PUSH & PULL FACTORS

Push and pull factors can be economic, social, political, or environmental (ESPN).

Push Factors are negative situations, events or conditions in a place where a person currently lives that causes them to want to leave.

Pull Factors are positive situations, events, or conditions in a place that draw people to a new destination.

Economic Factors

• The most common reason people migrate is because they are in search of employment

• Push Factors: Unemployment, workplace closing, reduce need for human labor (laid off), high personal/business taxes.

• Pull Factors: Jobs available in new locations, factories moving to a new location, low tax rates.

Social Factors

• Social factors include issues related to religion, race, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity. It also includes factors like health or education.

• Push Factors: Religious persecution, discrimination based on gender or ethnicity, lack of school or educational opportunities, lack of available healthcare.

• Pull Factors: Freedom of religion, acceptance of different ways of life in a new place, educational opportunities, access to health care.

Political Factors

These factors include reasons for migration relating to the government or politics.

• Push Factors: Political persecution, discrimination based on political views, harsh government policies, poor or cruel leadership, political instability, warfare or threat of warfare.

• Pull Factors: Political freedom, safety to voice dissenting political views, stable government, fair laws, more trusted leadership or political system.

Environmental Factors

Include any migration related to the natural world

• Push Factors: Drought, natural disaster (hurricane, flood, etc.) Human damage to the environment (i.e. radioactive waste from damaged power plant).

• Pull Factors: Farmable land available, safety from natural disasters (high ground, away from coast, etc), healthy and safe environment.

INTERVENING OBSTACLES & INTERVENING OPPORTUNITIES

Intervening obstacles are negative circumstances or features that hinder migration.

Intervening opportunities are positive circumstances or features that hinder migration.

Economic Factors

• Intervening obstacles- Migrant runs out of money to complete the journey, migrant faces prohibitive costs to complete the journey

• Intervening opportunity- Jobs available in a closer location, economic situation improves at or near the place of origin.

Social/Cultural Factors

• Social factors include issues related to religion, race, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity. It also includes factors like health or education.

• Intervening Obstacle- Quotas on immigration from certain places, face discriminatory practices that prohibit migration due to their race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc.

• Intervening Opportunity- Healthcare or education being made available closer to home, safer to stay closer to home.

Political Factors

• Include obstacles or opportunities relating to the government or politics. Most common obstacle.

• Intervening obstacle- Lost or missing paperwork, inability to get a passport to visa, quotas or limitations placed on migration from receiving country, war or other kids of political instability.

• Intervening opportunity- Asylum offered in a closer location, political situation in original destination calms down before migrant has a chance to make the final step of their journey.

Environmental Factors

• Environmental factors include any migration related to the natural world.

• Intervening obstacle- Ocean crossing, river to ford, large mountain range.

• Intervening opportunity- More favorable land available closer to the place of origin.

2.10 IMPORTANT VOCABULARY

Migration- Permanent or semi permanent relocation of people from one place to another

Voluntary Migration- A movement made by choice

Push Factors- Negative circumstances, events, or conditions present where they live that compels a person to leave

Pull Factors- Once migrants decide to leave, they usually choose a destination based on its positive conditions and circumstances

Economic Factors- The most common reason people migrate is that they lack jobs and economic opportunities. These migrants go to areas offering greater chances for economic prosperity.

Social Factors- People will often migrate when they experience discrimination and persecution because of their ethnicity, race, gender, or religion. They move to locations where they can practice their culture safely. People are often influenced by kinship links, or ties with relatives who have already settled in a place.

Political Factors- People who oppose the policies of a government often migrate because they face discrimination, arrest, and persecution. These migrants move to countries where they feel safe and have protection from the danger they faced in their home country

Environmental Factors- People often migrate to escape harm from natural disasters, drought, and other unfavorable environmental conditions. Such migrants move to areas that are not under the same environmental stresses

Demographic Factors- Some countries are unbalanced demographically. For example, in the case of a gender imbalance, young adults may not find someone to marry. Or if the population is too young, the country may eventually become overpopulated.

Migration Transition Model- Wilbur Zelinsky’s theory, Zelinsky saw a connection between migration patterns and the demographic transition model. He argued that countries in stage 2 and 3 of the DTM experience rapid population growth and overcrowding. This overcrowding limits the economic opportunities of the people and acts as a push factor. Thus, they migrate to less-crowded stage 4 or 5 countries, which offer greater economic opportunities with growing economies and aging populations.

Intervening Obstacles- An idea proposed by geographer Everett Lee in 1966, he stated that migrants may encounter barriers that make reaching their desired destination more difficult.

Intervening Opportunities- Migrants may also encounter opportunities in route that disrupt their original migration plan

Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration- In the 1880s, German geographer E.G. Ravenstein observed patterns, sometimes referred to as laws, about migration tendencies and demographics. They still form the basis for migration today

Distance Decay- The idea that things near one another are more closely connected than things that are far apart

Gravity Model of Migration- The model assumes that the size and distance between two cities and countries will influence the amount of interactions that include migration, travel and economic activity. The larger the population of a city or country, the more pull the location will have with migrants seeking economic opportunities. However, as the distance between two locations increases the pull or gravity weakens and the person may choose a closer place to migrate.

Step Migration- A process in which migrants reach their eventual destination through a series of smaller moves

Rural-to-urban Migration- Most migration in history has been from rural, agricultural areas to urban city areas. Because of the industrial revolution, rural areas needed fewer laborers on farms and cities needed more people to work first in factories and then in offices.

Counter Migration- Each migration flow produces a movement in the opposite direction

Return Migration- Immigrants moving back to their former home