to 2 million years ago and that their original differentiation into ethnic groups appears to have been the result of separate groups of people who migrated from central points of origin. Even in the Stone Age, however, this isolation was not complete, for migrations resulted in a complicated pattern of blood relationships through widely separated groups (Migration).
The migration of people has led to accelerated mixing of stocks and mutual infusion of cultural and physical characteristics, including tools, habits, ideas, and forms of social organization, which have been prerequisites for the development of modern civilization (which would have taken place much more slowly if people did not move from place to place) (Migration). An example would be the use of horse which was introduced into the Middle East by Asian invaders, later spreading to Europe and the Americans (Migration).
In the same article, the specific stimuli for migrations are referred to as either natural or social causes. The natural causes of migration include changes in climate (in which case people look for warmer or colder lands), volcanic eruptions or floods, and periodic fluctuations in rainfall (Migration). Social causes, which cause more migration than do natural causes, include demographic issues (increasing population resulting in lack of food supply), political problems, a desire for material gain, or for greater economic opportunity in the face of large-scale technological change (Migration).
Who are migrating where? It is a question that cannot be accurately answered, because there had been movements of people in preliterate societies. There were ancient migrations as in the case of the spread of the Indo-European family of languages, which happened before 3000 B.C. This occurred with the Hitties (or Indo-European people) crossing into Asia Minor from Europe. In the same manner, the ancestors of the Hindus went southward, in northwestern India, and along the banks of the Indus and Ganges rivers. Another group, the Kassites, went south in Babylonia, and yet another group, the Mitanni or northern Mesopotamia (or Iraq) went southwestward in Tigris and Euphrates valleys, and a region called the Fertile Crescent (Migration). Another notable migration is that which pertains to the invasion of Palestine by the tribes of Hebrew confederacy. Such notability is the product of the founding of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions (Migration).
Other remarkable migrations recorded in history are those of nomadic tribes (who crossed and re-crossed the huge interior area of the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East, India, and China; these tribes had coastal settlements in Central Asia, from where other migrations to China, Southern India, and westward into Europe took place), the Cimbri (who drove southward from the eastern Baltic Sea region and entered the Roman Empire in the 2nd century B.C.), the Germanic groups (who drove down into central Europre), the Mongols (who prompted the Huns to invade China and cross over the Ural Mountains into the Volga) (Migration). After a time, those in Europe and those in China became part of what can be called a stand still in their respective points (Migration).
Further migrations took place between 600 and 1500. These include the new migration out of Semitic Arabia, placing people in Persia, Turkistan, North India, and even Africa, the nomadic raids on the frontiers of the Chinese Empire causing tribes to move towards Europe by crossing the Ural Mountains and southern Russia, the movement of the Mongols westward hence entering Asia Minor, the movement of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes that they displaced the Visigoths, and until the second millennium, there had been the restoration of the equilibrium (Migration).
In the next periods, more people moved and resettled because of either voluntary individual acts or of being forced to move by groups (which was against the will of the migrating people). These two reasons, according to sociologists, have been the prevailing causes of the movement of people from 1500 up to the present day. The Industrial revolution prompted millions of Europeans to seek political or religious freedom or economic opportunity, bringing them to North and South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the globe. During this period, about 20 million Africans had been brought to Americas by slave traders and sold into bondage, while millions of Chinese settled in Southeast Asia and moved overseas to work in the Philippines, Hawaii, and the Americas. A large colony of Hindus was established in southern Africa (Migration).
While many migrants were forced by circumstances, those from Europe migrated voluntarily because they refused to accept certain religions, creeds, political allegiances, or economic privations. The Africans’ was basically involuntary because they were taken for slave labor, although slave shipments were halted during the first half of the 19th century, during which a large-scale, more or less forced migration took place from southern Africa to the central and eastern parts of the continent, spurred by the expansionist force of the Zulu (Migration).
The last of these waves of 20th century migration were those involving Chinese, Indian, and other Asians, eastern and southern Europeans, but these movements could not be ascertained as either “free or forced” (Migration).
In the modern times, migration has been caused by just completely the same reasons. For instance, eastern Europeans had to flee from repressive Communist governments. Europe has also become the melting pot of people from Mediterranean countries such as Turkey and Algeria, and from sub-Saharan African countries such as Senegal—in search of economic opportunity. In North America, the movement has been mainly from south to north (Cubans, Caribbeans, Mexicans, settling in California, Florida, and Texas) (Migration).
