Studying Migration
The reasons why people migrate are diverse. People migrate in search for better income
or better educational opportunities, they migrate for access to health services, or people
migrate also because of marriage, following their spouse. However, people also might feel
forced to migrate because of conflict, natural disasters or major development projects.
The diversity of migration trajectories is reflected in the variety of empirical research
on migration. Many academic disciplines such as demography, sociology, economics, geography
or political science study migration, illustrating the variety of angles from which this
phenomenon can be looked at. All those disciplines apply different approaches and theories.
However, despite this variety, a major distinction can be made between,
- on the one hand, classical migration research, which looks at migration essentially in terms of flows and push-pull factors that determine these flows.
- On the other hand, theories explaining the perpetuation of migration emphasize the dynamics that shape the life of migrants and how migration as a process is sustained.
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