Social And Economic Origins Of Immigration

Changes in Contemporary Immigration Structure

Discuss about the Social and Economic Origins of Immigration.

The human migration is concerned with the movement of the people and their belongings from one place to another for the purpose of settling there permanently (Ventriglio & Bhugra, 2015). The migration usually involves the movement over considerable long distances and it is termed as immigration. The process of immigration is concerned with the movement of people in a foreign country in which they do not possess citizenship (Mitov & Omey, 2014). This type of movement takes place due to number of reasons such as permanent employment or temporary foreign worker. The phenomenon of social network is gripping the whole world and this also affects the migration patterns (Ventriglio & Bhugra, 2015). The thesis statement is that “How Filipino people have migrated from one part of the world to the other and how they have used social networking”.

This essay would discuss about the social, economic and political origins of migration and how these factors influence the global population. The evolution of migration would be discussed and the various linkages between the different countries would also be discussed. The mode of migration would be elaborated by special focus on the social networking aspects. There are various articles regarding migration and immigration settlement, which would be consulted that throw light on the reasons of migration along with other relevant concepts.

There have been changes in the contemporary immigration structure in Europe (Massey, 1990). Europe draws migrants from both the developed as well as developing countries and has become a region of immigration (Castles, De Haas & Miller, 2013). The primary cause of the immigration process is the economic development spread to the various developing countries (Castles, De Haas & Miller, 2013). There is also constant demand of “low wages” employees in the developed nations, which make it obvious to source labour from the third world populations (Castles, De Haas & Miller, 2013). The immigration process also has several social foundations including the formation of “migrant” networks (Curran & Saguy, 2013). The social networks embedded in the migration process provide acceleration to the growth potential (Castles, De Haas & Miller, 2013). This is due to the wage differentials, restrictive policies of immigration, recessions and other factors in the developing countries (Castles, De Haas & Miller, 2013). This article focuses more on the economic as well as social aspects of the immigration and the next article would focus more on the social networks of the immigration process.

Different Forms of Social Networks in Migration

Many notable studies have shown variable representation of the social networks that focus on immigration patterns (Hagan, 1998). It discusses the different forms of networks that affect the settlement outcomes of both male and female population and there has been focus on the legal opportunities (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). This outcome is being produced by the social interactions of the different genders, work, voluntary associations, neighborhood and others (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). The article emphasizes on the fact that the social networks is being used in the different stages of the migration process such as migration decisions, persistence and direction in the migration flows, transnational links and the different settlement patterns (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). The social networks result in the subsequent reduction in the costs of migration. The networks of the migrants in the “receiving” region provide more social capital in the initial phases of the migration (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). This helps the population in adjusting to the new environment in a better manner (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). There are also greater possibilities of integrating well with the local communities if there is presence of networks. The communities who have mature networks do give cultural as well as emotional support to the migrants which help them to settle in the new environment quickly (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). The migrants also get the information regarding local housing options as well as infrastructure facilities, which help them to lead a comfortable life in the foreign location (Falk & Mathew, 2017). The social networks also provide the new members of the society with adequate information of the job facilities and labour market niches (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). This makes them to take up new job opportunities so that they can survive in the new land (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014). The networks form ethnic associations in due course of time and provide support and assistance to the newcomers (Brettell & Hollifield, 2014).

Philippines, which comprise of approximately 7,000 islands is the major supplier of low-skilled labors in the developed regions of the world. It is largely a country of emigration. They are interested in working in foreign lands in spite of the vulnerabilities and difficulties that they would face there. The Middle-East countries account for a large number of Filipino workers. The Filipino workers do get around two years of service contract in the Middle East, one year contract in Taiwan and six months contract in Japan.

Culture of Filipino Migration

They face different implications when travelling to a foreign country. The overseas employment opportunities provide various kind of work to the Filipinos and are a major generator of the foreign exchange. There has been subsequent growth of the remittances in Philippines. The remittances have been instrumental in aiding the economy of the Philippines by encouraging foreign exchange outflows. This also helps the economy at the time of negative GDP growths and maintaining positive growth of the economy. There is a huge outflow of the workers such as nurses/doctors, which leads to the shortage of skilled workers in Philippines.