Contemporary sociologists attribute modern-day migration to economic factors; in fact, Kirk Dameron (2007) believes the economic reasons for migration to take place include the lack or absence of adequate resources, hence shaping the characteristics of migration. In a review of Robert Lucas’ “The International Migration and Economic Development: Lessons from Low-Income Countries,” Dameron draws out the four case study areas of migration: 1) migration to and within the European Union; 2) the migration of contract workers from South and Southeast Asia in the Persian Gulf; 3) the brain drain to North America; and 4) the migration transition occurring within the higher-income economies of East Asia.” Accordingly, the book points out some of the characteristics of this economic migration: migration of the highly-skilled or low-skilled, documented/undocumented, short-term/long-term, with or without family accompaniment, and the degree to which the receiving country labor markets are integrated (Dameron).
As has been discussed, present-day migrations have been noticeably strong in first-world economies like the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. According to Jean-Pierre Garson (1992), these countries have imposed policies in terms of migratory balance, which is an important component of the increase in the total population.” Garson also reports that economic migration has been observed in other Europeran countries such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and Norway, and the “asylum-seekers” are mainly from Asia and the Middle East.
With all these movements of people, much can be said about their various effects. One would be on the aspect of employment and labor. Migration rooted to people’s search of better living conditions has considerably affected the economy of the receiving countries. Garson notes the increase in the number of foreign workers beginning 1990, with Louxembour posting the biggest increase at 47%, followed by Switzerland with 33%, Austria at 32%, and other countries such as United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden, France, Netherlands, and Germany. The increase in foreign workers reflects both the acceleration of immigration flows, notably arrivals by families and asylum-seekers, as well as the endogenous growth of foreign populations (Garson).
The United States and Canada also posted marked increases, with governments predicting in the 2000s that there will be an increase of about 50% in the working population. Australia and New Zealand have been experiencing the same trend (Garson).
Correlatively, the migration of workers has also affected employment prospects of firms and organizations along with the economic implications. Because more migrant workers are leaving their respective countries, Garson reports, organizations also have to change their policies, hence affecting even the locals. Garson says that besides the required skills, degree of education, aptitude, and positive work attitude, migrant workers have to be qualified in terms of age, ability to speak the language of the country they are in, and the extent of their skills. Otherwise, the absence of these will result in unemployment, which has also been noted to have reached certain levels. The unemployment situation varies from country to country and nationality, not to mention the low job security and the length of stay. In Canada and Australia, for example, recent arrivals of migrant workers have a rate of unemployment above that of migrants resident for some time (Garson).
In Australia, which, beginning 1975, was already one of the world’s major immigration countries, international migration has undergone a major transformation since the early 1990s (Graeme Hugo). Hugo claims that Australia continues to be an important global player in migration as in 2006, the United Nations ranked it as having the eleventh-largest stock of overseas-born persons and with almost a quarter of its population being foreign-born, eleventh among countries in the proportion made up by immigrants. Such migration has caused a paradigmatic shift not only in the scale of international migration but also “in its nature, composition and effects.” An example would be the “eschewed temporary-worker migration in favor of permanent settlement, toward a complex array of visa categories that embraces a range of lengths of stay in, and commitment to, Australia” (Hugo). Another shift has been observed on skill in the selection of migrants. The most important effect, Hugo writes, is that Australia has heightened its relationship with its Asia-Pacific neighbors, where most of the migrant workers come from (Hugo).
In Canada, there have also been notable migrations from one province to another. In a study called “Lifetime Interprovincial Migration in Canada: Looking beyond Short-Run Fluctuations,” Kao-Lee Liaw and Mingzhu Qi (2004) note the increase in employment growth rate of British Columbia at 13.9% in 1996, which was substantially higher than Ontario’s (5.3%). The increase was attributed to the huge net gain of 201,000 interprovincial migrants, while Ontario lost 150,000 interprovincial migrants. In the next few years, however, British Columbia experienced a net loss of 52,000 migrants, while Ontario gained 68,000. The authors of the study delved on certain features in the migration process that existed. These movements have been the effect of some provinces’ relatively low incomes and serious economic setbacks. They also attribute this phenomenon to socioeconomic differences among the Canadian provinces.
In the same way, the United States is also experiencing interstate migration; that is besides the migration of people from foreign countries. Mack Shelley II and Steven Koven (1993) studied the interstate migration in the country and showed that in the 1970s, there had been substantial influence on net migration among states. The study revealed that average temperature, density, and infant mortality reflect were the relatively static causes of migration, while labor relations, had also been one cause. In terms of quality of life, Shelley and Steven note, state fiscal policies and labor relations showed the biggest influence on state net migration. Other noted causes were infant mortality, social hostility, and ecological factors.
