Everett Lee Conceptual Framework of Migration

Introduction:

Lee restated and updated the Ravenstein's law of migration and published a conceptual framework for migration analysis in 1960 A.D. He described the migration process and how a potential migrate and others do not.

Explanation:

Everett Lee in his A Theory of Migration divides the factors that determine the decision to migrate and

the process of migration into four categories:

1. Factors associated with the Area of Origin:

There are many factors which motivate people to leave their place of origin to outside area. They are push factors.

2. Factors associated with the Area of Destination:

There are very attractive forces at the area of destination to which the proportion of “selectivity” migrants is high. According to Lee, such forces are found in metropolitan areas of a country. Pull factors are present in such areas.

3. Intervening Obstacles:

There are intervening obstacles like distance and transportation which increase migrant selectivity of the area of destination. These obstacles have been lessened in modern times with technological advances. Lee also refers to cost of movements, ethnic barriers and personal factors as intervening obstacles.

4. Personal Factors:

Lastly, it is the personal factors on which the decision to migrate from the place of origin to the place of destination depends. In fact, it is an individual’s perception of the ‘pull and push forces’ which influence actual migration. He categorises these forces into “pluses” and “minuses” respectively. In other words, pluses are pull factors and minuses are push factors. In between them are “zeros” which balance the competing forces.

 

These are explained in figure, where the first circle represents the area of origin and the second circle the area of destination. The sign pluses represents the forces that attract people to a place (pull factors) and that of minuses represents the forces that push people from the area. Zeros represent the indifference of the people towards migration. In between these forces are the intervening obstacles.

 

According to Lee, it is the personal factors such as age, sex, race and education which alongwith the pull-push factors and intervening obstacles that determine migration. Further, there are sequential migrants such as children and wives of migrants who have little role in the decision to migrate.

Lee has formulated three hypotheses within the conceptual framework of the above noted four factors.

These are:

1. Characteristics of Migrants:

(1) Migration is selective.

(2) Migrants who respond primarily to plus factors at destination tend to be positively selective.

(3) Migrants who respond primarily to minus factors at origin tend to be negatively selective

(4) When all migrants are considered together selection for migration tends to be bimodel.

(5) The degree of positive selection increases with the difficulties of intervening obstacles.

(6) The characteristics of migrants tend to be intermediate between the characteristics of the population of the place of origin and those of place of destination.

(7) The higher propensity to migrate at certain stages of the life-cycle is important in the selection of migrants.

2. Volume of Migration:

(1) The volume of migration increases with the diversity of areas in that particular territory.

(2) It varies with the diversity of the people.

(3) The volume of migration decreases with the difficulty of overcoming the intervening variables.

(4) It varies with fluctuations in the economy which means during the fluctuation of economy there is high volume of migration and vice-versa.

(5) It varies with the state of progress in a country or area.

(6) Unless severe checks are imposed, both the volume and rate of migration tend to increase with time.

3. Streams and Counter-streams of Migration:

The following factors determine streams and counter-streams of migration:

(1) Migration tends to take place largely within well-defined streams.

(2) For every major migration stream, a counter-stream also develops.

(3) The efficiency of the stream and the counter- stream tends to be low if the place of origin and the place of destination are similar.

(4) The efficiency of the stream will be high if the major factors in the development of a migration stream are minus factors at origin.

(5) The efficiency of the stream will also be high if the intervening obstacles are great.

(6) The efficiency of a migration stream changes with economic conditions of the country, being high during prosperity and low during depression.

Lee concludes that migration is always selective and influenced by pull- push factors. Areas having plus factors are first selected for migration. It is generally the pull factors which lead to migration to urban areas rather than push factors, even though intervening obstacles do influence migration.