Studies have focused on the different family, community and friendship networks that affect the patterns of the migration (Boyd, 1989). This article explores the theme of the previous article in a detailed manner by segregating the social networks into family as well as personal networks (Ohno, 2014). This articles stated that the fact that as per the Ravenstein’s Law, the male population is more inclined for long distance migration (Ohno, 2014). The movements of the people were also associated with the push as well as pull forces belonging to the places of origin (Ohno, 2014). The different areas such as Latin America, Singapore and Middle East nations still witness a large number of young “unaccompanied” males (Ohno, 2014). The family based migrations are more common in all the settlement based countries and women also play a significant part in the migration flows in these countries (Ohno, 2014). There has been an increase in the women migrants as compared to the traditional male counterparts (Ohno, 2014).

It is also important to focus on the legal aspects of migration process (Torpey, 1998). The previous articles paid attention to the different aspects of the migration, which should be based on government rules and procedures (Farutin & Misbah, 2013). This article by Torpey discusses about the legitimate movement methods that should be followed by the migrants so that they do not face any legal hurdles (Farutin & Misbah, 2013). The nations have made policies regarding the domestic as well as international movement of people (Farutin & Misbah, 2013). The modern states have understood the need of “embracing” populations and the identification of the persons (Farutin & Misbah, 2013). This process is done for the purpose of distinguishing migrants from the non-migrants (Farutin & Misbah, 2013).

Research has shown that there are more advanced phase of immigration, which is concerned with the interest of Europe
for Islam (Soysal, 1997). Islam has become an object of cultural as well as political curiosity as well as scientific concern (Sardar, 2016). It explores the fact whether Islam is compatible with the democratic participation in Europe. The focus has been laid on democratic citizenship and participation. This article focuses more on Islam religion, which is perceived as one of the threats to the country’s democracy (Soysal, 1997). It helps to understand the background of the immigration process by understanding the cultural as well as political scenario of Europe.

Demographics Affecting Migration

In this research essay, I have studied the shift of the idea from immigration to the different social scenario in the contemporary world, which is directly related to the international immigration (Hagan, 2006). It defined that one of the characteristic of the 20^th and 21^st century was that there was a growing emphasis on the international migration (Hagan, 2006). There has been irregular movement of people and unauthorized migration, which was not recorded in the official statistics. The migration has doubled between the year 1965 and 2000 (Durand, Massey & Pren, 2016). The international migrants have a tendency to go the areas which have maximum economic opportunity. The international migrants move from developing nations to more developed nations such as USA, Australia and Canada (Hagan, 2006). The article focuses on the fact that there are different integration opportunities that are responsible for shaping the social memberships among the immigrant groups (Durand, Massey & Pren, 2016). There has been greater emphasis on social membership, which is not always concerned with institutions and state, but can be defined by organized/informal ways (Ambrosino et al., 2015). There have been legal protests that advocate the demand rights so that social membership gains inclusion and legal status. The industrialized nations have large number of international immigrants (Durand, Massey & Pren, 2016). This has led to these nations cope up with the different domestic concerns which included increasing domestic inequalities, national security, liberalized trading policies, ethnic tensions and others (Gibler, 2015). The countries are increasingly getting more inflow of international migrants due to which they have started to implement strict admission and removal regulations (Durand, Massey & Pren, 2016). 

The Filipinos have undergone major race-relations cycle in United States, which is often characterized by the exhibited attributes of the host country such as economic welcome, legislative antagonism, curiosity and fair play tendencies. The present median income of Filipino Americans is more than the Hispanics or Blacks, however, they are lower than the Asian Indians or Japanese-Americans. Filipinos are focused on development of the youth leadership.

The migrant social network is highly responsible for creating a habitat in the new environment (Dingle, 2014). It is responsible for adjusting in a new place and getting access to basic amenities of life such as healthcare, education and others (Dingle, 2014).The migrant networks in the origin country have more power to affect the national as well as local economies since there is brain drain in the country (Dingle, 2014). There are also the remittances which are being received by the friends, family and relatives of the immigrants (Dingle, 2014). The remittances are utilized by the organizational ties of the particular migrant, which also affects the border development activities of the origin countries (Dingle, 2014). The social networks of the migrants also determine the integration of immigrants with the host country in a process known as transnationalism (Erdal & Oeppen, 2013).

Legal Aspects of Migration Process

The social networks have always been instrumental in improving the economic integration of the immigrants in the labor markets of Canada. There are several examples of the Filipino population who has found jobs in the foreign country with the help of close family members or friends. The Filipino-Canadian community has been segregated in different regional, class and cultural characteristics. The flows of information as well as remittances are one of the main implications of the transnational activities. The social networks of Filipino in Canada ensure about their probable job expectations and the way of life in the foreign country. There are several concentrations of Filipino communities in Canada and they are based on several second tier cities as well as rural areas.

