Forms of Migration and Measurement in Social Demography
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1987.tb00579.x |
| Published date | 01 June 1987 |
| Date | 01 June 1987 |
| Author | V. Narain |
Forms
of
Migration and
Measurement in Social Demography
V.
NARAIN*
Movement of human population is as old as human history. In demography
-
migration
-
spatial or geographical mobility
-
is concerned with quantitative aspects of the moves
made by individuals in space. Migration forms one of the main three variables: fertility
and mortality concerning population growth in an areddistrictlstate or country. Migra-
tion as a subject has attracted many disciples and valuable contributions have been made
towards understanding the phenomena. It is by now established that migration takes
many forms, most of which are difficult to identify; the existing methods of collecting the
data and even descriptive definitions have proved hard to make or retain. All migrations
obviously involve movements, but not all movements involve migration. The complexity
of
its conceptualization often complicates the measurement of the phenomena. This paper
is an attempt to identify the various forms of migration in demography and the associated
measurements adopted and their limitation.
Conceptualization
In trying to conceptualize migration, we are in fact trying to identify those who move or
migrants
and those who do not move or
non-migrants.
Further, it also involves a place of
origin
from where the migration starts and a place of
destination
where it culmina-
tes.
Conceptualizating territorial mobility is complex primarily because it embraces four
crucial dimensions at least in demography
-
space, residence, time and activity changes.
‘Conceptually, analytically and empirically, understanding the process of population
mobility has been hindered by the tendency to collapse important destinations in each of
these dimensions, treating an inherently heterogeneous process as an homogeneous one
and calling it migration’ (Standing p.
3,1982).
Further, Standing has written exhaustively
on the subject and this paper has drawn on his paper. (Standing, 1982). A brief statement of
each of the dimensions may be discussed.
SPATIAL CRITERIA
The motion of migratiodmobility implies a movement from one place to another. This
implies that there are two components: a change of area and movement over some
*
International Institute
for
Population Sciences, Deemed University, Bombay (India).
179
To continue reading
Request your trial