Besides the obvious reasons for these movements of people to take place, sociologists have forwarded theories to explain the migration of people. According to an article “Migration Theories,” people move for different reasons affecting the overall immigration process. To help clarify this, Ernest Ravenstein, an English geographer, used census data from England and Wales to develop his "Laws of Migration" (1889). In this book, he concluded that migration was governed by a "push-pull" process; that is, unfavorable conditions in one place (oppressive laws, heavy taxation, etc.) "push" people out, and favorable conditions in an external location "pull" them out. Ravenstein believed that the primary cause for migration was “better external economic opportunities.” This theory applies to most waves of movements in humankind, especially in the present time, when third-world countries feed first-world economies with migrant workers, most of them wanting to become citizens in the countries where they work.
The same theory states that population movements are bilateral, which best describes the movement of people (migrants) from all parts of the world to certain countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia (“Migration Theories”). A significant statement is that migration differentials (gender, social class, age) influence a person’s mobility. Applying this concept, migrant workers need to “qualify” themselves in the work they apply for or in the citizenship they wish to acquire. In Canada, for instance, migrant workers will not be allowed entry without “show money,” which is a determining factor for their stance once they lose their jobs. Perhaps, the best example to illustrate this would be the case of Black Americans, who endured a very long process before they had been accepted into the mainstream. In this instance, migration proved to be a drawback.
Another theory to treat international patterns of migration is the neoclassical economic theory, which suggests that international migration is related to the global supply and demand for labor (“Migration Theories”). Nations with scarce labor supply and high demand will have high wages that pull immigrants in from nations with a surplus of labor. Countries like India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Burma, have a surplus of labor given the insufficient jobs available. In effect, some of these unemployed citizens seek jobs in other countries, especially those that lack labor force like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Historically, the theory applies as well to the founding of the United States, when there was an urgent need of “builders,” which called for the slaves from Africa.
The last theory would be the world-systems theory, developed by Immanuel Wallerstein, which argues that international migration is a by-product of global capitalism (“Migration Theories” and Carlos Martínez-Vela). In this theory, periphery (poor nations) provide labor to the core (rich nations) in that industrial development has effected structural economic problems (“Migration Theories”). In this theory, Wallerstein criticizes newly industrialized countries’ trying to intervene with the peripheral countries since such intervention has not actually led to development under capitalism. In the case of the United States, Australia, Canada, and Middle East countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Israel, which have become economically advanced, governments have allowed the entry of migrant workers to help their countries cope with the structural economic problems. Generally, these periphery countries provide cheap labor to the advantage of the core countries. In this way, their gains would be more than their losses. Sarah Dryden-Peterson (2004), in “International Migration and Sending Countries: Perceptions, Policies and Transnational Relations,” names these periphery countries like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, and the Philippines, which are identified as labor-exporting countries. Other periphery countries include India, Armenia, Cyprus, and the former socialist republics of the Soviet Union (Peterson).
In conclusion, the meaning of migration has not changed over time. If in the past the causes were basically political, religious, or ideological, today’s migration has been associated to better living conditions. What can be said of the people moving from one place to another is that they try to fit in a society where the demands are diverse. When results fall below their expectations, these people can always leave whatever the circumstances and look for another place where they can settle in a period of time.
As time progresses and globalization takes the form of what used to be a very big world, more people are given the chance to go out of their realms, work abroad, and experience a different kind of life at least for themselves and for their families. In this globalized world, as this paper discovered, the lure of money is the name of the game. The truth is that life, especially in the third-world countries, has become so hard, and going somewhere else can help one cope with the difficulties that come with the times.
Yet, apart from the economic opportunities that come with migration, people also begin to understand the diversity of cultures and ideas. As they understand these aspects of culture, they also begin respect the differences among people. Moreover, with the diaspora of people from one country to the rest of the world comes the new meaning of the word “home.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dameron, Kirk. 2007. “International Migration and Economic Development: Lessons from Low-Income Countries.” Journal of Economic Issues 41:291. \ Garson, Jean-Pierre. 1992. “International Migration: Facts, Figures, Policies.”
Journal Title A: 18. Hugo, Graeme. 2006. “Globalization and Changes in Australian International Migration.”
Journal of Population Research 23:107. Liaw, Kao-Lee and Mingzhu Qi. 2004. “Lifetime Interprovincial Migration in Canada: Looking beyond Short-Run Fluctuations.” The Canadian Geographer 48: 168. "Migration." 2006. Microsoft® Encarta® 2007 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft
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