One of the most important features of the migrant workers is that they usually exist between two or more countries but are limited and specific in some way. The composition of the migrant workers also changes over time (Skeldon, 2014). The lack of citizenship of the immigrants can limit the access to the different organizations and institutions of the country, mostly the political institutions (Skeldon, 2014). This kind of limitation is dependent on the immigrant’s reception and the related institutional accommodation in terms of governments. There is a need of social capital as the migration flows are greatly selective in nature. There are a large number of movements that take place between the various developing coun(Skeldon, 2014)tries; this phenomenon is known as South-South migration (Skeldon, 2014). The potential immigrants try to minimize the risks of the migration process by considering familiar places which can help them to settle easily. They also try to seek the maximum number of the social networks that are available to them at the foreign locations. It is important to consider the social capital for easy settlement at the migration location. It refers to the potential or the actual resources which are directly linked with the social ties of the migrants. There are also necessary resources involved in the migration process such as money, information, influence, persuasion and others (Skeldon, 2014). The economic incorporation of the immigrants is important. They strive to seek employment options among the different social networks and participate in the labor markets that serve the own ethnic communities. The ethnic enclaves host variety of niche employment in the restaurants, retail and other professional services. This eliminates the need of sourcing goods from outside the country. There are conditions of conflict and exploitation which often gives rise to the fact that the work is unregulated or unpaid.

There are different factors that lead to an increasing number of migrations at the global level. There are broadly three kinds of factors such as socio-political, economic and ecological factors (Czaika & Haas, 2014). The socio-political factors comprise of the religious, ethnic, cultural and racial persecution. Evidences show that the states which have undergone political transition from the earlier authoritarian rule to the democracy possess potential risks of internal conflict and instability (Czaika & Haas, 2014). There is greater possibility of conflict in the inclusive and homogenous societies of the country. The individuals who are migrating due to different social or political conditions would like to do so as humanitarian migrants (Czaika & Haas, 2014). These kinds of individuals like to move to the neighboring countries which they find it safe. The different economic factors relate to the different levels of labor standards of the country and the overall unemployment situation. The employment levels contribute directly to the health of the economy. The economic factors are responsible for drawing a large number of international migrants for the purpose of better employment, higher wages and desire to escape from the domestic political situation. This kind of migration is visible from the developing nations where there is a rise in the well educated population (Czaika & Haas, 2014). The highly skilled workers migrate from the developing countries to the developed ones. This kind of migration is known as the south-north migration. The migrants go to the developed countries for work and sent back remittances to the origin countries (Czaika & Haas, 2014). The migration between the developing countries is based on proximity, income differentials, seasonal migration and others (Czaika & Haas, 2014). The technological advancements, which can be seen in both the transport and communication has the potential of increasing the circular migration rate (Czaika & Haas, 2014). The ecological factors comprise of the individual migration due to climate change and other environmental pollution. The increasing food and water costs are likely to increase the resources scarcity in these regions (Czaika & Haas, 2014). These natural burdens place strain on the capacity of the state regarding the use of the natural resources (Czaika & Haas, 2014). The migrants think that the individual country situation in the developed world should be better and this is one of the primary causes of this kind of migration (Czaika & Haas, 2014). Migration is often described as the essential modes of leading lives so that they can prosper well within their lives.

There are different factors that affect the labor flows in Philippines such as rapid population growth, uneven distribution of population and the poor labor market “absorptive capacity” for the economy of the country.

Conclusion

The human migration is considered as one of the most important characteristics of the modern civilization. This thesis statement was proved by looking at various dimensions of migration. The specific aspect of the social networks is discussed with reference to the international migration. The contemporary immigration structure in different parts of world, particularly Europe is discussed. The variable as well as dynamic representations of the different social networks which focus on the patterns of immigration are critically assessed. The third section discussed about the impact of different networks towards migration. The next article discussed the legal aspects of the migration process. The next section explored one of the more advanced phase of immigration process, which is concerned with the Europe’s interest towards Islam. The different scenarios in the contemporary world that is directly related to international migration are explored. The different articles help in the understanding of the different issues related to social networks in international migration. This essay focused on the migration patterns of the Filipino population. It has been found out that the Filipino population is inclined to travelling from one part of the country to other. Most of the Filipino population prefers to take overseas employment opportunities in places like Middle East, Canada and others. The main reason for this migration is often caused due to remittances sent to the home country. The family, friendship and community networks affect the migration patterns. The social networks of Filipinos have seen economic enhancements in the Canadian labor markets. This essay would broaden the understanding of the different social networks which are instrumental for the purpose of international migration.

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