Understanding Global Migration: A Social Transformation Perspective

TLDR

The article begins by critiquing the prevailing view of migration as a problem. It seeks to expose challenges in forming migration theory and proposes reorienting research toward the links between social transformation, human mobility, and agency. The authors outline obstacles to theoretical progress and advocate a conceptual framework that centers social transformation, examines its multi‑level connections to mobility, and accounts for agency within structural contexts. They conclude that a general migration theory is neither feasible nor desirable, but that embedding migration studies within broader social‑change theories can advance understanding, as illustrated by shifts in labor forces in developed countries.

Abstract

This article aims to examine some of the difficulties of theory formation in international migration studies, and to suggest a response. The starting point is an examination of the dominant perception of ‘migration as a problem’. This is followed by a discussion of some key obstacles to theoretical advancement in migration studies. I argue that a general theory of migration is neither possible nor desirable, but that we can make significant progress by re-embedding migration research in a more general understanding of contemporary society, and linking it to broader theories of social change across a range of social scientific disciplines. A conceptual framework for migration studies should take social transformation as its central category, in order to facilitate understanding of the complexity, interconnectedness, variability, contexuality and multi-level mediations of migratory processes in the context of rapid global change. This would mean examining the links between social transformation and human mobility across a range of socio-spatial levels, while always seeking to understand how human agency can condition responses to structural factors. The argument is illustrated through the example of the changing dynamics of labour forces in highly developed countries.